hath no succour nor hope but only in his mercy that hath made him thereunto if he will desire and trust in his mercy And thus far the reasons of the heathens and the Religion of the Turkes doe drive them But here that foolish Religion of the Turkes is content to stay not holding it necessary to beleeve a Mediator because say they God infinite in mercy made his Creature onely because he loved it Thus while they truely magnifie the mercy of God they utterly forget that hee is Iust Vnto which infinite Iustice of God if they had taken due regard the same light of reason would further have shewed unto them that the soule that sinnes must beare a punishment answerable to his sinne And because by every sinne against God an infinite Iustice is offended therefore it is impossible that any man by his owne righteousnesse which can never bee any more than by the Law of God he is bound unto should bee able to make any satisfaction for his sinne Vpon which true principle it will follow necessarily in the light of reason either that there is no possible returne to the favour of God which conclusion a man would by all meanes avoid or else that the reconciliation of mankinde unto God must needs bee by the mediation of a man in every respect free from Sinne who bearing the punishment due to sinners might finde redemption and mercy for all them that would beleeve it and live worthy thereof But because all men conceived in lust and sinne are originally tainted therewith for our of uncleannesse who can bring that which is cleane therefore must the generation of this Mediator bee wonderfull and not after the common manner of all men but so that no sinne or taint of the flesh must bee therein So that being both borne and living without sinne hee might by his death become a ransome acceptable for the sinnes of others And although reason could not conceive nor finde how this should bee yet seeing that in the necessitie of the divine justice it must bee thus reason would as easilie yeeld that it might bee as it did finde and see the creation of mankinde and the whole creature out of nothing as by the discourse ensuing it will hereafter appeare If this were not thus how should the whole world of Infidels and misbeleevers bee hable to the justice of God for their ignorance of him for their neglect and for their unbeliefe So taking it as granted till it doth further appeare by the Treatise following that reason hath right good and necessarie use in the things of faith it is too manifest that these wretched times are such as seeme to call aloud for the publishing of some such worke as this for though the fooles that have said in their hearts there is no God dare not in words profes it yet by their continuance in their sinful deeds they do proclaime that their thoughts are so Neither are they altogether wanting which say that Religion is but a politicke invention to keep men in civill obedience but if the conclusions of the Christian Religion bee inferred upon necessarie principles then are they not made out of policie as these Atheists say but cannot prove it except they could also make it appeare that policie was able to make naturall reason I will not denie that Mahumed setled his religion so as they say but hee forbids to dispute of the principles thereof because it is against both reason and Scripture and so perhaps it may bee said of those Will-worships that are or have beene among other Gentiles to whom God vouchsafed not the knowledge of his Law But our most holy faith because it alone is true hath no other author than God himselfe who hath revealed it by his word and because no man shall bee excused if hee beleeve it not hee hath commanded reason whereof all men are partakers to seale thereto in everie point but because in the Treatise before mentioned and by the whole practice of this booke this thing is manifest I will here turne mee onely to answer those doubts which may bee brought against the perswading of matiers of faith by humane reason First it may bee objected that the matiers of faith are farre above humane reason and that therefore it is a great presumption to question or skan them thereby for it is said by S. Paul Rom. 11.33 that his wayes and wisdome are past finding out I confesse we know nothing of God but what he hath revealed of himselfe by his workes or by his words for hee dwelleth in the light that none can approach unto even as S. Paul speakes there of his calling and election to faith a will unrevealed but the Articles of our faith hee hath most plainely taught and revealed And further to the argument I confesse that humane reason turning it selfe to behold the divine truthes is as the eye of a Bat to looke on the Sunne But yet the eternall and infinite truthes are so apprehended by mans finite understanding as the light of the Sunne is by the eye that is verely and indeed the same light and no other for though the eye cannot receive all the light of the Sunne yet that which it doth receive is truly that same light which is in or from the Sunne But you say that if in things of common use as hony salt or any other things vegetable or minerall wee must confesse our exceeding ignorance of their nature properties and possibilities both alone and much more in all manner of compositions it may seeme that our dulnesse may much rather be acknowledged in things divine I yeeld not altogether to this consequence for to the knowledge of naturall things we have our owne witlesse experience to helpe us and the deceitfull authoritie of mistaking men but all those truthes whereon our faith relies are grounded on the infallible rules of Gods owne word revealed by himselfe unto us for this end that we should not bee deceived or mistaken And although it was impossible for humane reason ever to finde out the conclusions and most fundamentall points of our faith as the mysterie of the Trinitie the incarnation of God the resurrection of the body c. yet being by the cleer light of Gods own word made known unto us we approve the same truth by the judgement and voice of reason So the reasons that are brought hereunto are not to establish any truth new or unheard of but for that faith which was heretofore taught delivered unto the Saints if the reasons of themselves be weak and by their weakenes shew how mans understanding is dazled at the divine light yet the conclusions stand sure and unmoveable but if the reasons bee certaine and true then questionlesse they are grounded in the Word and truth of God and the conclusion true either for the reason delivered or for a higher reason which wee cannot finde To this purpose the Father Anselm de Conc. Gratiae lib. arbit
Fatherhood Sonship and procession of the Holy Ghost should not bee perfect in these And if in these Persons there should not bee perfect Production then it might follow that there were a disability in the producer and so the first principle of all should bee imperfect unable and weake So nothing besides it nothing after it could bee perfect But all these things are impossible Or if the other Person or Persons to be put in the Godhead should be neither Fathers because they did not produce nor Sons because they were not produced nor yet Holy Ghosts as not proceeding then should they bee most idle and defective in the first principle of all Being and therefore not necessary and therefore not possible 2. The same number must be to the Persons of the deitie which is to the termes or perfections of the divine dignities for otherwise the perfections of the dignities and the Persons of the Deity could not bee consubstantiall and the same as hath beene shewed But the perfections of the dignities are three essentially For in that which is essentially wisdome or understanding as we have proved that God is c. 8. the action of understanding is an essentiall meane betweene that which doth understand and that which is understood and these three termes are one understanding and one understanding hath these three essentially Therefore in God there is unity of essence and that substantiall and likewise a Trinity of Persons and yet substantiall that the termes may differ infinitely from accident confusion contrariety But if the Trinity be in the Deity substantially it is impossible there should bee moe or fewer Persons therein than three 3. If in the Godhead there bee but one infinite Agent whose Action is likewise one infinite Action like himselfe then it must needs bee that the object of this action be also infinite and one But it hath beene proved that God this agent of whom I speake is onely one chap. 8. and that his action is infinite and one chap. 10. For if it were not infinite it could not bee one nor in Him One if not infinite Neither yet can the action be infinite if the object be finite nor one if the objects be many And beyond these it is impossible to assigne any limit or terme necessary to action nor yet can action bee without any of these as you may understand by this insuing induction Therefore in the Deity the Persons are three onely and no moe 4. The power and propriety of all inferiour causes depends onely on the highest and first cause of all And all effects are the true images of their causes And no action can bee perfect but in the number of three For the perfection of every action is in the Agent the obiect and the action thereabout and these are onely three So the termes of motion from whence whereto and the middle terme betweene them are onely three a Therefore the divine Persons are three and no moe 5. The whole Being of a beginning must needs be most perfectly in that which is the first and chiefe beginning of all beginnings so as that it cannot receive a Beginning from another nor yet bee a beginning to it selfe so can it not bee worthy the name of a beginning if it be not a beginning to another Being coessentiall and like it selfe But in the perfect being of a beginning taken actively and passively there must bee three termes and no moe that is a Beginner a Being begun and an action of Beginning Therefore there be three Persons in the Deity and no moe And this is that which is said Eph. 4.6 There is one God and Father of all and Ioh. 1.18 The onely Begotten Sonne which is in the bosome of the Father hath declared Him unto us And againe Eph 4.4 There is one Body one Spirit one Lord c. And yet more cleerely 1 Ioh. 5.7 There are three which beare Record in Heaven the Father the word and the Holy Ghost and these three are one Notes a THerefore the Divine Persons are three and no moe Reason 4. Against this conclusion iâ— is urged out of Andr. Osiander by Murschell the declamer of whom I spake before cap. 1. note c. That if the Father by the view and understanding of Himselfe doth bring forth a Person like Himselfe then the Sonne also and Hâ—ly Ghost by view of Themselves shall bring forth severall Persons like themselves aâ—d so there shall be a multiplication of Persons infiâ—itly or if these two Persons doe not bring forth Persons like themselves it must needes follow either that they are destitute of the power of understanding or that the understanding of the Father is more noble and powerfull than theirs But this is impossible For so the consubstantiality of the Persons should bee taken away And this objection in their opinion is like those great Stones wherewith Ioshua shut up the five Kings in the Cave But I say rather like that seale of the Iewes on the tombe of Christ whereby they thought to have shut up the Lord of life among the dead But thus is Hee wounded in the house of his friends For you may not thinke that hereby they prepare to Iustifie the Tritheites or any other Hereticks but onely to set reason against reason and to shew how inconvenient the use of reason is in matiers of Faith But before I goe any further I would aske a question or two of these opposers Is not the Sonne begotten of the Father you dare not denie it It is the word of the Scripture 1 Ioh. 5.1 Is Hee not consubstantiall with the Father you dare not deny it For the Father and Hee are one Ioh. 10.30 If then Goodnesse Infinity eternity almightinesse wisdome c. be the very being of God as hath beene proved is it not necessary that these excellencies bee active in that divine generatioâ— for how otherwise can He be the Image of his Father Heb. 1. And if so wherein have Raimund Melancthon Scaliger Keckerman or other learned men offended that they should bee so set at nought by a Phrase-gatherer But I smell the Fox they can sophisticate authority of Scripture of Fathers of Councels for their Consubstantiation the maine point of their private opinion Bâ—t by no meanes can they tell how to make it stand with reason therfore that their consubstantiation might be a matter of Faith would they so fain make a divorce between faith reason If this were not the very cause so great a Clearke as Osiander seeing his reason was contrary to his faith if he could not have answered it should have studied thereunto lest it might turne the unstable from the Faith But what if wilfully he would not know had he read nothing of Tho. Aquinas This Thomas proposes this same doubt and answers it in his first booke on the Master of Sent. Dist 7. q. 3. 4. where he makes the objection thus All the power which is in the Father is also in
that dwelt therein Against the errors about the soule of Christ whether that of Arius or Apollinarius or them that had broached the opinion before their time that Christ had not an humane soule Ignat. Epist ad Philadelph you shall have the most effectuall reasons out of Athanasius Epist de Incarn D. I. C. contra Apoll. 1. There were so many parts in Christ living as He was resolved into when He was dead But He was resolved into two the body which was buryed and the soule which went downe to hell Therefore there were two parts of Christs humane being a body and a soule which two together doe make a whole and perfect man 2. If either the Word or a supercelestiall understanding had beene in a sencelesse body then could not that body have felt either paine without or much lesse inward griefe But the soule of our Saviour was heavy unto death Mat. 26.38 Therefore Hee had a humane soule 3. A thing of one kind cannot bee given as a fit ransome for a thing of another kind but a body must bee given for the ransome of a body and a soule for the ransome of a soule Therefore that Christ might be a sufficient Redeemer it was necessary that He should have both an humane body and a humane soule 4. If either the created Deitie of Arius or the supercelestiall spirit of Apollinarius had beene in Christ in stead of the humane soule then could He not have given His soule for His sheepe But Hee was that Good Sepherd which said downe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 His owne soule or life for His sheepe Iohn 10.11 Therefore He had a humane soule 5. If Christ had not had a soule by the departure of which His body was dead then had not He by His death destroyed him that had the power of death Hebr. 2.14 neither had he triumphed over death by His resurrection neither had Hee beene a sufficient sacrifice and redemption for them that were dead in trespasses and sinnes and so had His comming beene in vaine But all these things are impossible Therefore Hee was in all things like His brethren except their sinnes Hebr. 2.17 6. If Christ had had either a life-lesse body or sensitive onely and in stead of the humane soule either a created deitie or a supercelestiall spirit then had He beene neither God nor man and so an unmeet and insufficient Redeemer of the world For neither had such a body beene perfect man neither is a supercelestiall spirit nor a created deitie perfect God Yet had Apollinarius his reasons though hee erred from the truth and by his reasons it seemes that he had most reverent thoughts of Christ For thus he argues 1. Mans soule is the seate of sinne of anger concupiscence and the like But these things could not be in Christ Therefore neither the humane soule in which onely they dwell Answere Anger sorrow compassion ioy and such motions of the soule are either ordinate which are subject to Wisedome and the rules of the divine Iustice expressed in the Law of God and these were in Christ and were not sinfull But the inordinate affections onely are sinfull and could not bee in Him which knew no sinne 2. Two perfect things in their perfection could not possibly become one Therefore that the God-head with the man-hood might become one Mediator it was necessary that the man-hood should bee assumed imperfit otherwise the Mediator had been two persons Answ This argument was answered before Note g Chapter 24. § 8. Yet in briefe I say that the word perfect hâ—th a two-fold meaning For the God-head tooke the Man-hood unto Himseâ—fe perfect that is According to those parts wherein the perfection of the Man-hood doth consist of Body and Soule But as our Lord in His child-hood did grow in Age Stature Wisedome c. So before His birth did he grow from state to state till the full time of naturall birth And thus the Man-hood was assumed imperfect that is Not yet having attained unto that perfection whereto it was destinate in the Birth the Youth the Manly age and state Therefore that feare of Apollinarius of two persons in Christ was needlesse For beside this that the Humane nature was both conceived and taken to the Divine in one instant nothing in mankind can be called a person till it be living and that it be per se sola of it selfe which seemes not to be before the birth But this is without doubt that that which is sustained or hath the being in another can no way of it selfe be accounted a person But it is manifest that the Humanity of Christ is sustained onely in His divinity You know the received opinion touching the originall of the Soule § 3. Though by all these heapes of Arguments which you may read from Chapter 21. to this place I have beaten out the braines of that beggerly Brat of Ebion which affirmed that our Lord was begotten by Ioseph of his wife Mary as all other children yet you may see how the stinke of that carcase doth rise vp against this Article that He was borne of a Virgin so dangerous a thing an heresie is in matters of Faith But for answere to those reasons that are brought hereto you may reade the Note g § 4. on the 24. Chapter before And although it bee proved by infallible arguments that is to say from authority of Holy Scripture and reasons drawne there-from that our Lord Iesus was both conceived and borne of a Virgin that Hee might be free from originall sinne whereto all the race of man-kind is subject which are begotten and borne according to the common law of humane generation yet would I not be understood in any thing which I haue said thereto to speake contrary to that which the Apostle hath Heb. 13.4 That marriage is honourable among all men for whom it is necessary But notwithstanding the reasons that Christ must be borne of a Virgin the mind will still be asking how He could bee truely man and yet His mother a Virgin Seeing wee have detested the heresies of Valentine Apelles and all such madnesse Whereto I answere That the mysterie of the Gospel is as the treasure of the unsearchable riches so of the manifold Wisedome of God into which the Angels desire to looke Eph. 3.8.10 1. Pet. 1.12 And therefore the pure and simple truth of God being delivered unto you by His holy Apostles and Prophets and after being made manifest by such proofes as reason cannot except against it may seeme an unreasonable thing yet further to require satisfaction for the possibilitie thereof For to an infinite power all things are possible And as our Saviour was conceived so also was Hee borne and His mothers Virginitie saved As He came to the Apostles when the dores were shut Iohn 20.19.26 But you say His body was then changed and made Spirituall He being raised from the dead I confesse it But yet that power by which He hid or made Himselfe
He came into this houre that Hee might fulfill the will of His Father Hebr. 10.5 and that by that one offering of Himselfe He should bring many sonnes unto Glory therefore as the valiant Captaine of their salvation did Hee willingly and couragiously offer Himselfe to the hands of them that sought His life having first commanded a safe conduct for His Disciples Iohn 18. from 3. to 10. Then what scorne and reproaches and speaking against of sinners He endured before the high Priests the holy Prophets and Evangelists have recorded I gave my Backe to the smiters and my Cheeke to them that plucked off the haire I hid not my Face from shame and spitting Esay 50.6 Hee giveth His Cheeke to him that smiteth Him He is filled with reproach Lament 3.10 See further in Micah 5.1 Matth. 26.6 7 8. Marke 14.65 Luke 22.63 64. Iohn 18.22 But because the Article of our Creed mentions only His sufferings under Pontius Pilate under which all these by a Synecdoche are comprehended let us looke unto them in particular for therein was the accomplishment of our Redemption But first it may be heere demanded why mention is made of Pontius Pilate as if the trueth of God and his most glorious worke in the creature that is the redemption of man by the death of His Son should any way need or admit of humane testimony I answere that as the Spirit of God in the Evangelists vouchsafes to apply the history of the Gospel to the times of Tiberius of Pontius Pilate his proconsul of Herod of Philip c. Luke 3.1 2. so likewise this short abridgment of the Gospel our Creed doth not neglect them For seeing the sufferinâ— of Christ was for the benefit of man-kind it is necessary that wee should bee made so sure and certaine of the truth thereof that how oever that truth were tryed by divine or by humane autâ—ority of reason or historie it might most cleerely and plainely appeare And therefore is this truth of Christ witnessed not onely by the Prophets and Evangelists as you read before Chap. 24. Reason 10. and by the Ecclesiasticall Histories but even the prophane writers yea the persecutors and enemies of this truth are not silent herein Pilate himselfe might bee a witnesse of those things which hee had heard and seene concerning the miracles the death and resurrection of Christ whereof hee writ unto Tiberius the Emperour And although it seemed not fit to the Wisedome of God that that glorious truth concerning his Sonne which Hee himselfe had testified from heaven and had confirmed by so many miracles and gifts of the Holy-Ghost should afterward receive authority from the Senate of Rome that Senate by whose authority so many thousands of false gods were worshipped See Aug. de civ D. lib. 3. cap. 12. yet even to that Senate the trueth of his Deitie by that testimony of him that had heard and seene was cleerely manifest See Tertul. Apolog. cap. 5. Euseb Eccl. hist lib. 2. cap. 2. And although Lucian and Porphyrie and Celsus and such doggs barked against the holy Religion of Christ yet even therein they testified that Christ did establish a faith and Religion among His faithfull followers Plini Epiâ—t lib. 10. Epist. 97. and Tacitus Annal. lib. 15. though they no Christians for the first was a cruell persecuter of them yet have they testified so much and have alwayes beene held faithfull in their writings And so may Iosephus though hee make it questionable whether Christ were onely a man Antiq. lib. 18. Cap. 4. This therefore being without doubt that our Lord did suffer under Pontius Pilate it may bee further asked why He being a Iewe should bee condemned to die by the authoritie and power of the Romanes For this there bee two reasons principall and chiefe For the understanding of which you need to remember that there have beene foure principall Monarchies in the earth the first of the Assyrians and Babylonians which tooke the beginning from Nimrod of whom you reade Gen. 10.8 9 10. and was after encreased by Ninus Semiramis Salmanasar Bellochus and others but most of all by Nabuchadnezar This Monarchy after it had flourished about seventeene hundred yeeres was overthrowne by Darius the Median and his nephew Cyrus King of Persia who were the founders of the second Monarchie which continued not much above 130. yeeres and was then broken by Alexander who in battell overthrew the last King Codoman This Alexander began the third Monarchy of the Grecians which after him was divided among his Captaines of which foure were chiefe See Dan. Cap. 8. of these foure Kingdomes Egypt Syria Greece and Asia Asia continued but two descents of 23. yeeres the other three one after another were subdued by the Romanes who made the fourth Monarchie Syria and by and by Iudea was subdued by Pompey and made a Province of the Romans about 60. yeeres before the birth of Christ This Syria is a Countrey wide and large Palestina inhabited by the twelve Tribes a small part therof See Ptolom Geogr. lib. 5. cap. 14. and Asiae tab 4. This Countrey in the time of Christ was divided into three parts or shires Iudea toward the South Galile to the North and Samaria betweene them Iohn 4. v. 3 4. These Samaritanes were strangers in the land sent thither onely to till the ground after Salmanassar had carryed away the ten Tribes in the dayes of Hoshea 2. King 18. from the 9. to the 13. verse Iudea and Galilee were possest by the Iewes after their returne from Babylon But after they were subdued by the Romanes they were compelled to accept of such government as they appointed These Romanes for the good services and deserts of Antipater Prince of the Idumeans and of Herod his sonne after him gave the Kingdome over the Iewes to that Herod surnamed the great who held it 37. yeeres Augustus beside the gift of the Senate enlarged the Kingdome of Herod with the Countreys of Batanea Trachonitis Abylene and others But the Iewes knowing the time of Messiah to be at hand whose Kingdome they thought should be of this World most obstinately refused the government of Herod a stranger And though he sought the establishment of a just government over them and did many things to their content yet when hee saw that by no faire meanes hee could win them to accept his government hee fill'd all places with crueltie and blood till in the 31. yeere of his Reigne they were compelled to acknowledge obedience to him as their King and to his posterity after him So when the Scepter was vtterly departed from Iuda even by their owne consent then according to the prophesie of Iacob in the 32. of Herod was the Angel sent to the holy Virgin when the Iewes had thus beene taught to know that the true Messiah was to bring a greater deliverance not to them onely but to all man-kind than any could be from an earthly bondage So in the beginning of the 33. yeere
11.35 c. and that with joy unspeakable and glorious Therefore it was necessary that our Saviour should die a most cruell death and bitter both in the sufferings of His soule and body 7. The greatest exaltation or glory that could come unto the creature was in this that it should become one Person with the Creator which we have proved before to have beene done in the incarnation For the greatest glory and grace done to the creature the greatest love and humilitie is due to the Creator But our Lord who was so exalted had not beene humbled to the lowest degree of humilitie if He had not died a most shamefull death Therefore it was expedient that He should so die 8. Full and perfect obedience is due from man-kind unto the Creator and especially from that Man of men their Prince and Captaine who ought to be an example unto them of all those vertues whereby they ought to glorifie His Father Therefore that faithfull men might willingly die for the love and service of God it was necessary that our Lord should give the example See 1. Peter 2.21 4. and Buried 1. IT is said that death is the uttermost or last of evills And that wee might by all arguments bee assured of His death by whose suffering of death wee are ransomed from the power of death it was necessary that after His death our Lord should bee buried Seeing that by His buriall we are assured not only that He was truely dead but also that during the time of His buriall He was held under the power of death 2. The greatest triumph cannot bee ascribed but to the greatest victory manifest and knowne The greatest victory is over the greatest enemy Death and him that had the power of death the Devill And that Christ might be acknowledged to have risen againe and so to have triumphed over death it was necessary that after His death He should be buried Seeing many persons in Apoplexies Plagues Singer in his drunkennesse so after hanging drowning falls and other both inward sicknesses and outward violences have been supposed to have beene dead which yet have returned to life againe But after buriall for so long time no man ever returned to life but by a power that was divine Therefore that our Lord might truely be acknowledged to have risen from the dead and so to have triumphed over Death it was necessary first that Hee should be buried 3. That blessed Spirit which knew from the beginning what should come to passe at the last who fore-saw the malice of the Priests and Scribes and knew their hardnesse of heart to beleeve all that was spoken by the Prophets that the resurrection of Christ might be most manifest before-hand decreed and spake Esay 53.9 That Hee should make His grave with the rich in His death Therefore was He not onely buried in fine linnen and perfumes of Ioseph our Apostle and Nicodemus but also by the plot of the High-Priests was He made sure in His grave the great stone which shut it up being firmely fastened in the Rocke See Lamentations 3. verse 9.53 into which the Grave was hewed with c cramps of Iron sodered into Both and surely guarded with a strong watch that both His Death His Buriall and His Resurrection might bee witnessed even by His very enemies Matth. 28.11 Notes a 1. HEe was pleased to be borne man The errours of Simon Valentin and Apelles which you had before Note a on the 26. Chapter though directly they oppose the truth of the former article yet have I refer'd the refutation of them to this place because they also take away the merit of Christs passion from us wherein alone our hope consists But seeing that Simon in his Heresie sided with the Iewes against whom I haue disputed in the 24. Chapter and besides them had not many followers though after him it were recalled from hell by one Proclus an obscure fellow Aug. haeres cap. 60. Seeing no reasons are or can be brought either by Simon or by the Iewes to prooue the assertion the onely authority of S. Iohn is able utterly to strangle this whelpe See then Chap. 1.4 The Word was made flesh And 1. Ep. Chap. 1. That which was from the beginning which we have heard and seene and looked on and our hands have handled c. And againe Chap. 4. Every spirit that confesseth that Iesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God 2. The doctrine of Valentin is refuted at large by Irenaeus lib. 3. cap. 11. 32. And that by the manifest authority of S. Paul Gal. 4.4 where it is said That Christ was made of a woman So also by Tertullian in his Booke De carne Christi The Evangelists Matthew and Luke describe His humane generation Besides His manly Passions approove Him to have had the true body of a man as to be Hungry Thirsty Weary to Sweat to Weepe c. Moreover if He had not suffered in the true and very Body of man His suffering for us had been of none effect for the ransome of our bodies Their Argumeâ—ts you may see more at large in the Bookes cited But Epiphanius Haer. 1. layes not this Heresie to the charge of Valentin aâ— the Authors forenamed And S. Aug. haer cap. 12. but rather puts it to Marcion Haer. 42. who taught that the Incarnation oâ— Christ was not in deed but onely in shew whom he refutes only by those Scriptures which Marcion allowed of as the Gospel of S. Luke which Marcion received except that which concernes the Genealogie of Christ and certaine Epistles of Saint Paul For all the Olde Testament and the rest of the New he rejected But in these Scriptures Christ calleth Himselfe the Sonne of man Hee was thronged by the multitude He lift up His eyes He prayed on His knees His feet were anointed He slept on the sea He is made of the seed of David aâ—cording to the flesh Rom. 1.3 So that if David had a true manly body then also the body of Christ was a true manly body He gave up the ghost His lifelesse body was taken from the Crosse wrapped in Linnen and Buried After His Resurrection also He said Handle me and see mee for a Spirit hath not flesh and bones as ye see me have Luke 24.39 And these Texts out of those Scriptures only are sufficient to reproove the falshood of these Hereticks And for full satisfaction heerein you may take the interpretation of Tho. Aqu. cont gent. l. 4. c. 30. to those Texts of Scripture whenâ—e Valentin might seeme to have taken oâ—casion of his Heresie First it is said Iohn 3.13 No man hath ascended up to heaven but Hee that came downe from heaven the Sonne of man which is in heaven A swer This comming downe from heaven cannot bee meant of His body or of His soule because of that which followes The Sonne of man which is in heaven for it is proper onely to the Godhe d to fill both heaven
a forged one Cent. 3. cap. 10. They bring also reason for say they If the Divine and humâ—ne natures in Christ be united personally then it is necessary that where the one nature is there must also be the other But the two natures are so united Ergo. Answere The consequence of the proposition is not good where one of the natures is finite the other Infinite as Saint Augustine saith God and man are one Person and both together are one Christ every where as He is God but as He is man in heaven Ep'la ad Dardanum But this question is by many handled at large and if you desire further satisfaction See the Catechisme of Vrsinus a Booke I thinke common and the question is there briefly handled See Doctor Willet Synopsis Pap. Contr. 13. Part. 1. See also Bucan Inst Theol loc 48. quest 60. c. But in summe against these or any other heresies which may rise against the trueth of this Article take the authorities of the holy Scripture Psalm 24.7 c. Psal 47.5 and 68.18 The place and circumstances of His ascension are remembred Mark 16.18 Luke 24.50 Act. 1.9 Reade hereto Ephes 4.8 1 Tim. 3.16 Hebr. 4.14 and 9.24 And that the naturall property of Christs humane body being now glorified is not destroyed so that is may be every where as the God-head is take these authorities of the holy Scripture First it is said of Him after His resurrection Matth. Mark Luk. He is risen He is not here And Act. 1.10 While they looked up stedfastly as He went which must not be by disappearing but by leaving of one place and passage to another and againe vers 11. This IESVS which is taken from you into Heaven therefore not bodily with them still as He saith Iohn 16.7 It is expedient for you that I goe away for if I goe not away that Comforter will not come but if I depart I will send Him to you And therefore it is said Act. 3.21 That the Heavens must containe Him untill the time that all things bee restored And this is spoken of His body neither can it be true of His Deity and if His body be contained in heaven how can it become a piece of bread or in a piece of bread on earth You will say if Christ were last of all seene of Saint Paul 1. Cor. 15.8 how was Hee still contained in the heauens for His conversion was after the ascension I Answere Even as Saint Paul saw in a vision a man named Ananias comming unto Him whom otherwise he saw not till afterward Act. 9.12 and yet the sight by vision from God is a most certaine and true sight Or if it were so that He were indeed in His body taken up into the third heaven as he makes it questionable 2. Cor. 12.2 so might he see as he professeth of himselfe in your understanding CHAP. XXXI ⧠And sitteth at the right hand of God the Father Almighty THe great antiquitie of this Creed appearing to be even from the time of the Apostles brought some writers into an opinion that the twelue Apostles before their departure from Ierusalem to preach unto the Gentiles gave out this forme of confession of the faith to bee acknowledged of every Convert before they might bee baptized and appointed that all interpretation of Scripture should be made according to the rule of it as they will understand that text in Rom. 12.16 And some will yet bee more particular herein that every Apostle brought in that Article which he thought fit to be beleeved Yea and for a need they will tell you which Article every Apostle made and so have of necessitie limitted the Articles to the number of twelve But the Scripture admits no other rule of Interpretation than it selfe And so I confesse that the Creed may be a rule in as much as it hath the foundation in the Holy Scripture As Saint Augustine saith lib. 3. de Symb. ad Catech. Chapter 1. Deus in ecclesia regulam c. God would have one perpetuall rule to be in the Church which should be simple briefe and such as every one might easily understand according to which the godly might examine all doctrine and interpretation of the Scripture to receive that which is agreeable thereunto and to refuse that which is contrary And although for your satisfaction therein I have followed the fashion for the number of Articles as you may see yet it cannot be denied but that if you take every several conclusion for an Article there are in all 17. or 18 at least fifteene severall Articles of which this of our Lords sitting at the right hand of God will be one although in that number of 12. it goe as a part of the Article before Hee ascended into heaven But this is not a thing of any great importance And therefore let us rather looke to the certainty thereof for that is necessary for us to know and beleeve But it may be demanded why in the Creed such a Metaphor should be used as might endanger younglings and novices to thinke with the Anthropomorphites that the invisible God is like to man with hands and bodily parts To which wee may answere that the Christians I speake not of wilfull hereticks were not so ill instructed but that they knew right well how to discerne betweene Christ and a Vine Iohn 15. betweene a figurative and a proper speech And therefore the Fathers in the Church the Author or Authors of this Creed having a jealous care of the trueth of God doubted not to propose it in the words of God Himselfe Therefore seeing this part of Christs glory is so prophesied to bee fulfilled Psal 110. cited Heb. 1.13 The Lord said unto my Lord sit at my right hand untill I make thine enemies thy foot-stoole it is so to be retained in the Article of our Creed And although it bee a borrowed speech yet seeing it is so taken into use by our Lord Himselfe and by the Pen-men of the New-Testament it is by all meanes most fit so to hold it For so our Lord speakes Matth. 26.64 and Luke 22.69 Hereafter shall you see the Sonne of man sit on the right hand of the Power of God So Col. 3.1 Christ sitteth above at the right hand of God So Hebr. 1.3 and 10.12 and 12.2 with many other Scriptures to the like purpose The word To sit signifies either to tarry or continue as in Luk. 22.49 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sit that is abide or stay in the Citie of Ierusalem or else it signifies to raigne as in Esay 16.5 The Throne shall be established and Hee shall sit upon it in trueth So the right hand of God signifies either power as Act. 2.33 Hee being by the right hand that is the power of God exalted or else it signifies happinesse and joy eternall as it is said Psal 16. and 11. verse At thy right hand are pleasures for evermore And although some Interpreters make the meaning
spoken of in that text of Iohn 16.14 is not of grace but by nature neither is it any other thing than this That as the Father from all eternity had decreed to reconcile the world unto Himselfe by the death of His Sonne and that the Sonne accordingly performed this in due time by His death upon the Crosse So the Father and the Sonne by that Holy Spirit which proceedeth from them both doth sanctifie the hearts of the elect and assure them that this reconciliation with all the fruits and effects thereof was for their eternall comfort and salvation For that peculiar manner of subsistence in the Divine nature which He taketh from the Father and the Sonne whereby it is most necessarily concluded that He is God is not heere spoken of 4. Objection The Holy-Ghost is no where called God in the Scripture Therefore He is a creature Answere 1. He is no where in the Scripture called a creature or mentioned among the creatures in Psal 148. or else-where Therefore He is God Answer 2. The proposition is false as it appeared by the texts cited out of Actes 5.3 4. and Matth. 28.19 where He is equalled with the Father and the Sonne and 2. Cor. 13.14 And Iohn 5.7 Moreover no sinne doth make a man lyable to an infinite punishment but that which is against an infinite being But the sinne against the Holy-Ghost shall not bee pardoned neither in this world nor yet in that which is to come Matth. 12.32 Therefore the Holy-Ghost is God Take hereto Actes 28. verse 25. and 27. with Rom. 11.8 and 1. Cor. 3.16 And as these texts of Scripture are sufficient to shew the falshood of this last objection So doe they manifest the vanitie of all the rest and confirme abundantly the trueth of this Article that the Holy-Ghost is God To bring the consent of Fathers and Councells to these Scriptures were as to encrease the light of the Sun by a burning candle yet because it was so plainely declared in the first generall Councell held at Nice by 318. Fathers in the yeere of Christ 325. you may remember it if you will In that Councell this Article was thus declared in that forme of confession which was framed by Hosius Bishop of Corduba As the Father and the Sonne so also the Holy-Ghost subsisteth with them of the same being of the same power of which they are And a little after Wee ought to confesse one God-head one being of the Father of the Sonne and of the Holy-Ghost not teaching any confusion or division of the Persons of the unspeakeable and blessed Trinitie But according to the integritie of that faith and doctrine which was heretofore delivered by the Lord Himselfe to His Apostles and hath beene sincerely taught to us by our holy Fathers who kept it pure and intire as they received it from the Apostles wee beleeve and confesse the undivideable Trinitie which cannot sufficiently either be conceived in the understanding or expressed in wordes that is the Father eternally and truely subsisting a true Father of a true Sonne and the Sonne eternally and truely subsisting a true Sonne of a true Father and the Holy-Ghost verily and eternally subsisting with them And wee are ever ready by the power of the Holy-Ghost to proove that this is the trueth by the manifold testimony of the holy Scripture Histor Gelasij Cyzic Act. Conc. Nic. lib. 2. cap. 12. This faith was approved of all but because the present businesse with Arius was especially about the Sonne For he held that the Son was not of the subsistence of the Father nor yet very God That they might meet fully with that errour they agreed to that forme wherein it is confessed that the Sonne is light of light very God of very God begotten not made being of one substance with the Father c. Thus having ended the controversie about the God-head of the Sonne they come to the question of the Holy-Ghost against whom Phaedon a Philosopher and patron of Arius his cause objected thus It is no where written in the Scripture that the Holy-Ghost is a Creator and therefore Hee is not God To which the Councell opposed that which is in Iob 33.4 The Spirit of God hath made mee and the breath of the Almighty hath given me life And that in Psal 33.6 By the word of the Lord were the heavens made and all the hosts of them by the Spirit of His mouth To which they added that of Saint Paul 1. Cor. 12. verse 4 5 6. where the Holy-Ghost is called both Lord and God And so concluded that all the three Persons that is the Father the Sonne and the Holy-Ghost were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 consubstantiall or of the same substance Lib. Cit. Cap. 25. Likewise when this heresie of Arius concerning the Holy-Ghost was againe revived by Macedonius the second generall Councell held at Constantinople in the yeere 381. condemned the heresies of all Arians Apollinarists and Macedonians confirmed the faith professed in the Nicene Creed and for further explanation of the trueth in this point to that clause Wee believe in the Holy-Ghost they added the Lord and giver of life who proceedeth from the Father who with the Father and the Sonne together is worshipped and glorified c. And this is sufficient for the declaration of the trueth in this point by the authority of generall Councells All the orthodox Fathers consent hereunto Among whom if you desire to bee further acquainted with the arguments and objections on both sides you may reade the writings of that most noble Champion of the trueth of the holy Trinitie Athanasius and in speciall that sermon of the humane nature taken by the Word the oration against the ging of Sabellius and the first and second Epistle to Serapion and his first dialogue against Macedonius with him Macedonianus See also Greg. Nyss vol. 2. pag. 439. edit Paris 1615. you may also if you will take these objections and their answeres brought by Epiphanius to this question Haer. 74. and with them those in Thomas Aquinas Contra gentes Liber 4. Cap. 16. and their answeres Cap. 23. Another errour against the being of the Holy-Ghost is that which they call of the later Greekes and yet is not onely of the Grecians themselves but of all those Nations and Peoples that are of the jurisdiction of the Patriarch of Constantinople which if you leave out the Countreys of the poore Painims in the East and West Indies is far greater than the pretended universality of the Bishop of Rome both in Europe and in Asia See Brerew Enq. Chap. 15. and besides them the Melchites or Christians of Syria the Armenians and Maronites hold the same heresie All these though they confesse that the Holy-Ghost is God the third Person in the Trinitie yet they say that He proceedeth onely from the Father not from the Sonne But although they account this but a later errour among the Greekes perhaps because the stirres thereabout after the
Councell of Florence in the yeere 1439. grew more hot than they had beene before and that because the Greekes then present in that Councell in hope to draw them of the West into their helpe against the Turks did seemingly yeeld to that trueth which these Churches in the West doe holde in that point yet it appeares that in the time of Damascen about the yeere 750. it was their received opinion For thus he writes Orthod fidei lib. 1. Cap. 13. He is the Spirit of the Sonne not proceeding from Him but from the Father by Him For the Father onely is the cause Nay if you looke yet higher in that explanation which the Councell of Constantinople spoken of even now made of that Article of the Holy-Ghost in the Nicene Creed that clause and from the Sonne is left out so that this errour seemes not new but falshood is as ancient as the devills apostacie and no antiquitie can make it trueth And if you looke to the authorities of Scripture brought before to this point in the Chap. § 1. and consider well the reasons in Chapter 11. you shall see how rotten this opinion is and how justly the clause And from the Sonne was added by the Latine Churches as they declare it in that Councell of Florence spoken of before So that falshood which some write to Paulus of Samosata that the Holy-Ghost is not any divine subsistence but onely the working and grace of God in the hearts of men and that which they write of Servetus that it is onely a certaine vigor or strength whereby every thing created is mooved naturally at the sight of the same authorities and reasons will vanish as mist before the wind Those childish fantasies of the Elleasites or Sampseans of which you read in Epiphanius Haer. 30. and Haer. 53. would trouble your hearing Sect. 3 § 3. So the onely heresie which is yet remaining is that which concernes the propriety or working of the Holy-Ghost Concerning whom some affirmed that He was not given sufficiently to the Apostles and that therefore further revelations were necessary to be made by them that had greater measure of that gift The Cataphryges or disciples of Montanus and the Manichees must needs be chiefe herein For if they had held that the gifts of the Holy-Ghost had beene given to the Apostles sufficiently their fancies of their new Comforters to teach them more then was needfull had never beene hatcht And among these Tertullian was most too blame who having once detested the Montanists did afterward both follow their errour and defend it But if that Holy Spirit should leade the Apostles into all trueth yea and shew them the things to come as the promise was Iohn 16.13 What further sufficiencie would these Hereticks require They might say the Disciples were ignorant of many things after the Holy-Ghost was come upon them for Peter accounted the Gentiles uncleane Act. 10. Answere But they were not ignorant of any thing that was needfull for the Church to know as S. Paul saith Actes 20.27 That he had declared unto them all the Counsell of God so according to the dispensation of the times which God had appointed the Gentiles were taken into the fellowship of the Faith For though they were commanded to preach repentance and forgivenesse of sinnes to all Nations yet the preaching must begin at Ierusalem Luk. 24.47 from Esa 2.3 Therefore they preached not to the Gentiles till the time was come and then Philip was sent to preach to the Eunuch Actes 8.26 and 29. and Peter to Cornelius Actes 10. and Barnabas and Paul euery where but with this condition first to offer the word of reconciliation to the Iewes and after to the Gentiles because the Children must first be fed See Marke 7.27 and Actes 13.46 So concerning the declaration of things to come Agabus foretold the famine Actes 11.28 that the Church in time might provide for due reliefe So the prophecyes of Saint Paul 2. Thes 2. and 1. Tim. Chap. 4. of Peter 2. Epistle Chap. 2. and 3. and Iohn Rev. all are no lesse lights for the knowledge of the true Doctrine and Church of Christ in these dayes than the prophecyes of old were for the knowledge of Christ when He should come and the benefits which the faithfull should receive by Him unto the Church which was before His manifestation in the flesh And if the Providence of God bee upon all His creatures His speciall mercy and compassion upon His chosen so that Hee never leaues them destitute of that which He knowes to be fit for them can any but Pepuzians and such franticks thinke that God will bee carelesse of His Church for whose sake He gave His onely Sonne to die Or can any man be such an Infidell as to thinke that the instruction of the Holy-Ghost who is God blessed above all is not sufficient to guide the Church according to the rule of trueth the Holy Scripture in the right way to everlasting life Therefore follow that rule and pray for that guide and let the follies of these Enthousiasts for ever vanish The second supply Of that inestimable gift of God the holy Scripture which Hee by His holy Spirit hath given to the Church CHAP. XXXIIII THough for Adams sinne God did hide His face from man except when either in justice Hee did punish his sinne or in mercy declare the meanes and give assurance how he should be freed therefrom as it appeares in Adam Cain Abraham Moses and the Prophets untill the time came that the promise of the redemption was fulfilled Yet by His holy Word hath He so fully provided for the direction and comfort of His Church and every one of His children therein that there is nothing in the whole course of mans life whether in things that are to be done or left undone or in things that are to be beleeved or not to be beleeved in whatsoever it is fit for us to expect any direction or comfort from God immediately wherein He hath not most particularly declared His holy will It was a wonderfull grace and favour beyond all other men unto Moses that whensoever he went into the Tabernacle he might talke with God face to face as a man converses with his friend Is not the same grace vouchsafed to us who not onely in the Churches but even in our private chambers or in the open fields may talke with God and receive His answere in His word And lest any man may pretend ignorance or want of skill how to present himselfe unto God all manner of formes of thankes of of praise of prayers are set out in the Scripture and all summ'd up in that forme which our Lord hath taught us And that we may come boldly unto the Throne of Grace and be assured to find helpe in the time of need we shall in His Word not onely receive His owne Answer but likewise see by examples how holy and devout men have sped in the like cases Thus we
which many belong onely to the first grammar of that language as if in English you should write When you be come together and in the margent write Yee are 2. Some words are for clearing the sence and are as short commentaries upon the Text. 3. Some for avoiding of words harsh to the eare as when the Prophet in indignation or mockage or tyed to relate anothers speech uses such termes as seeme needfull to be sweetned by other more usuall words You may take an example of both these 2. Kings 18.27 where the Prophet as a faithfull Historian repeating the words of Rabshakeh hath that which hee spake 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 le ecol eth choraihaÌ„ ulishtoth eth Sheyenayehem immacem which our English translates that they may eate their owne dung and drinke their owne pisse with you the word choraiham their dung hath the derivation of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chor that hole from which it comes out and the word Sheyenaiyehem their changes of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Shanah to change meanes their urine which they should drinke and pisse out and then drinke in againe whereby the railing Rab-scab would be as bitter as he could But for the first of these the margent hath a more mannerly word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 dzoatham that which comes from them and for the second by way of exposition 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 meimei raghleihem the water at their feete and these are read for the words in the line Translators have little or nothing to doe with the Keries of the first kind in them of the last they usually take the word in the margent In the second kind they take the word in the line or that in the margent indifferently because the Keries or marginall words are both of the ancient Iewes and learned Christians held to be of divine authoritie as they in the text as you may see it made mâ—nifest by Henry Ainsworth's Aduertisement n. 7. where by sundry examples he shewes that the word which in one Prophet is put in the margent is by another put in the text Moreover the most ancient translators even from the 70. which were almost 300. yeeres before Christ if that which is now extant be any remnant of it and that Chaldee of Ionathan who is said to have beene the disciple of Hillel which lived as some write 100. yeeres before Christ and all that have followed after these have translated sometime after the margent somtime after the line often-times have noted both as you may see in many instances in the place cited And that which is above all the Pen-men of the new Testament use in some places the word of the margent for that in the line So that Galatinus with his late Rabbins may still sleepe upon the pillow of their owne dreame For nothing of the Talmud was gathered together till about the yeere of Christ 150. when one Rabbi Iudas compiled into one volume the expositions on the law and the Prophets which other Doctors had written some before some after Christ which Booke hee called Mishna a copie or second reading and divided it into Six Sedarim or orders Some 200. yeeres or more after him Rabbi Iohanan or Iohn gathered the Talmud or Doctrinall of Ierusalem out of the writings of such Rabbins as wrote after the other and this Talmud is but a commentary on the former Mishna After him likewise about the yeere of Christ 500. Rabbi Asse made a further collection of the Babylonian Talmud of speciall use among the Iewes Both these Talmuds are full of fables and idle fictions to the depravation of the trueth of God But about the yeere 1200. Rabbi Moses ben Maimon thence called RaMBaM and Maimoni gathered out that which was good and any way availeable for understanding the rites and ceremonies of the Law and left out those fooleries of which the Talmuds were full and therefore Postellus said rightly of him that hee is Instar omnium For further knowledge of which things you may read Galatinus H. Ainsworth Shickard P. Ricius and others Now if neither the Talmud nor the Mishna were extant of so long time after Christ how could the writings there cited being in private hands bring in any publike corruption into the text of the Scripture which long time before that had beene delivered safe and intire into the hands of the Church of the Gentiles But although it be yeelded unto that either the Masôrites or the Talmudists or the Cabalists by any private notes of theirs or their expositions have corrupted either the text or native meaning thereof yet doth it not therefore follow that the Nation of the Iewes have accepted these corruptions much lesse that they hold them of divine authoritie as they doe the marginall Keries and yet much lesse can it be made to appeare that the Translators of the Christians have at any time accepted of any such notes no more then we heretofore accounted the notes on the Geneva Bibles to bee Canonicall Scripture But you will aske when those Keries or marginall readings for they are alwayes read for the Cethib or word written in the text came to the Holy Scripture Answere The most voyces are for Ezra that he having care of the Ecclesiasticall policie and especially of the integritie of the Holy Scripture in conferring the copies and the differences among them noted such as hee thought fittest and that the Copies might not differ any more began that Masôreth of which I spake But Galatinus Lib. 1. Cap. 8. saith that this is a lewd lie of the later Iewes for then they should not have beene called corrections of the Scribes but of Ezra yet hee confesseth that they were long before the time of Christ seeing Ionathan the Author of the Chaldean translation doth often-times translate according to the margine yet will he not have Ezra the Author of them for then he durst not I thinke so saucily refuse them or for them the Cethib as errours and corruptions of the text as hee doth But Shikkard as he cites the common consent of the ancient Hebrewes puts it constantly upon Ezra That with much care and diligence he got divers copies of the Scripture compared them with those that were authenticall and noted them as you heard 1. But if there were any copies that were authenticall what needed this superfluous diligence 2. Beside what could 70. yeares of the captivitie doe to corrupt so many copies when they had in the captivitie so many Prophets As Daniel Ezechiel Ezra beside so many worthies as you read of in Daniel and Ezra and Ieremiah among them that were left at home Especially seeing a copie may continue many seuenty of yeeres as you read in Rambam of one of 700. yeres in his time and Cunaeus cites the Chronicle called Iuchasin concerning a Bible written by Hillel betweene whose times were 900. yeeres and yet more the learned Patrick Young assures us of a beautifull Copie of the whole Scripture written by Tecla in
to come And although by all the arguments of the two last Chapters and many before the question may receive an easie solution yet to give full satisfaction is this which followes in particular But to brand both the questions and the moâ—ers thereof with their due infamy it must ever be remembred that the errour of the mortality of the soule doth take away the foundation of all religion and common honesty For how can he make due reckoning of honesty that cares onely for himselfe to shift and sharke for a present maintenance in worldly plenty and supposed â—oy and thinkes that all is ended with him in this life Or what reverence can he have of God or His seruice who is not perswaded that there is a God or if that must needs be put yet is he perswaded that with this life ended his soule also comes to nothing And if there be no reward oâ— any virtue or of any religion is it not better to follow the pleasures of sinne with greedinesse 1. But Atheist I answere That if God should so neglect them that honour Him as that He would not reward them neither in this life nor yet in that which is to come then were He unjust if He knew not their devotion then were He not wise But these things are impossible for thee to suppose that God should be either unjust or unwise For perfect justice such as the infinite justice of God is doth ever bring foorth a judgement in which it must appeare that in Him that is infinitely just there was neither ignorance of the service done unto him nor any disability to reward it which because it appeares not in this life certainely it must be manifested hereafter Therefore the soule is immortall 2. Seeing all the world cannot affoord that which may give a full content unto the soule that judges rightly of every thing Seeing we are taught 1 Iohn 2.15 not to love this world neither the things of this world it is manifest that the true happinesse of the soule ought not to be sought here among those things that are inferiour and below the dignity and state of the soule which can be blessed onely in the sight of God as our Lord hath taught us Mat. 5.8 Therefore the elect of God which according to His counsell and command seeke true happinesse in another life shall in another life be sure to find it 1 Iohn 2.17 3. The working of the soule cannot be hindered by the body not onely the spirituall actions of the understanding and motion of the will but even the actions of the soule upon the body as I have somewhere given instance in the beating of the pulse and whatsoever hath motion of it owne nature cannot be hindred to attaine that end whereto nature drives it and the thing it selfe desires to come as the continuance and perfection of it selfe because nature doth not worke in vaine and the soule doth naturally desire true happinesse that is spirituall eternall and beseeming the nature of it selfe Therefore the soule is immortall 4. No substance which is intellectuall is corruptible For corruption in substances comes onely by the separation of the matier and essentiall forme And because beings intellectuall that is such as have power of an active understanding doe not consist of matier but are of themselues pure formes therefore they are not subject to corruption and death properly so called And although the soule beside the power of understanding have also the power of growth and sences as the naturall faculties thereof by which it doth enlive mans body to move to digest to see heare feele c. and that when it goes away from the body these faculties of the soule forsake the body yet they die not in the soule but shall enlive the body in the resurrection as they did before so that the soule is no way mortall 5. Common consent of all Nations both Christians and Barbarians hold and ever have held the immortality of the soule and the soule it selfe beares witnes thereunto which at the sight of grievous sinnes committed findes such terrours and affrightings in it selfe as are sometimes more fearefull than death But if the soules of men did not live after the body what cause had guilty minded men either to feare death or any torments that could follow after it 6. The excellent endowments of the soule the engines and curious artes that are invented the search of the heavens motions and the inuention of trueth in things removed from our sences yea even concerning the truth of God are arguments sufficient of the soules immortality 7. And beside these reasons the infallible authority of the Holy Scriptures ought to wring this confession even from the very Atheist For the soule being breathed into man by an immortall principle by the breath of God Himselfe may not bee supposed to bee corruptible for so how could a thing mortall or corruptible be the image of the immortall God Gen. 1.26 27. yet say I not as the Gnosticks or Priscillianists that the soule is of the same being or substance with God but that being so created by Him and His image it cannot be mortall Mat. 10.28 Feare not them which kill the body but are not able to kill the soule but rather feare Him which is able to destroy both soule and body in hell The parable of the rich glutton and Lazarus in Luk. 16. shew the immortality and state of the soule both of the good and bad Read also 1. Pet. 3.18 19.20 Phil. 1.23 Revel 6.9 That there is not one common Soule of all men §. 2. 1. BY some of the reasons before and by all the authorities brought out of the holy Writ it is manifest that this fantasie of one common soule in all Men was but a dreame of Averroes For if the humane soule be the proper forme of the body and the specifick difference of every subject be by the forme thereof If there be one common soule of all men then the essential difference of men is taken away so that they bee not now this man and that man but all men must be one man as concerning their internall forms the difference of men must be in their heccieties or numerall diversitie of their bodies onely 2. But so the understanding and knowledge of all men should bee one and the same and one man should not bee wise and another foolish but all men wise or foolish alike if there were onely one soule or understanding of all men 3. So also the vice of one man should multiplie it selfe over all men 4. And all men should have equall joy in the end or happines of any one man But these things are not so And as these inconveniences proove the differences of soules while they are in the bodies of men So likewise doe they withstand that confusion which would bee of the soules of men being departed out of their bodies which are not supposed to fall into the Chaos of life and