Starres bowed downe unto him wee must not think that Ioseph had the interpretation of these dreames as he had of the Butlers and Bakers but when he was exalted in Egypt and saw the event then he remembered the dreame Secondly sometimes the Lord revealed the dreame to one and the exposition of the dreame to another as the dreame was revealed to Pharaoh and the interpretation of it to Ioseph so he revealed the dreame to the Midianite and the interpretation of it to his fellow Iudg. 7.13.14 And this interpretation of the dreame is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vers 15. fractura somnii the breaking of the dreame a speech borrowed from the breaking of a nut for unlesse the shell be broken we cannot come to the kernell so unlesse the dreame be interpreted Dreames without the interpretation to no use wee cannot understand it But Daniel exceeded all in dreames and in the interpretation of dreames therfore Ezechiel calls him wise Daniel Ezec. 28.3 who told Nebuchadnezar both his dreame when he forgot it and the interpretation of it It was a great skill in Apelles when they were enquiring for a malefactor who was fugitive and could not know him Apelles having seene him once before drew him so vively although he had no examplar before him that so soone as they saw the picture they found out the malefactor but for Daniel to finde out this dreame which he never dreamed of before nor thought of this was the Spirit of the most high God who taught him Quest. It is said 1 King 3.6 How the Lord bade Salomon aske any thing when he was dreaming that the Lord appeared to Salomon in a dreame and said unto him Aske of me and I shall give thee How could Salomon aske any thing of God in his sleepe or pray to him seeing oratio est actus humanus cuius principium est ratio libera prayer is an action of man which hath the beginning from reason and not from phansie for it is the Spirit of God who moves our reasonable facultie to call upon him and not our phansie Answ Some answer that it was before his sleepe when hee was offering sacrifices that then he sought this and that after that hee awoke againe he begged for this wisedome Others answer that he verily prayed in his sleepe because of the earnest desire that hee had for wisedome made him to thinke of it in his sleepe and it was actus rationis ratione causae Tom. 2.2 qu. 95. art 6. Quest What was the reason that the Lord revealed himselfe in dreames to heathen Kings and Princes as to Pharoah and to Nebuchadnezar Answ There may be three reasons given of this first for his owne glory hee did this to shew that his providence did reach as well to the highest as to the lowest not onely in the Church but also without the Church And this was the reason why he sent his Prophets sometimes even to the heathen as Ezechiel to Babylon and Ionah to Nineveh and all to shew them that all their good came from him if they feared him but if they did not then they should feele his punishing hand Secondly the Lord did this both for their temporall and eternall good for the Lord delights in the conversion of sinners wherefore hee doth not onely make his Sunne to shine upon the good and upon the bad and calls them that wayes to repentance but oftentimes by his word and by dreames and his other benefites he invited them to repentance And thirdly he revealed himselfe thus to the heathen for the good of his Church Psal 105.14 He reproved kings for their sake And thus he revealed himselfe in a dreame to Pharaoh and to Nebuchadnezer for the Churches good So Dan. 2.30 But as for me this secret is not revealed to me for any wisedome that I have more than any living but for their sake that shall make the interpretation knowne to the King that is both for the Iewes and the whole Churches cause who by their prayers obtained from the Lord to me the interpretation of this dreame so that the dreame and the interpretation of the dreame were both given for the Churches cause So he revealed himselfe to Pilats wife in a dreame for Christs cause So the Lord sent a Prophet to wicked Ahab promising him victory against the Aramites for the comfort of his Church So Elisha prophecied to Iehoram for Iosaphats sake 2 King 3.14 Whether Pilates Wife her dream was a divine dreame or not Quest. What are we to Iudge of this dreame of Pilates wife Answ This dreame came from the Lord to admonish her and her husband Pilate Some dreames are from the spirit of God but not with the spirit of sanctification as Pharaoh his dreame and the dreame of Pilates Wife Secondly some dreames are both from the spirit and with the spirit as Iosephs dreame Thirdly some dreames are with the spirit but not from the spirit As a common dreame of the child of God comes not from the spirit of God but from the complection of his body or from the multitude of businesses and yet it may be with the spirit of sanctification Fourthly some dreames are neither from the spirit of God nor with the spirit of God as diabolicall dreames How shall we know whether our dreames be of God or not Quest How shall we know whether our dreames be from the Lord or not Answ We must not take them to be from God because we have often dreamed them Secondly we must not try them by the event because they fall out as we have dreamed For God often tryeth us this wayes Deut. 13. Neither must we take them to be from God because the mind is more setled after the dreame then before For Satan can transforme himselfe into an angell of light But the dreames which are from God have some markes to discerne them if so be that they are from him for there is some internall instinct whereby men are stirred up to enquire what these dreames meane as Pharaoh did and it is the part of the children of God to pray earnestly to the Lord to reveale to them those things which hath beene showne to them in a dreame for God openeth the eares of men in a dreame and sealeth their instruction that hee might withdraw man from his purpose and hide pride from man Iob 33.15 God giveth warning to his children somtimes of those things which are to befal them Such was that dreame which Theodosius dreamed that the Bishop set a Crowne upon his head when as he never thought of that businesse before Theodoret. ecclesiastica historia lib. 5. cap. 6. So that dreame of Policarp who dreamed that the pillow under his head was burning which foretold him of his martyrdome Of devillish dreames The fourth sort of dreames are devillish dreames when Satan moves men to superstitious and false things Ier. 23.25 I heare what those prophets sayes who prophesie in
whom the Law of God commands to be taken away And this opinion brings a blot upon Christian Iudicatories both Ecclesiasticall and civill accusing them both of ignorance and rashnesse as though they could not discerne what were done indeede and what by imagination and to accuse them of cruelty and injustice as though they should condemne harmelesse and innocent persons to death for such things which they never committed but onely being deluded by Satan they seeme onely to have done such things yet in judging of other crimes there we presume there is no delusion when they have the guilty persons confessing their faults if they be in their right wits and stand to their confessions made before Moreover these also may be put to death who are deluded by Satan in their sleepe for when they were awake they made the covenant with the devill as also because they desire most earnestly these things to be done which they seeme to doe in their dreames and they are most glad when they see these things performed Secondly Satan can strike the bodies of men with divers diseases the devill can strike the bodies of men with diverse diseases hee can strike them both vitijs creationis and vitijs accidentis Vitia creationis are such which men have from their conception as to be crooke backed So with such diseases as befall men after they are borne which are called vitia accidentis so he strooke Iob with botches and boyles so he bowed downe a daughter of Abrahams eighteene yeares and we reade in the Gospel of a dumbe devill Mat. 8.23 So of a deafe devill Mar. 9.25 and of a blinde devill Matt. 12.22 Hee may hurt all the senses and the tongue Here we must put a difference betweene the hurting of the good Angels and the bad How the good Angels differ from the badde Angels in hurting The good Angels doth hurt the wicked and preserveth the godly the good Angels were sent to Egypt to kill the Egyptians but to save the Israelites but the evill Angels doe hurt the godlie as the devill hurt the body of Iob and the Angel of satan buffeted Saint Paul Ob. But it may be said that David called the Angels who hurt the Egyptians evill Angels Psal 78.49 and he sent evill Angels amongst them Ans We must put a difference betwixt Angelus mali 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Angelus mali in regimine They were Angels of evill but not evill Angels who smote the Egyptians and saved the Israelites and angelus malus they were Angels of evill but not evill Angels they were Angels of evill because they inflicted punishments upon the Egyptians but they were good Angels protecting and sparing the Israelites Quest What Angel was that which buffeted Saint Paul Answ Some hold that it was concupiscence and lust against the which Saint Paul strove Others hold that it was some great enemie of Saint Pauls such as was Alexander the Coper-smith And some that it was a disease in his body which vexed him But it seemes more probable that Saint Paul was beaten and buffeted by some Angel of the Devill for Saint Paul describes here such a sort of affliction that might diminish something of that pride and high conceit which he had with the many revelations made unto him by God This pricke was given him in the flesh to diminish those high conceits Now neither the calumnies of the adversaries nor the diseases of the body were fit to do this and least of all concupiscence was fit to diminish those high conceits for one vice cannot be cured by another S. Paul glories in this infirmitie therefore it was not a vice and if there was such a power granted to the devill over the body of Christ that he might transport it here and there why might not the devill have power over the body of Saint Paul to buffet it seeing he had such power over the body of Iob to strike it with botches and sores Quest How are those diseases which are sent from God discerned from those which proceede from the Devill or from naturall causes How we are to discerne those diseases that come from God from those that come from the Devill and from naturall causes Answ It is more easie to discerne those which are sent from God then those which are from the Devill at Gods permission When diseases are sent upon men in the very time of their sinning then wee may thinke that the disease proceeds from no naturall cause 2 Cron. 26.19 When Vzziah had his censer in his hand to offer incense and was stricken with a Leprosie in the meane time there was nothing naturall in this Leprosie So when the Kings hand dryed up upon a sudden when he stretched it out to take the Prophet this was a punishment inflicted immediately from God So wee may know by the long indurance of the plague that it is from God As when the Iewes carried the Leprosie out of Egypt with them to the Desert and to Canan it might be known also by the colour that it was not naturall sometimes it appeared red Levit. 14.36 sometimes halfe red sometimes greene and sometimes in the flesh of man and in their cloathes and in the walls of their houses This variety of colours shewes that it hath been from God immediately Last it was remitted to the Priest to try this disease and not to the Physitians which argues that it was sent from God and not from nature So when he smote the Egyptians in their hinder parts to their perpetuall shame Psal 78.66 this disease came not from nature but immediatly from God But sometimes the Lord inflicts a disease which proceeds from a naturall cause As when he smote Iehoram with an incurable disease in his bowels 2 Cron. 21.18 This disease the Physitians call Diarrhaea when the Liver and the Lungues rottes and are disolved peece and peece and so are evacuate This disease had a naturall cause and a morall Valesius de sacrae Phil. pag. 238. The naturall cause of it was evill dyet which corrupted both the Liver and the Lungues therefore the text saith his bowels fell out by reason of the sicknesse day by day for this disease peece and peece consumes the Liver and the Lungues and ver 19. it was two yeares before he died of this disease The Morall cause of his disease was this because hee made Iudah to goe a whoring after Idols ver 13. if he had not committed those sinnes he had not so erred in his dyet neither would it have hurt him so for it is the Lord that woundes and the Lord that heales Gods will is the first cause preceeding all other causes yet it takes not away naturall and subordinate causes But those diseases which are inflicted by satan at the permission of God it is hard to know them All the Physitians could not tell what it was that bowed down the daughter of Abraham eighteene yeares Luke 13.11 Therefore in such cases
to the first mover the more they are carried about with the motion of the first mover and the lesse they follow their owne motion and those that are farther from the first mover followes more their owne motion and lesse the motion of the first mover and they that are farthest of all from the first mover most swiftly perfects their owne motion And yet for all that they follow the motion of the first mover also Saturne that is nearest to the firs◠mover followeth his owne motion verie slowlie and finishes both his owne course in thirty yeares The sunne that is farthest from the first mover then Saturne finisheth his owne course more swiftly in a yeare then Saturne doth But the Moone although she bee the lowest of all the planets and finisheth her course in twenty eight dayes yet shee followes the course of the first mover and is carried from the East to the West The Angels and the glorified spirits are most carried and directed by God the first mover and followeth not their owne motion The regenerate in this life they are too much busied about their owne motion and yet they are ruled and guided by the spirit of God But the devilles who are farthest of all from him and followeth their owne motion most yet they are inforced to follow the Lord and his will When Balaam would have cursed the people of God Num. 23.23 he was inforced to say that there was no inchantment against Israel When the Lyon had killed the Prophet yet hee tared not his flesh nor broke his bones Beth here is contra and not in 1 King 13.24 So the Lord restraines this raging Lyon the devill that hee make not altogether havocke of his Church Pro. 30.31 there be foure things which are comely in going A Lyon which is the strongest amongst beasts and turneth not away for any a horse girt in the loynes a hee goat also and fourthly a King against whom there is no rising up Satan is a strong Lyon who turneth not away for any hee is that strong horse girt in the Loyres which rusheth into the battell and none is able to withstand him Ier. 8.6 hee is also that hee goat Alexander was called Hircus caprarum Dominus duorum cornuum Dan. 8.6 The strength of a beast lies in his hornes Quando animaeli cuipiam additur Gen. Plur. foemin tunc significatur animal illud tenerum esse Gen. 38.17 Psal 113.4 Eze. 45.23 and Dan. 8.21 Hee was called Hircus caprarum to signifie that hee was but a young goat when hee pushed the world and none was able to withstand him what strength then hath this old hee goat to push the children of men And he is that King against whom there is no rising Therefore we should bee affraid of his strength alwaies But this is our comfort that hell and destruction are before the Lord Prov. 15.11 to be before the Lord signifieth not onely that things are knowne to him but also that they are under his power and subjection Gen. 13.9 Is not the whole land before thee Coram aliquo quid significat so Cant. 8.12 my vineyard which is mine is before mee that is it is in my power and belongs to me So hell and perdition are before the Lord That is hell and the devilles who are tortured there howsoever they resist yet they are subject to the Lord. These spirits must alwayes be at the Lords command and subject unto him The Apostle saith Heb. 2.8 That he hath put all things under his feete but wee see them not as yet put under him sed tandem proferet victoriam injudicum and then his enemies shall be quite trode under his feete Mat. 12.20 SECT 12. Of the knowledge of the devils and of their predictions of things to come THe devils hath great knowledge The devils have great knowlegde and therefore they are called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Foure things make them to have great knowledge Foure things makes them to have great knowledge The devils know things uno intuitu First they know things uno intuitu and they are intelligentes creaturae sed non ratiocinantes they know not as the Schoolemen saith Hoc ex hoc they reason not as we do gathering this of this but because they know not all things together therefore they learne hoc post hoc this after this When we behold the face of a man whom we know here we rest without any reasoning to enquire who he is but if we have forgotten the man whom we have seene before then wee beginne to recollect and bring our selves to a particular knowledge of the man as where wee have seene him before how they call him The first sort of knowledge which we have of the face is minus universalis magis distincta but the second is magis universalis magis confusa When the devil lookes upon things he knoweth them uno intuitu as when we looke upon a knowne face Our knowledge againe is more confused and therefore we come to it by reasoning this and that way Satan when he lookes upon the effects and the cause he doth not abstract and separate them as we doe when we foretell by the causes the effects following neither lookes hee by the effects unto the cause Our sight is quicker than our hearing and therefore we see the lightning before wee heare the clappe of the thunder but the devill takes them up both at one time A comparison betwixt man and man how far one exceeds another and how far the devill exceedes man The devill being a spirit knowes many things which man knowes not and he apprehends them sooner than man both for the impediment of his senses and dulnesse of his wit when we consider how farre one man differeth from another in quicknesse and understanding and how dull another is in conception and understanding by this wee may be led to take up what difference there is betwixt the knowledge of the devil and the knowledge of man and that he farre surpasseth man in understanding Vitruvius lib. 9. de architec cap. 3. compare but Archimedes his quicknesse of wit with Croesus his dulnesse and then ye may see what difference there is betwixt mans knowledge and the devills Archimedes could find out to tell how much base mettell was in the King of Siracuses crowne which was made to him although he brake not the crowne This was an admirable and great skill Croesus againe was as dull in his conception when hee caused to take the flesh of Testudo the shell crabbe and the flesh of a lambe and boyle them in one vessell to trie which of them should be soonest boyled and whether the shell crabbe would be as slow in boiling as in going and come as farre behinde the lambe now as before therefore Tyrius said of him Caelua pag. 51. that he was Regum stultissimus coquorum infaelicissimus of all kings the most foolish and
to God This Iudiciall astrologie is first iniurious to God for it takes away Gods providence and ties all things to a fatall necessitie Secondly it ascribes to the starres the foretelling of things contingent by them which is onely proper to God Esay 41.23 for when there concurres a number of causes about one effect which are not subordinate to ascribe the effect to any one of these causes more than to any of the other it is to ascribe a contingent effect to a cause which it cannot be ascribed to for when there is no dependance betwixt the effect and the cause then it is meere contingencie God only knows such things which are contingent a child is born at such an houre under such a constelation therfore such such things will befal him to ascribe these effects to his birth because he was borne under such a planet that is follie for there is no dependence here betwixt the effect and the cause And here they had neede to looke to a nearer cause than to his birth as to the constitution of the parents who begat the child and to the nurse who nourished him and to his foode and they had neede more to looke to the time of his conception than to the time of his birth for the starres workes more in the time of the conception of the child and when he is in his mothers bellie than in his birth Obj. But they will say when they find the houre of the birth they can easily know the time of the conception Answ Are all that are conceived at the same moment borne at the same time I hope they will not say so for some are borne in the seventh moneth some in the tenth month therfore this their observation wil not hold And let them looke rather to his education both by nature and by grace than to the starres for these will change him more than Mercurie or Venus They make the starres in their conjunctions to be the causes of mens actions both naturall and morall And they goe further that they are these which produces alterations in religion This Iudiciall astrologie ascribes the alterations and changes of religion to the starres They say when Iupiter is joyned with diverse planets he produces diverse religions when he was joyned with Saturne that conjunction bred the Iewish religion when he was joyned with Mars then he bred the Chaldeans religion when he was joyned with the Sun that bred the Egyptian religion and when he was joyned with Venus that brought on the Mahumets religion and when he was joyned with Mercurie that bred the Christian Religion and when hee was joyned with the Moone that bred the Antichrists religion But it is strange to see how these men ascribes more to the climates in the heavens and to the starres then they doe to the ground wherein they live or to the aire wherein they breath or to the foode whereby they were nourished And if we should demand of these men what is the reason that it hath fallen out that in these countries where Venus Mercurie and Saturne were of old worshipped the signes remaining the same still yet it hath fallen out that their gods hath beene expelled and cast out of these nations againe although the signes remaine So we may demand of them what is the reason although the Iewes be banished wandering through the world and changing so many climates yet never altered their religion and what is the reason that the Mahumets religion is professed now where the Christian was professed of old and wee see sundrie religions professed in one place under the same conjunction therefore this conjunction of Iupiter with the Sunne or any other starre cannot produce this effect of religion Thirdly if religion depend upon the vertue of the starres when the vertue in that conjunction ceaseth whether will the religion cease or not or ceaseth soone after as the light ceaseth when the Sunne is gone from us wâ—â—â—ce commeth it then that the Heathenish religion and the Iewish religion hath endured so long Vide Euseb lib. 6. c. 18. praeparatione evangelica when as none of the astrologues can say that the conjunction of the starres or the vertue of that conjunction hath indured so long and what conjunction can they shew when the Christian Religion arose to produce such an effect or what conjunction made this when the Mahumetan religion arose And we see contrary religions professed where there is but little difference of place This iudiciall astrology is iniurious to man As this Iudiciall astrologie dishonours God so it is injurious to man for it takes away from him liberty of will in civill things which he hath by nature and in religious matters which he hath by grace and brings him within the compasse of such a necessity Quando astra non necessitant sed inclinant They bring no fatall necessity with them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but inclines onely a little The starres they have their influxes into the bodies of men therefore they are called Mozalim by the Hebrewes a Nazal influere 2 King 23. And the Rabbines call them Meshartim a Sharat ministrare and therefore they serve somewhat to foretell mans inclination and manners for they commonly follow the temperature of the body But simply to foretell by the starres what manner of men they will be that cannot be foretold by the starres Sapiens dominabitur astris As to say such a woman will be an whoore because she was borne under such a constellation But onely thus much they might say her inclination would have led her to have beene such a woman but good education good company and most of all grace may restraine her from that sinne So this Iudiciall astrologie brings men under a continuall feare As the Lord threatned Isa 66.4 because when the Lord called upon them they would not answer him Therefore hee would choose their delusions and bring their feares upon thâ—â— What use we may make of the starres The Lord when he made the Sunne the Moone and the Starres he made them for signes and for seasons we may observe times by them It is the commendation of Issachar 1 Chro. 12.32 that he could marke the times So we may observe the starres to be signes of spirituall events As sometimes of Gods anger in the comets for although they have a naturall cause in them yet sometimes they signify great changes to happen in the Common-wealth as warre famine and other Iudgements Christ foretold that before his last comming there should be signes in the sunne the moone and the starres which should be most fearefull signes to the wicked as they should be comfortable to the children of God but wee can never tell things contingent by them This Iudiciall astrology is injurious to other sciences This iudicall astrology wrongs other sciences Let us consider what is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is such a
either they were but serpents in shew onely as Tertullian holdeth when he saith Moses veritas devoravit Magorum mendacia or els they were serpents brought there by the slight of the devill but they were not serpents newly created There is as great distance inter ens non ens betwixt that which is and that which is not as there is inter non ens ens betwixt that which is not and that which is but the devill cannot change a body which is unto that which is not at all he can dissolve a body into the foure elements but he cannot turne it to nothing because he cannot abolish the foure elements and as the devill cannot reduce that which is to nothing so he cannot create a thing and make it of nothing to be some thing God onely then who is the cause of causes can create There is in all the elements some seedes or seminarie vertues and when fit time and opportunitie serves they shew themselves in their owne kindes Now when the devill drawes forth these hee cannot be said to be the creator of them no more than the husband man who although hee observe the fit times and occasions of sowing the corne that it may grow yet he cannot be called the creator of the corne so neither can the devill be called the creator when he drawes out any thing out of the elements which is virtually in them God onely can change one substance into another So God likewise by his power can onely change the substances of things as he changed Lots wife into a pillar of salt Gen. 19. and water into wine Ioh. 2. God onely can change one essence into another but he cannot change one substance into another so long as the forme and substance of the first indureth Therefore the devill when he would take a proofe of Christ whether he were God or not hee bids him change stones into bread Matth. 4. Satan may delude our senses and shew us counterfeit shewes for true but he cannot change one substance into another S. Augustine lib. 18. de civitate Dei therefore Saint Augustine proveth well that Iphyginia was not turned into a hare neither was the companions of Diomedes turned into fowles As Satan would have had the people beleeve God onely can worke miracles Psal 135. God onely can worke miracles Thou Lord onely workes marvellous things Satan cannot worke a miracle for a part of nature cannot exceede nature Satan is but a part of nature and a miracle is above nature Therefore Satan cannot worke a miracle quod est totaliter sub-ordine constitutum non potest ultra istius Ns â—rae ordinem agere Mira operatur Satan sed non miracula and the Angell did wonderouslie Iudg. 13.19 So satan can doe wonders but no miracles There are Three sorts of miracles Miracles are of three sorts Miracles in the highest degree and Miracles in the second degree and miracles in the lowest degree Miracles in the highest degree are these in which nature had never a hand nor never could have Miracles in the highest degree as to make the Sunne stand still in the firmament or to goe backe so many degrees Miracles in the second degree are those Miracles in the second degree when nature had once a hand in producing of such things But when they faile nature cannot helpe them againe Example nature bringeth forth a man seeing but when hee becomes blinde nature cannot restore him to his sight againe And therefore when Christ restored the blinde to their sight it was a miracle in the second degree Miracles in the lowest degree A Miracle in the third degree is this when nature in time could doe such a thing but when it is done in an instant then it is a miracle in the third degree When Peters Mother in Law was sicke of a feaver Mat. 8.13 nature in time could have evicted this malignant humour and cured her but because upon a sudden Christ cured her of this feaver therefore it was a miracle in the third degree So when Ezekias lay sicke God bids lay a lâ—â—pe of figges to the sore figges in time would have matured the boyle but Ezechias being cured in a sudden by the Lord this was a miracle in the third degree The Devill cannot worke miracles in the highest degree Therefore it is false which they write of the witches of Thessalie that they could stay the course of the Sunne by their enchantments and bring the Moone out of the firmament Satan can worke no miracles in the second degree Christ proved himselfe to be the Saviour of the world by this because he restored sight to the blinâ— and the lame to their limmes and the deafe to their hearing and cleansed the Lepers Mat. 11.5 But Satan cannot restore sight to the blinde Iohn 10.21 Can a devill open the eyes of the blinde Satan can worke no miracles in the third degree Such as was the curing of Peters Mother in Law upon a sudden Satan hath more skill then a Physitian hath to give soveraigne physicke to a Patient and so to cure him the sooner but this he cannot doe upon an instant as Christ did The Hebrewes markes a twofold worke of God opus Beresheth A twofold worke of God opus beresheth and opus Merkebha 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and opus Merkebha They call gods ordinary working in nature opus Beresheth from the first words of Genesis They call Gods miraculous workes opus Merkebha from Ezekiels chariot Eze. 1. â— God in ruling naturall causes he rules from the highest to the Lowest and from the top of the Lather to the foot When God workes in naturall causes he rules from the highest to the lowest Hos 2.21 I will heare the heavens and the heavens shall heare the earth the earth shall heare the corne and the corne and the wine shall heare Iezreell Here God rules from the highest to the lowest Some of the Schoolemen maintained that God touched onely the first cause the Heavens and the Heavens sent downe the influence to the earth and so to the rest As when the crimp fish toucheth the fishers hooke It sends a benummednes to the hooke and the hooke transmitts it to the line and the line to the goad and the goad sends it to the fishers arme Here the crimpe fish workes not immediately upon all these but onely upon the hooke but God doth not worke so upon these subordinate causes but is immediately with every one of them Quest. Whether then doth God concurre as a mediate or immediate cause with every effect Whether God concurres as a mediat or in immediate cause with every effects Ans That is called a remote cause which is farthest distant from the effect and which touches not immediatelie the effect by the vertue of it God is called a remote and mediate cause if yee will respect the order of causes as he is nearer to the Heavens then to
the corne or Iezreell But if ye will consider distance from the effect If wee respect the causes God workes mediately but if ye respect his blessing he workes immediately by his vertue God is immediately with every offect But here wee must take heede that wee say not as some say The sunne shines not but God in the sunne the fire burnes not but God in the fire for then wee should ascribe many things to God which should bee unworthy to be spoken of him and wee should take away the subordination of causes But when Satan worketh he never worketh immediately but by some second cause but when God works Satan never workes immediately sometimes he works nullo mediante supposito no meanes intervening as when Christ cured the woman of the bloody flux by vertue which went out of him Mar. 5.30 Sometims againe he worketh mediante supposito immedietate virtutis that is by a meane which intervenes immediatly by his power as when he feeds us with bread when wee looke that all the vertue is in God then wee say that man lives not by bread onely but by every word that commeth out of the mouth of God Mat. 4.4 but when wee looke to the bread as to a second cause feeding us then we say that bread strengthens man Psal 104.15 and wine cheares his heart God onely worketh from the highest cause to the lowest It is he onely that sends raine Acts 14.17 He left not himselfe without witnesse in that hee did good and gave us raine from Heaven and fruitfull seasons It is he who gives the first and the latter raine and it is he that can hasten the raine 2 Kinges 18.44 And it is hee that can send a generall raine to destroy the world but Satan can doe none of these for Satans power goes no higher then the aire Hee is called the Prince of the aire and can raise stormes in the aire haile and fire and so can the Witches at Gods permission He can applicare hic activa passivis as we when we make pouder use to put brimstone and salt-peter together So can Satan raise stormes by applying contraries one to another but hee cannot bring downe fire from Heaven as Elias did 2 King 1.10 Quest Seeing Satan workes only by natural causes by touch and influx how is it said that the evill eye of the Witch doth bewitch How doth the evill eye of the witch bewitch Gal. 3.1 O foolish Galathians who hath bewitched you 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 here is properly spoken of those who bewitcheth by the eye Ans It is not the eye heere which doth the hurt but Satan As hee hurteth sometime under the pretext of the enchanting word so here hee hurts under the pretext of the eye and makes the witch beleeve that it is her eye which hurts when as it is satan in the meane time who doth the hurt What are wee to judge when a murtherer is brought before a dead corps and bleedes Quest What are wee to thinke of that sort of tryall when a man is killed and the murtherer is not knowne if the murtherer come before the dead man the corpes bleedes Heere there is neither a physicall touch nor a naturall cause and God worketh not miraculously now Answ Some hold as there is a secret antipathie betwixt some living creatures as the Elephant when he is madde beholding a lambe becommeth tame and the Lyon is afraid of the cock so there may bee an antipathie betwixt the living and the dead and the blood is moved when the murtherer is presented before it but this seemes to carry but little reason with it when a man was killed in Israel and no man knew who had murthered him If this tryall had beene a lawfull tryall why would not the Lord have set it downe for the discovery of the murtherer Vide Lessium pag. 384 Iunâ—â—â— writing upon this place holdâ— this tryall altogether to be unlawfull God when he workes upon the subordinate causes he workes ordinarilie 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 according to nature and sometimes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 praâ—â—r nâ—turâ—m as when he directs the creature another way then their naturall instinct would carrie them as when the kinâ— of the Phylistines were yoked in a cart 1 Sam. 6.7 they carried straight leaving their calves the arke to Bethshâ—â—â—sh So when the Raven brought daylie flesh to Eliah This was prâ—ter naturam besides nature for the Raven is cruell to her owne young ones and will scarcelie feede them see Iob 48.41 Satan cannot move the creatures against their proper instinct to doe any thing but he may hinder their naturall instinct by some naturall meanes by an antipathie Plutarch in Sympor The wild bull if hee bee tyed to the figg tree it calmes him The devill by such meanes can hinder the creatures God never workes contrary to naturall meanes God never workes contrarie to the superiour course of nature for the God of nature is never contrarie to nature And although the Lord sometimes seems to be contrarie to the second institution of nature yet he is never contrarie to the first institution of nature This is the supreame course of nature that all things should obey the first cause and God never workes contrary to this first institution of nature I will cleare this by this similitude The inferiour course of nature appoints every heavie thing to goe to the center yet lest there be any vacuum in rerum natura an emptinesse in nature the superiour course of nature draws heavie things upward to supplie this emptienes Others expresseth the matter thus There is a common nature and a particular nature and the particular gives way to the common the water by its owne proper course runnes downe but by the common course the water of the sea flowes and ebbes and this it hath from the common course Satan cannot stoppe the inferiour course of nature farlesse the superiour course of nature Gods miraculous sorts of working Gods second manner of working is opus Merkebha when hee worketh miraculously God in working of his miracles useth instruments but it is he alone who wroght the miracles When God workes his miracles by instruments it is he onely who does the worke he coÌ„municateth not this his power with any when the dead man was cast into the grave of Elisha and touched his bones 2 King 13.21 there was no power in the dead bones to quicken the man againe so there was no power in the apostles girdle or shadow to cure diseases neither into the Apostles themselves was this power they were morall meanes here but they were not Physicall causes they prayed to God and told that all was done in his name but there naturall skill helped nothing here in producing the effect So Iohn 5.4 when the Angell stirred the waters and they that stepped in first were healed the power was neither in the Angell here to heale nor in the water
when the diseases are not knowne whence they proceede wee should ever looke up to the first cause When Iob was robbed of his goods by the Chaldaeans he looked up to the first cause and he said the Lord hath given and the Lord hath taken So no doubt when satan strook him with such sores he said The Lord woundeth and the Lord healeth people commonly when they are stricken with some diseases they say some witch hath done this but they never looke up to the first cause the hand of God but the greatest witch that bewitches them is their owne infidelitie The Iewes markes two sorts of spirits which hurts men 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Iewes for the most part ascribes all sudden diseases to evill spirits and they make two sorts of spirits one sort that killes in the night And this they call Debher And another which killes in the day time and this they call Ketebh and all the ground which they have for this is that which they take out of Psal 91.6 hee will deliver thee from the pestilence which walkes in the darknesse and from the destruction which wastes in the day time And the Targum following the Iewes opinion Paraphraseth it thus A caetu daemonum perdentium in meridie that is from the company of the devills who destroyeth in the noonetyme of the day aâ—d the 70. translates i◠〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 daemonio meridiano that is from a devill that flies in the day tyme. As Satan can hurt the bodies of men so hee can hurt the soule Satan can hurt the soule when it is in the bodie To strike the soule with madnesse when it is in the bodie as the evill spirit of the Lord came upon Saul and strooke him with madnes and this is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and opposite to this is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mar. 5.15 So hee can strike the heart with blindnesse and hardnesse but for the will of man it is moved by no externall cause but only by God himselfe The Lord perswaded Iaphet to dwell in the tents of Shem Gen. 9.27 It is the Lord onely who can peswade the will Satan cannot perswade the will God onely doth this satan propounds and suggests tentations to the will but cannot enforce the will Hence it followeth that the devill cannot be said to be the cause of sinne directlie moving the will as God moveth the will to good the will is a free working cause and determinates it selfe to sinne therefore the Devill cannot necessitate the will to sinne unlesse the will give its owne consent non cogendo sed suadendo nocet non extorquet consensum sed petit Therfore it is that the scripture so often exhorts us to resist the devill Ephes 6. and Iames 4. Resist the devill and he will flie from you And if the devill should draw men necessarily to sinne then it should bee the devills sinne onely and not mans when as all sinne is willingly committed Therefore he is but indirectly the cause of sin Satan is indirectly the cause of sinne by the will propounding and suggesting such objects which may affect the senses and draw the will at last to give consent willingly to the sinne When the soule is out of the bodie the devill can doe nothing to the soules of the children of God What Satan can doe to the soule when it is out of the bodie for they are bound up in the bundell of life 1. Sam. 25. but hee can punish the soules of the wicked according to that power which is granted unto him and so much the more as the soule is the more immateriall then the bodie So the punishments of the soule are more fearefull then the punishments of the bodie and although the bodies bee more passible then the soule yet the spirit hath more understanding and when there is more understanding there the paine and the griefe is the greater And there is the greater harmony betwixt spirits and their delights then betwixt the senses and their pleasures and consequently there is more griefe in the soule then in the body Reasons moving us to acknowledge the power of the Devill If wee would consider either the number strength order or agreement of the devills amongst themselves we must acknowledge their great power 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The order of the devils First there order There is Belzebub the prince of the divels there are also inferiour divels as Rev. 12. the DragoÌ„ fought his Angels and Ashmodeus Lucifer princeps daemonioruÌ„ Augustinus Nyphus in his book de daemonibus cap. 17. saith Omnis multitudo dictat ordinem maxime in perpetuis substantijs Every multitude requireth order but especially those immortall substances for as it is ordained saith he that men may live the more quietlie and peaceably that there be superiors to rule and inferiors to obey So amongst the devills that they may hurt annoy man the more there are some superiors and others inferiors which power and superioritie of theirs shal cease when they can hinder no more the salvation of man And as all principalities shall bee given up then 1 Cor. 15. So shall also saith hee this principalitie of the devill cease then When wee consider their number If we consider then there nuÌ„ber we may see what great power they have A Legion possessed one poore man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 They are called Gibborim potestatés Thirdly consider that they are called Gibborim potestates strong ones Psal 78.25 hee fed them with the bread of the strong ones that is with the bread of Angells There agreement And lastly consider their agreement It is not Regnum divisum a divided kingdome they all conspire together for the overthrow of man by all this wee may understand what power the devill hath to trouble and molest poore man Now to conclude this point concerning the power of the devils this is our comfort that there power is a limitate power and that they can goe no further then God permits them 1 Sam. 18.10 It is said that the evill spirit from God came upon Saul why is hee called the evill spirit that came from God because hee was sent by him and restrained by him at his pleasure The Lord can rule the devills at his pleasure he cannot only restraine them that they hurt us not but can make them instruments to serve for the good of his Saints 1 Cor. 5. the Lord biddes deliver the incestuous Corinthian over to Satan for the destruction of his flesh that his spirit might bee saved in the day of the Lord Iesus The Lord makes the devill here his instrument for the mortifying of the corruption of the incestuous Corinthian 1 Cor. 5.5 So hee used the messenger of Satan to buffet Paul that hee might humble him 2 Cor. 12.7 The Lord can make Satan an instrument for the good of his Saints The planets the nearer that they are
of all cookes the most unskilfull Archimedes his skill farre surpasseth Croesus his dulnesse so the wit of the devill farre surpasseth man The Angles knoweth not this by this as wee doe when the doores was sprinkled with the bloud they reason not after this manner as we doe this is the signe therefore such a man dwelleth here but the bloud was sprinkled upon the doores for to assure the Israelites that none of their houses should be killed Object But ye will say How the Angels take up things if the Angels compone not things but apprehend onely simple things they have the basest sort of knowledge for children apprehend first simple things then they compone things and thirdly they reason and thus they proceed from the imperfect to the more perfect posteriora origine sunt dignitate prima and these things which are last taken up are most excellent now the Angels taking up things onely simply they seeme to have the basest sort of knowledge Answ The Angels by their simple essence know things and not by passion as wee apprehend in our minde Secondly the Angels when they apprehend simple things it is without any kinde of imperfection as it is when we apprehend them eminenter includunt perfectionem compositionis discursus Secondly The long life of the devill makes him to have great skill their long life makes them to have great skill Satan is an old Serpent therefore his skill must be very great Let a man live but Nestors days and have good wit together with long experience he cannot choose but to be wise Satan saw from the creation of the world and shall see to the last Iudgement he saw the first world drowned with water and shall see the second destroyed with fire therefore he must understand much It is a long time ere a man come to knowledge and he spends a great time in folly and if he live long he forgets as fast and faster than ever he learned But Satan Nescit quid sit oblivisci and therefore great must be his knowledge Thirdly The great imployment of Satan breeds him kill the great imploiment of Satan hath bred him great knowledge he saw the rising the height and the fall of the foure Monarchies hee had a hand in them all quorum pars magna fuit He was at the consultations of all the tyrants against the Church and no wicked deede was ever atchieved but Satan was at the plotting-of it and therefore great must be his skill Fourthly his great intelligence that he hath abroad makes him to understand much His great imployment abroad makes him to have skill for the evill spirits from all parts give intelligence one to another and as the Cherubims were painted in the temple with their faces one to another signifying that their is a correspondencie amongst the good Angels for the propagating of the Kingdome of God so the devills agree one with another to give mutuall intelligence for the upholding of their kingdome Regnum non est divisum Mat. 12.25 The Lord knowes onely the secrets of the heart God onely knoweth the secrets of the heart as when Sarah laughed within her selfe Gen. 18.12 and the Pharisees reasoned within themselves Luk. 6.8 2. King 8.26 Ioh. 2.25 Heb. 4. all things are naked before him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a speech borrowed from the Priests under the Law who when they killed the beast all things that were within the beast were layed naked before the Priest and he saw what was found and whâ—t was corrupted so all our thoughts are naked before the Lord he knoweth which are good and which are bad and therfore the Arabians say Tu solus domine nosti substantiam pectoris and thus they call upon him O thou who knowest the thoughts of men when they hold their peace that knowledge is the most excellent knowledge which we attaine to by knowing the cause but God knoweth all things as they are in their causes originally but our thoughts are in the heart as causes and therefore it is most fit that God should know them who is rather said to understand intelligible things then visible because they come nearer to his nature magis sunt in actu ille est purus actus This knowledge of the heart Satan hath not but onely by effects Satan knoweth what is in the heart onely by the effects and here he knoweth this of this and this after this because hee hath no knowledge of the cause but by the effect here he conjectures what is in the heart as the Physitians by the pulse can tell the disease Valerius lib. 7. Erasistratus the Physitian was much commended who perceived by the countenance of Antiochus King of Seleucia his sonne that he was taken in love with his mother in law if a Physitian by the beating of the pulse and countenance can take up this much more can the devill doe and if the Fisher by stirring of the corke knoweth that there are fishes in the net much more may the devill know what is in the heart by signes The Lord knoweth the thoughts of our heart a farre off which the devill doth not The Lord knowes the thoughts of our heart a farre off Psal 139.17 and as the Gardiner in the Winter foretels that this roote will bring forth such an hearbe and this tree such a fruite long before the Spring So the Lord seeth the thoughts of the wicked a farre off When the Prophet foretold Hazael that he should be King of Israel and foretold also what cruelty hee should exercise upon their women and children that he should rippe up the bellies of the women with child what man or Angell could have foreseene this When it was told Hazael hee wept and said Am I a dogge 2 King 8.13 that I should prove such a cruell monster but yet he proved such a monster as the Lord foretold because from the wicked comes wickednesse 1 Sam. 24.13 The Lord can foretell contingent things The Lord onely can foretell contingent things There are three sort of contingent things Contingens natum There are three sorts of contingent things as the Schoolemen observes the first is contingens natum the second is contingens rarum the third is contingens indefinitum Contingens natum they make to be that which usually falleth out as a man when hee is old to have white haires Contingens rarum Secondly there is contingens rarum which falleth out very seldome as when a man is digging the ground hee findeth a treasure Satan can hardly foretell this because he knoweth not perhaps where the treasure is hidden no more than he knew where the body of Moses was buried Deut. 34.6 Thirdly there is contingens indefinitum Contingens indefinitum as whether Peter will runne the morrow or not This Satan cannot fortell These contingent things God onely can foretell Tell us what is to come that we may
A difference betwixt 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 We must put a difference betwixt these 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 were those who any wayes were possessed by the devill they were called also arrepticij 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 were those whom Sathan possessed in the full moone 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 were those who were Christians but for their abuse of the holy mysteries of God they were possessed by Sathan for a time and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was a naturall disease which wee call madnesse Those Daemoniackes and Lunatickes were onely cured by the Lord himselfe and his power Those who were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 were cured by the exorcistes in the Primitive Church and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 madnesse was cured by Physicke and naturall meanes Heat and moist makes the braine to swell Sathan observing this vexes the Lunatickes Satan knowing well the naturall cause of things and that the moone is hote and moist it is hote as the sunne although not in so high a degree Psal 121.6 〈◊〉 sunne shall not burne thee by day nor the moone by night He knew also that she was humide and moist and fit to nourish things Therefore the Scriptures call herbes protrusiones lunares the pretious things brought foorth by the moone Deut. 33.14 Because the moone is humide and hot she workes upon our braines and makes them to swell up heate and moysture causes things to swell up as wee see in leaven Therefore the scripture cals pedom fermentatum a swelling foote Deut. 8.4 neither was thy foote fermented that is it was not swelled so heate and moisture causeth the braine to swell in the full moone and Satan observing this troubleth the braine of the Lunaticke then Every one that is Lunaticke is not a doemoniacke or possessed by a devill All Lunatickes are not doemoniackes neither are all Lunatickes upon whom the moone shines in her brightnesse If this disease depended simply upon the moone then all men should be doemoniackes Therefore to make them doemoniackes it was necessarie that the body should bee affected thus and thus so that the moone might afterward produce in the body this disease The moone workes nor so upon bodies that she produceth this effect upon them unlesse they be so affected before that the moone may produce this effect upon them and when the devill affects the body so that he makes it subject to such an operation of the moone then hee that is Lunaticke is arreptitius and possessed by the devill The secohd sort were those whom Satan vexed not monethly but whensoever the fit tooke him There were others that Satan vexed at sundrie times but not monethly hee threw him in the fire or in the water Observe here first the devill vexed him who was possessed from his infancie secondly he vexed him both within and without without he threw him into the water and into the fire within wheresoever he taketh him he teareth him and he fometh and gnasheth with his teeth and pineth away Marke 9.18 He vexeth him from his infancie as the devill vexed this miserable creature from his infancie so the Lord hath his good Angels waiting upon infants to preserve them in their infancie Math. 18.10 Take heede that ye despise not one of these little ones for I say unto you that in heaven their Angels doe alwayes behold the face of God Angells have a care of all Gods little ones but especially of his little ones in age whom he sets downe as examples of imitation to all his little ones Math. 19. Secondly he threw him into the fire and into the water fire and water are the two elemens which are most necessarie for the use of man therefore those who were proscripti of old interdicibantur igne aqua Sathan abuses these two elements to the hurt of man either when he throwes him into the fire or into the water and the good Angels have a speciall care over young ones that they fall not into the fire or water this is a speciall part of their charge to preserve the sonnes of men Angels have a threefold motion first motum circularum their circular motion secondly they have motum rectum a straight motion up and downe and thirdly they have their reflexe motion Their circular motion they make to be this Dionysius areopagita de divinis nominibus cap. 4. when they are alwayes taken up in beholding the face of God who is Alpha and Omega without beginning and ending their direct motion they hold to be this when the Angels comes up and downe upon the Lord Iesus Christ to be the ministring spirits unto the Saint Iohn 1.51 And their reflex motion they make to bee this when one of the Angels cries to another and sayes Holy holy holy is the Lord of Hosts Esay 6.3 The devill threw him into the fire and water Ithiel Pro. 30.4 Who gathereth the wind into his fists who binds the waters in a garment and puts a bridle in the mouth of the sea 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Marke 4.39 It is he that can bridle and restraine the Devils that they cannot hurt when and where it pleaseth them The Devill made him foame at the mouth and gnash with his teeth Marke 9. and teare himselfe if Satan can vexe so poore creatures when they are but as warders what will he doe to them when he hath them close prisoners in hell And if he hath so vexed the greene tree as Iob and the daughter of Abraham and this young child what will he doe to the withered trees and if his little finger have beene so heavie on poore creatures on earth here how heavie will his loynes be on them in hell where there shall bee weeping and gnashing of teeth Math. 13.42 This 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or veterator labours to deceive our sight and that three manner of wayes The Devill deceives our sight three manner of wayes first by the object secondly by the mids and thirdly when he vitiates the organ it selfe first by the object when he shewed to Christ the glory of the whole world he thought to have deceived him by the object Math. 4. When the Moabites tooke the water to have beene blood when the sunne shined upon it 2 Kings 3.22 here the deceit was in the object secondly the deceit is in the mids when we put an oare in the water that part which is in the water seemes to be broken and that out of the water seemes to be whole the deceit is in the mids when we see a fish in the water the fish seemes more to us and nearer by reason that the thinner and rarer midse is next to our eye but the remote midse from our eye the water is more thicke and grosse but if a man were in the water and beheld another standing upon the brinke of the River he should seeme to the beholder much lesse than he is The