her fruit Then neighbours if you desire the cry of our poore to cease and the judgements of God to forbear us let us give God his due and respect his house There was a time when our holy fathers spared no cost nor labour to build Gods houses now let us take our time to adorn them as many of our devout brethren have begun So forward were good people in the old world to this service that Moses made proclamation to stay their devotions as we reade in Exod. 36. O that but half this willing heart were among us Christians to shew our love to God in this kinde The second office of holinesse is a holy preparation before we enter Gods house This is taught by Solomon Eccles. 5. 1. Take heed to thy foot when thou entrest into the house of God as if it had been said Thou canst not enter as thou oughtest without a preventing and preparing thought Why sayest thou not to thy self Whither goest thou what art thou about to do If thou sayest To serve God then consider what God is Is he not the maker of all things and the mover of all things made canst thou see any thing that is not his canst thou heare any thing which his hand hath not made canst thou wear any thing which his fingers have not spunne canst thou set thy foot on that which his power hath not founded All this week before thou hast sitten at his table and tasted of his cates and canst thou come at any time to his house to thank him for all this and not deeply consider what thou art to do The third office of holinesse is To reverence Gods Sanctuarie and as by other acts of reverence so by keeping off our hats while we stay in it whether there be Service or no Service and this reverence is commanded in generall Levit. 19. after such an emphaticall manner as if the breach of it were equall to the sinne of not keeping the fourth commandment for they are joyned together both in the same precept vers 30. Ye shall keep my Sabbaths and reverence my Sanctuarie I am the Lord. Where ye see why God commands his house to be reverenced because it is his house and the honour that is done in it and to it is done to himself I am the Lord. As the good usage which we give to the family of a nobleman reflecteth from the family to the nobleman so is it between God and his house When we go into our kings chamber where stands his chair of state though the king himself be not there yet we put off and are uncovered in remembrance of his majestie but our heavenly King as he is in all places because he is infinite so he is in this his palace by a more speciall resemblance of his holinesse but then chiefly when Gods people are met together there for Gods house is a little heaven on earth here dwels the Father Sonne and holy Ghost the Father in receiving our devotions the Sonne in directing them and the holy Ghost in sanctifying them Thus saith the Sonne of God Where two or three are gathered together in my name there am I in the midst of them Thou wilt say I cannot see either Father Sonne or holy Ghost in this place I answer God is a Spirit therefore not to be seen with bodily eyes yet hath he given thee bodily eyes to inform thy spirituall eyes Seest thou not Gods Minister here speaking to God and bowing his knees to him when he speaks Seest thou not the Sonne of Gods seat here the holy Altar at the upper end of this house and seest thou not the holy Font at the nether end where the holy Ghost is alwaies ready to receive all into his kingdome If the Sonne and holy Ghosts seats be at both ends of this house must not the Father needs be all the house over because both Sonne and holy Ghost proceed from him and are but one Spirit and one God Moses saith The Lord our God is one Lord. He is in the light that shines in at the window he is in thy breath by which thou prayest and speakest Thou mayst say further I cannot see the holy angels here attending on him Wilt thou beleeve no more then thou canst see then art thou no better then S. Thomas in this case to whom our Lord preferreth all them that beleeve have not seen See with S. Pauls eies in the 1. Cor. 11. 10. where men are directed to be uncovered on their heads in Gods house women to be covered because of the angels that is to say lest the holy angels in the congregation should be offended at the womens irreverent carriage with bare heads and long hair and at the mens hats on their heads Wherefore good fellow-brethren if you respect God and his holy place have a speciall care to maintain good orders and manners in it lest God and his holy angels be offended at us To conclude as all the holy saints in heaven behold Gods face there so all the saints of the earth are here in this lower heaven beholding the beauty of his holinesse Now if God be here his seat here his angels here his saints here his word and worship here then what reverence and holinesse becometh this house above all places in the world Wert thou in the kings chamber the king there speaking to thee and thou to the king how wouldest thou tremble what passions wouldest thou have within thee what thoughts of humilitie what cares of oversights But because thou canst see none but thy neighbours here here thou art bold and servest God with lesse fear then men serve the work of his fingers Si quis regem hominem saith Erasmus alloquuturus circumstante procerum coronâ nec caput aperiat nec genu flectat non jam pro rustico sed pro insano ab omnibus haberetur Quale est ergò illîc opertum habere caput erecta genua ubi Rex adest ille regū immortalis immortalitatis largitor ubi vener abundi circumstant aetherei spiritus nec refert si eos non vides vident illi te nec minùs certum est illos adesse quà m si videres illos oculis corporeis It skilleth not whether thou seest them when as they see thee for it is as certain that angels are present in Gods house at such times as if thou sawest them with thy bodily eyes Open therefore all thy eyes the eyes of thy minde and the eyes of thy body the eyes of thy body to behold the outward beauty of this house in divine service and the eyes of thy soul to behold the inward beauty of Gods holinesse majesty and greatnesse and thou canst not choose but be reverent more then our usuall manner is The 4 sort of reverence and office of this holinesse beseeming Gods house is at the entring in before we take our seats to bend the knee and to bowe our body to him
hearest carrie it home with thee and with the noble Bereans search in Gods word whether it may not stand with it and further because thou art a private man and S. Peter teacheth that no scripture is of any private interpretation therefore thou art not to rest in thine own sense but thou must go further to the preachers fellows and to them whose authority is prevalent in the Church and require their judgement because S. Paul saith The spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets and if the matter be too hard for them then thou must go to the Bishops who are Gods high priests and ask of them as we are directed in Deut. 17. Devotion as hath been said is the soul to prayer and the rest of Gods service because it is the daughter of the mother-vertue Charitie and this is a cheerfull and free giving of our selves to Gods service as his houshold servants Therefore this is the speciall act of religion And this devotion is derived à voto from a vow and is a frank gift and free binding of our selves unto it and a simile of this we have in Mephibosheth who when king David had awarded his lands to be divided between him and his servant Ziba gave all from himself for Davids sake saying Let him take all seeing my lord the king is come home in peace According to this when we consider what God hath done for us as Mephibosheth remembred what king David had done for him when we remember that he hath not onely made us but after this redeemed and saved us when we were but dead men before him as Mephibosheth and his fathers house were before king David and when we remember further that in his Sonne Christ he hath taken us as his own sonnes to be at his own table therefore now we are willing to forsake all for his sake to let the world and Ziba take all and to give our selves wholly to his service A second motive to this devotion is the consideration of our own defects For when we finde our selves too weak to persist in this purchased grace without his speciall aid we relinquish our own strength and providence to betake us to his protection and so we turn to be his household servants And because prayer is the principall mean to lay hold on Gods help therefore herein specially our devotion in Gods house is occupied And for that many after they have made good vowes by the worlds avocations are called off therefore my Text tells me that this holy service must not be for a time but for ever Holinesse becometh thy house O Lord for ever God is alwaies the same as saith the Psalmist Thou art the same and thy yeares fail not The proverb is Semper idem Wherefore if we be not the same alwaies to him as he is to us if we fail to serve him he will fail to save us because he is alwaies the same as well just as mercifull S. Jude teacheth that the angels which kept not their first habitation God hath reserved in everlasting chains to the judgement of the great day Of how much more punishment shall they be worthy which fall upon fall and finally fall away The angels fell but once and were immediately cast down but loose and carelesse men fall from God twice first in Adam whereby we have all warning and secondly in themselves in which if without repentance they persist then is grace contemned and their falling from God confirmed The devout Anna leadeth us a better example for she being a widow of about fourescore and foure yeares departed not from the Temple but served God with fastings and prayers night and day She would not go out of it but many of us will seldome come at it especially upon Saints dayes and fasting dayes when God should be served with greatest humiliation and strongest devotion because then the Saints in heaven joyn with us Joyn with us will you say how know you that Thus because in Wis. 3. 1. it is said The souls of the righteous are in the hand of God but Gods hand is ever in action therefore the souls departed must be so too What are they doing because they are of our body which is Christs Church they are in continuall care for us because S. Paul saith that the members should have the same care one for another What is their care in action it can be nothing but prayer for us because they themselves are past danger therefore all their desires are for us And this is represented after some manner by Gods ordinance towards the holy nation in getting the earthly Canaan for God would not give to the two tribes and half the land of Gilead but upon condition that they should aid the rest of their brethren and go armed with them into Canaan untill they were in as quiet possession as themselves Now if the Saints in heaven after their manner aid us with their prayers shall we be so base-minded as not to pray with them O ingratitude neither fit for heaven nor earth The Church our mother hath ordained holy-dayes to God for them to acknowledge their pains and labours which they took for Gods glory and our good before they went from us then let us upon these dayes blesse and praise God for them These dayes are the Saints obsequies their feast dayes their dayes of triumph O let us rejoyce with them let us reverence their memories let us imitate their vertues let there be a holy necessitude between them and us let us not be strangers We are all of the holy bloud and the bloud-royall we are all of Christs body therefore let us joyn together that God may be served of us the stronger In Cathedrall and Collegiate churches they serve God every day in the week this is the continuall burnt-offering commanded Exod. 29. In our countrey-churches we are commanded to serve God so too specially adding every Wednesday and every Friday the holy Letanie on Wednesday in memoriall of our Lords arraignment and on Friday in remembrance of his precious death And although in our particular churches we have not the people to attend the continuall burnt-offering in regard of secular businesse yet the priest is to do it and for the people This serveth to teach us that though we be not alwayes in the Temple as Anna was yet the Altar of our hearts should never be cold towards God nor the fire of his love at any time go out but alwaies burn in prayer and meditation and holy desires as God gave in charge by the figure Levit. 6. 12. The fire shall ever burn upon the Altar and never go out And according to this in the new law S. Paul saith Pray continually or without ceasing that is to say upon all occasions offered and again Praying alwayes with all prayer and supplication in the spirit In the old law were two principall sacrifices Juge
of works As the bodie without the spirit is dead so faith without works is dead also for where no works are there is no charitie and where no charitie is there faith and works and all is dead Therefore the Apostle saith Though I feed the poore with all my goods and have not charitie it profiteth me nothing Why because without charitie works are dead as well as faith and knowledge and other graces And where there is charitie that is to say a divine love to God and all goodnesse there all things are alive and every grace working to salvation Faith beleeveth to salvation hope hopeth to salvation knowledge knoweth to salvation all work by charities spirit Hence the School calleth charitie the form of vertues But you may say How prove you that divine love and charitie is the spirit that giveth life and motion to all other graces Thus because faith which is the first grace worketh by it Gal. 5. 6. For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth any thing nor uncircumcision but faith which worketh by charitie Then as all the members of the bodie work by the power of the soul so faith and other graces in the spirituall body work by the power of charitie First because charitie is the impulse of the Christian soul. Neither can you with reason say that because faith is the first grace in spiritualitie therefore all animation and motion proceedeth from it because in generation the matter goeth before the form and in the body of man there is vegetation and animalitie common to other creatures before the reasonable soul come which is the sole beginning of actions reasonable Secondly I prove this because where is no charitie there all is dead as S. John sheweth He that loveth not his brother abideth in death Again We know that we are translated from death to life because we love the brethren Where love is there is life and where no love is there is no life Thirdly I prove this because God is our life but God is charitie as Saint John sheweth God is charitie and he that remaineth in charitie remaineth in God and God in him If God be charitie then charitie in the Christian must needs be his life because our charitie floweth from his charitie Fourthly I shew that charitie is the life of all vertues and graces because it is the root of the spirituall tree within us as S. Paul teacheth Ephes. 3. 17 18 19. That ye being rooted and grounded in charity may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth and length and depth and height and to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge that ye may be filled with all the fulnesse of God Here ye see charitie to be the root therefore so long as the root lasteth no vertue or grace can wither in us but if the root die all die All comes from the root the leaves the blossoms the fruit If there be either ornament of vertue or fruit of grace in us all comes from the root of charitie Yea the life of vertue not onely comes from this root but there it is kept and preserved too for when winter and cold storms come then the sappe for shelter runnes down to the root and there it is preserved till the next spring so again when the winter of Gods wrath and storms of persecution assault the profession of the Gospel then by and by we retire to the root of charitie and there is our profession preserved till the storm be over Thus Peter denied his Master thrice when he was going to his death yet because he still loved his Master therefore his life remained in him in the time of persecution it lay hid in the root of charitie The Apostle goeth forward That ye may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the length and breadth and height and depth Charity breaks forth into all the dimensions of spirituall growth The prophet Isaiah rather then he would forsake his God was sawn asunder in the midst others were racked and would not be delivered they would not be delivered but held out to the death The blessed Marie Magdalene washt our Saviours feet with her tears and wiped them drie again with the hairs of her head Oh blessed charitie If thou hast this root in thee thou also shalt comprehend this breadth and length height and depth and thou shalt with these holy Saints say If I had been in their coats or had their occasions I would have done as they did This is that love of Christ which passeth knowledge and this is the fulnesse of God To proceed Charitie is the most excellent grace because it is the divine seed of a Christian by which we are born of God and freed from mortall sinne 1. John 3. 9. Whosoever is born of God sinneth not for his seed remaineth in him This seed S. Hierome in his 2 book against Jovinian and S. Austine in his 5 tract upon 1. John calleth charitie for in it is contained the beginning of our conversion to God which is a holy desire For no man desireth any thing untill he loves it but when he loves it then he desires it when he desires it then he seeks it after he hath sought it then he findes it according to that in the Gospel Seek and ye shall finde knock and it shall be opened and when a man hath found because he loves it entirely he will so cleave to it that he will not be removed from it So is it between the regenerate heart and God When God hath given a man a heart to love him then he beginnes to desire him when he desires him then he seeks him then he knocks at heaven gates by prayer and will not away till God open to him because his seed remaineth in him And after he hath found him then he so cleaves to him by hope and hangs so fast upon him that he will die before he leave him because faith hath perswaded him that God is his maker and redeemer and that he is moreover a rewarder of them that diligently seek him Heb. 11. 6. And how will he reward him not with gold and silver which are corruptible but with life everlasting and the joyes of heaven Oh here is enough we will seek no further Thus you see how love and charitie sets the soul to desire and seek God above all things and so charitie is the beginning of our conversion and after it hath begun it will never cease seeking untill it hath found and obtained Were a man by faith perswaded that God is the authour of all happinesse and that all the goods in heaven and earth lay in him treasured up yet if he should love the goods of the world more then God then he would never set his heart to seek and desire him But when faith hath enlightned the minde to know God then if the love of the heart will forsake the world and things
abode Sedulius saith Templum Hierosolymae reficere tentabit He shall go about to repair the temple at Hierusalem Hierome He shall sit in the temple of God either at Hierusalem as some think or in the Church as we more truely suppose S. Chrysostome to whom I attribute most saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. He shall command himself to be worshipped for God and to be placed in the temple not onely at Hierusalem but also in the Churches He shall seat himself in the temple to give satisfaction to the Jews his principall followers and he shall place himself in the Church to oppose the Christians to the one he shall counterfeit the Messias to the other he shall disclose himself to be the Antichrist And this sense doth Theodoret and Theophylact follow Lactantius saith In Antichrists time the chief kingdome shall be in Asia the east shall rule and the west shall obey And Irenaeus hath Antichrist on a sudden shall rush into divers kingdomes of the Romane empire to challenge a kingdome to himself Sibyl saith that the greatest terrour and furie of his kingdome shall be by the banks of Tybur 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A king shall rise with whitish head and neighb'ring seas name bear Viewing the world with poyson'd foot obtaining gifts by fear All mysteries of magick arts he shall exactly know An infant god himself he 'l shew what 's worshipt here below He will deface and then begin his errours to unfold Then all shall mourn like turtle sole which do this beast behold Then fathers grave with children small shall direfull fates blaspheme Alas alas thus howl and curse on banks of Tyburs stream Thus farre of Antichrists seat and next follows his ostentation shewing himself that he is God Because he cannot be God in deed he will seek to be God in shew He shall be but an earthen God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as S. John describeth him Revel 11. 4. These are the two olive-trees and the two candlesticks standing before the God of the earth Beza translateth passively put before the God of the earth signifying that they are so placed by the true God against the false God thus agreeing with the adverb 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 è regione vel ex adverso posita placed overthwart to him Wherefore for all his ruffe in his fourtie two moneths time yet he shall not have his full will and pleasure because Gods two witnesses shall interrupt him by prophesying against him and by vexing his earthen worshippers with plagues 1260 dayes which is the just time of his fourtie two moneths But here a great question ariseth Who shall be these two witnesses Our late Divines say The ordinarie Ministers of the Church for that time But the Fathers understand them to be Enoch and Elias Though there be no expresse warrant for either of these yet untill I understand better I follow the Fathers because their sense fitteth best with the circumstances of the text and the description of the persons And first because the persons are but two but the ordinarie Ministers are many And if it be said that the number of two is put for all the rest I reply that this is not agreeing with the scripture which in such cases useth numbers of perfection or numbers of allusion 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The number of seven being a number of perfection is thus commonly used through this book of the Apocalyps as the seven starres are put for all the Ministers of Asia and the seven lamps for all the vertues of Gods Spirit and the number of twelve thousand for all them that were sealed of every of the twelve tribes But the number of two is no such number and therefore not fit to comprehend a whole Secondly for the word witnesses this is fit for Enoch in that he rebuked the first world and testified of Gods coming to judgement against them And this squareth as just with Elias in rebuking of sinne and testifying for God insomuch as John the Baptist the great reformer is prophesied to come in the spirit and power of Elias Thirdly it is said that if any man will hurt them fire proceedeth out of their mouth and devoureth their enemies And so again assoon as Elias opened his mouth to command fire to come down from heaven the fire fell and devoured two captains with their two fifties Fourthly it is said that these have power to shut heaven that it rain not in the dayes of their prophesying and this power had Elias and executed it as we reade in 1. Kin. 17. 1. Fifthly it is said that these two vexed them that dwelt on the earth and thus did Elias vex king Ahab when he said unto him Art thou he that troublest Israel and again when he provoked Baals prophets to cut themselves with knives and lancers Sixthly it is said that their enemie shall kill them and this is fit for Enoch and Elias because hitherto they have not tasted of death but one day they must die because the scripture saith It is appointed to men that they shall once die Their death therefore seemeth to be deferred to a more famous end to a congresse with the great Antichrist Seventhly and lastly it is said They shall ascend up to heaven and their enemies shall see them and so have Enoch and Elias alreadie done and therefore they know the way to do so again These two therefore be they who they may be may well be called Enoch and Elias because in their deeds they so resemble them as if they were themselves And these reasons I have for the reverend Fathers whose understanding and judgement I much regard And I see no reason why these two may not as well in the end of the world come to this service as Elias and Moses in Christs time came to him upon the mount upon the like service that is to testifie to his disciples that he was the true Messias and that he was to suffer death according to Moses law to make satisfaction for the sinnes of the people and therefore it is said in Luke 9. 31. that they spake of his decease which he should accomplish at Jerusalem Elias before his translation testified for the true God against the false God after his translation he came again upon earth to testifie for Christ the true Messias then being thus his approved witnesse why may he not come once again in the end of the world to contest with Antichrist and his false prophets for the true Christ against that false Christ And if it be objected that Elias did not in substance come to Christ upon the mount but as a spectrum to such Calvin upon the place will give this honest
yet fulfilled In the 12 of Daniel where the end of the world is prophesied it is said that then there shall be such a time of trouble as was not since there began to be a nation untill that time And in the sixth and seventh verses where question is moved of the time and durance of this trouble the angell sware by him that liveth for ever that it should be for a time times and an half that is to say for three yeares and an half and after this it is said in the text And when he shall have accomplished to scatter the power of the holy people that is to say when Antiochus hath made an end of oppressing the Jews and Antichrist of treading down the holy citie among the Christians then all these things shall be finished that is to say then shall be an end of the Jews persecutions and then shall be an end of the Christians oppressions when the world shall end and the day of resurrection come With this consenteth the threefold cable of prophesies in S. Johns Revelation The first of the blowing of the sixth trumpet in the ninth chapter where the foure angels bound at Euphrates were loosed to slay the third part of men And the horsemen of warre were twenty thousand times ten thousand which multitude as M. Fox saith agreeth best with the Turks armies The second of pouring out of the sixth viall in the sixteenth chapter where Euphrates is seen to be dried up that the way for the kings of the east might be prepared that is that the Scythians or Tartars might joyn with the Beast and the false Prophet in the battell of that great day of God Almightie And the third of the loosing of Satan in the twentieth chapter to gather Gog and Magog together that is the Turks and Tartars with the people of the foure quarters of the earth whose number shall be like the sand of the sea to compasse the camp of the saints about and the beloved citie which is the Church and the Christians And that this great warre is to be understood of Antichrists warre in the end of the world it is apparent both from the testimonie of interpreters and specially from the evidence of scriptures and the effects following For the interpreters I will use one for all which is S. Augustine in the 20 book of the citie of God and 11 chapter This shall be the last persecution when the last judgement shall hang over our heads which the holy Church through the world shall suffer that is the whole citie of Christ from the whole citie of the devil For the scriptures in the 24 of Matthew we reade that immediately after the tribulation of those dayes the sunne shall be darkened and the moon shall not give her light and the starres shall fall and after this the Sonne of man shall come in the clouds with power and great glorie In the 10 of the Apocalyps after the blowing of the sixth trumpet and the warre ended the mightie Angel that is Christ lift up his hand to heaven and swore that time should be no more and that in the dayes of the voice of the seventh trumpet which S. Paul calleth the last trumpet and the trumpet of God the mysterie of God should be finished In the 16. chapter after the pouring out of the sixth vial and the warre ended the seventh angel poured out his into the aire and there came a loud voice out of the temple of heaven and from the thrane saying It is done And the isles fled away and the mountains were not found Lastly in the 20 chapter after the gathering together of Gog and Magog after they had compassed the camp of the saints and the beloved citie after they had had their full pleasure over them then fire fell down from heaven upon them the devil the beast and the false prophet were cast into a lake of fire and brimstone the white throne was set up the books were opened and the dead were judged All these testimonies being testimonies of the last warres shew them to be Antichrists warres because they jump together with the abomination of desolation in Matth. 24. 15. and with S. Johns saying Little children it is the last time and as ye have heard that Antichrist shall come even now are there many Antichrists whereby we know that it is the last time Hitherto we have seen the intestine and civill warres of Christians as yet we have not seen the troups of the Ottomans we have not seen Gog and Magog the Scythian nations we have not seen the kings of the whole world gathered together by the three spirits of the dragon the beast and the false prophet we have not seen the armie whose number imitateth the sand of the sea as yet they have not spread the breadth of the earth as yet they have not compassed the camp of the saints as yet the Beast hath not imprinted his character upon us but we use our libertie we buy and sell great thanks be to our God Therefore as yet that great Antichrist is not come but we look for him to resist him in the faith and to overcome him with suffering What if he handle us as Antiochus handled the mother and the seven brethren if he kill us in the morning shall not our souls be crowned with joy in the evening shall not he for whom we suffer take away the edge of our pains is not the death of the sword shorter and easier then the death of the bed and is not the weight of the recompense above all rewards would not a man runne through a river of bloud to go to a kingdome oh this shall be the joyfullest suffering that ever was seen because our Lord Jesus shall come from heaven in person to make an end of it and to crown it When ye see these things begin to come to passe saith our Redeemer lift up your heads for your redemption draweth neare And again Know that the kingdome of God is neare even at the doores Wherefore we will not faint at Antichrists great looks nor at the multitude of his armies nor at the crueltie of his souldiers For though at first he get the field of us yet in the end the victorie and triumph shall be ours when that man of sinne shall be consumed with the spirit of Christs mouth and destroyed with the brightnesse of his coming when all his armies shall be gathered into Armageddon where were slain the kings of Canaan and into the valley of Hamon-Gog where they shall be buried to free the holy nation from their stink for ever Wherefore rejoyce ye Christians of a true heart for the overthrow is determined and the place of buriall is appointed before the enemie come Antichrists furniture Vers. 9. Even him whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signes and lying wonders Hitherto we have
FIVE PIOVS AND LEARNED DISCOURSES 1. A Sermon shewing how we ought to behave our selves in Gods house 2. A Sermon preferring holy Charity before Faith Hope and Knowledge 3. A Treatise shewing that Gods Law now qualified by the Gospel of Christ is possible and ought to be fulfilled of us in this life 4. A Treatise of the Divine attributes 5. A Treatise shewing the Antichrist not to be yet come By ROBERT SHELFORD of Ringsfield in Suffolk Priest S. AUGUST in Evang. Joh. tract 18. Non natae sunt haereses perversitatis dogmata animas illaqueantia nisi dum scripturae bonae intelliguntur non bene quod ab eis non bene intelligitur etiam temere audacter asseritur Printed by the printers to the Universitie of Cambridge 1635. TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE THE LORD COVENTRY KNIGHT BARON OF ALSBOROUGH AND LORD KEEPER OF THE GREAT SEAL OF ENGLAND AND TO HIS MOST VERTUOUS LADIE ROBERT SHELFORD MINISTER OF THE CHURCH OF RINGSFIELD IN SUFFOLK DEVOTETH HIS BEST STUDIES AND SERVICE WITHOUT AMBAGES UNFIT FOR SUPERIOURS ¶ AD MATREM ACADEMIAM CANTABRIGIENSEM ALMA MATER Placeat reverentiis vestris hoc tenue meum semidecoctum munus aequilibrio vestro trutinare denuo decoquere Sic rusticantes nostrae Musae inter arbusta cum cicadis laudes vestras omni encomio majores ebuccinabunt Petrenses sancti juvate clavibus biblioclericum vestrum olim famosi Perni amanuensem Moynei Morisoni condiscipulum rei orbum desiderii in optimis opulentum mediocritatis sectatorem Nunc tandem sub ter gravi Magistri praecepto pascendi ejus oves clientelae vestrae me dedo Siquid dignè possim accipite dextré siquid minùs polité me lacernâ vestrâ donate Post imbres exeunt flores praeteritis ventis venit pax in aëre post noctes redeunt soles Quid dies sit pariturus favente Deo Uraniâque veritatis ac pietatis amicâ videamus Magna est veritas Soli similis in tenebris lucet Alexandri gladio succincta Gordii nexus resolvit Sectator vester humillimus in altissima scientia ROB. SHELFORD Upon the ensuing Treatises RIse then immortall maid Religion rise Put on thy self in thine own looks t' our eyes Be what thy beauties not our blots have made thee Such as ere our dark sinnes to dust betrayd thee Heav'n set thee down new drest when thy bright birth Shot thee like lightning to th' astonisht earth From th' dawn of thy fair eyelids wipe away Dull mists and melancholy clouds take day And thine own beams about thee bring the best Of what soe're perfum'd thy Eastern nest Girt all thy glories to thee then sit down Open this book fair Queen and take thy crown These learned leaves shall vindicate to thee Thy holyest humblest handmaid Charitie She 'l dresse thee like thy self set thee on high Where thou shalt reach all hearts command each eye Lo where I see thy Altars wake and rise From the pale dust of that strange sacrifice Which they themselves were each one putting on A majestie that may beseem thy throne The holy youth of heav'n whose golden rings Girt round thy awfull Altars with bright wings Fanning thy fair locks which the world beleeves As much as sees shall with these sacred leaves Trick their tall plumes and in that garb shall go If not more glorious more conspicuous tho Be it enacted then By the fair laws of thy firm-pointed pen Gods services no longer shall put on Pure sluttishnesse for pure religion No longer shall our Churches frighted stones Lie scatter'd like the burnt and martyr'd bones Of dead Devotion nor faint marbles weep In their sad ruines nor Religion keep A melancholy mansion in those cold Urns. Like Gods sanctuaries they lookt of old Now seem they Temples consecrate to none Or to a new God Desolation No more the hypocrite shall th' upright be Because he 's stiffe and will confesse no knee While others bend their knee no more shalt thou Disdainfull dust and ashes bend thy brow Nor on Gods Altar cast two scorching eyes Bak't in hot scorn for a burnt sacrifice But for a Lambe thy tame and tender heart New struck by love still trembling on his dart Or for two Turtle doves it shall suffice To bring a pair of meek and humble eyes This shall from henceforth be the masculine theme Pulpits and pennes shall sweat in to redeem Vertue to action that life-feeding flame That keeps Religion warm not swell a name Of faith a mountain word made up of aire With those deare spoils that wont to dresse the fair And fruitfull Charities full breasts of old Turning her out to tremble in the cold What can the poore hope from us when we be Uncharitable ev'n to Charitie Nor shall our zealous ones still have a fling At that most horrible and horned thing Forsooth the Pope by which black name they call The Turk the Devil Furies Hell and all And something more O he is Antichrist Doubt this and doubt say they that Christ is Christ. Why 't is a point of Faith What e're it be I 'm sure it is no point of Charitie In summe no longer shall our people hope To be a true Protestant 's but to hate the Pope Rich. Crashaw Aul. Penb. A. B. ¶ Ad virum clarissimum gravissimúmque Magistrum ROBERTUM SHELFORD presbyterum de hoc opere quinario praecipitatâ jam aetate suâ edito PRaecoquis ingenii foetus quot prela fatigant Tu prodire tuâ Pallade serus amas Quippe solent tardè molimina docta parari Dum partus properans caecus adesse solet Quin cùm fortè Petri recolis tu aetate vetustas Aedes quîs crevit Musula prima tua Nulla tibi visa est Petrensi digna Minerva Ni matura simul tempore ingenio Tandem ergò prodis Petri grandaevus alumnus Annorum gravis pondere judicii Pondere judicii quo vindice vapulat acri Gens ea quae ficto nomine pura cluet Guil. Norwich Coll. Divi Petri Soc. In eruditos Tractatus piissimi doctissimique senis R. SHELFORD presbyteri QUis novus hic nostro qui tanta negotia prelo Fecerit indoctâ non temeranda manu Nil spirat mortale Dei sacraria Forma Virtutum haec tanto praelia digna viro Plurima nunc doleo referens insulsa pererrat Pagina nunc Veneri plurima sacra facit Sacra Dei loquimur rari Mysteria coeli Abdita qui pandit quà m pretiosus erit Tu nobis praestas tu tanta piissime Grates Is verè solvit qui tua dicta facit Rich. Drake Aul. Penbr Soc. In hunc librum qui quinque exquisitissimos Tractatus continet à R. SHELFORD summa cum cura elaboratos FElici liber hic prodeat alite Veri praesidio tutus inania Vulgi praecipit is murmura rideat Nec curet rigidi fata supercilî Lectores habeat non animo leves Vel frontispicii quos fug at umbra vel Spectatum
veniunt qui 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Lectores habeat judicio graves Non praejudicii quos malesana mens Raptos turbine latura per invias Ignotas aliis sibi sit vias Non hîc quae metuat saxa Capharea Erroris scopuli per mare turbidum Incertis animi fluctibus appetens Coelestem trepidus navita patriam Hîc sincera Patrum dogmata veritas Non fucata suis nuda coloribus Hîc Templi decor hîc unica numine Summo relligio digna per improbam Gentis sacrilegae saepius ô scelus Subnervata fidem Non neglecta Fides spreta Scientia Spes calcata trias nobilis inclyta Quin hîc ut decuit regia Charitas Primas obtinuit Caetera non loquar Quae fundata sacris omnia literis Sustentata Patrum munific â manu Felici liber hic praebeat alite Rich. Watson Caio-Gon Ad eos qui Authorem pro novatore sunt habituri NOn nova fert veterum satur at provectior annis Scit veterum facies queis fuit esse nova Idem De conjunctione amoris fidei in Tractatu de charitate piè vindicata QUae bis quina fuêre priùs praecepta feruntur Ad duo lex jubet haec haec facit unus amor Quin ergò quid summa fides cluet una triumphat Servit amor fidei nec comes esse queat Justificat beat una fides facit omnia quid non Credam ego factura haec si siet una fides At fidei nisi juncta foret dilectio fallor Aut haec vana foret si foret ulla fides Quae dum dissociant alii Shelforde beato En tuus in patriam foedere junxit amor In patriam dixi felix Ecclesia nexu Hoc quae per duo sic juncta fit una simul Idem ¶ To the Authour concerning his learned and pious Treatise of Gods house RIch soul and blest for so I dare go on To voice that man whose life 's religion Who fears not to be good gives God his due In this our age and in the Temple too Who scorns these lothsome times and dares learn us To be lesse bold lesse superstitious Not to make God a man joyn heav'n with earth Use him familiarly who gave us birth Nor man a God by following praising such Who neither pray nor preach yet teach they much Lord when I view our Temples which now be Ruin'd by time beauties worst enemie Or rather by neglect crumbling to dust Can I perswade my self or may I trust Those ancient Fathers those pure Saints should then Fables or fruitlesse stories write ev'n when They praise yea blesse their founders and condemne Their puft up Catharists those chair-preaching men Can I conceive S. Pauls expression weak Not like himself when thus I heare him speak Ye are Gods Temples Did th' Apostle mean Our clay-like houses should be kept unclean All cobwebd o're with vices that a lust Should there inhabit and that it should rust The Berill Jasper Amethyst those three Celestiall graces Faith Hope Charitie Or when the Priest the soul must sacrifice A comely Altar should he then despise A pure well furnisht heart must not the place Be hung with well knit vertues where blest grace Resides Yes sure and he whoe're hath done The contrary dilapidation Of that Temple shall to his charge be laid Because his body Gods house thus decayd Now as these walking churches must be drest And purg'd from filth by all as well as Priest So must the other that 's Gods Temple too Though made with hands which carelesly if thou Profane demolish or perhaps abridge That of its honour 't is proud sacriledge Reader no more That God may have his due Turn o're this book and it will teach thee how E. Gower Coll. Jesu Soc. Raptim De hoc opere verè Orthodoxo in Novatores DOgmata qui fingunt novitatis rara supremae Quà m facili applausu nullóque examine cudunt Quin si fortè Patrum sancita ad prela propinquant Dente Theonino lacerant probrisque lacessunt Rodere sic solitus maledictis Zoile castum Relligionis opus calcans mysteria coeli Antiquanda doces veterum monumenta cremanda Tu Shelforde tuum noli curare libellum Novimus hoc omnes te posse problemata sacra Edere non virus malesanae effundere linguae Hinc mea si tantum possint mandata valere I liber invidiâ major victórque triumpha Intimi amoris ergô exoptat R. LONDON A SERMON Shevving How we ought to behave our selves in Gods house PSALME 93. 6. Holinesse becometh thy house O LORD for ever OUt of this Text I must undertake three great tasks The first to shew what Gods house is because this is the subject of my Text. The second to shew what God is because he is the owner of it The third to shew what is that holinesse and behaviour which becometh this house and the owner For the first I must follow holy Scripture in describing of it Gods house began with an Altar as all creatures arise from small seeds built in the place where God appeared to Abraham the father of the faithfull Gen. 12. 7. And the Lord appeared to Abraham and said Unto thy seed will I give this land and there builded he an Altar unto the Lord who appeared unto him In the eighth verse following it is said that he built another and called upon the name of the Lord. With this consent were our churches built where God appeareth to us by his word read and preached Secondly by the Sacrament of the Altar as it is called by the fathers and styled so in our own statute laws in which the sacrifice of our Lord Christ is remembred and represented unto his Father Thirdly by promise of salvation and the kingdome of heaven And lastly by prayer in which God is called on according to that of Isaiah 56. 7. My house shall be called the house of prayer From hence appeareth that the Altar is the principall part of Gods house as being the cause and originall of all the rest Secondly Gods house is described in Gen. 28. by a stone of which in the plurall number an house is made and by a ladder whose top reached up to heaven as Jacob upon the stone dreamed the angels went up and down by it and from thence the Lord spake to Jacob and when Jacob awoke he said This is none other but the house of God and this is the gate of heaven From whence we are taught that seeing Gods house is both Scala coeli and Janua coeli The ladder of heaven and the gate of heaven and that the angels use it therefore we also should use and respect it as the ordinarie and beaten way to that blessed place Thirdly as Gods house is here described by a dream so in Exod. 3. it is described by a vision the second mean of Gods appearing to the holy nation according to that of Joel Your old
56. 7. My house shall be called an house of prayer and our Lord in the Gospel confirmeth it Wherefore if God will heare the prayers of his people in all places then he will heare them sooner and with greater respect in his own house which is specially dedicated to prayer and his service Neither doth this any way derogate from his ubiquity but from his being ubique uniformiter for as his mercy although it is over all his works yet is it not equally in hell and in heaven or the measure of his justice equally poured forth upon saints and angels as upon the children of disobedience so likewise although this be Gods attribute to be every where yet he is not every where alike both in regard of the promise of his especiall presence made in Scripture in such houses consecrated to his name by which they become more especially holy as also because in this house God will heare for the presence of his Sonne For as S. Chrysostome saith Where Christ is in the Eucharist there is no want of angels where such a King is and such princes are there is a heavenly palace nay heaven it self It followeth now to shew what God is and that he is the great owner of this house Great is Gods house but greater is the owner because no house can hold him therefore my Text useth an exclamation which intimateth a great entity Holinesse becometh thy house O Lord God is far greater then his house for he not onely dwelleth in his house but in the hearts of men in the intelligences of angels and in all other creatures And because nothing can contain him he dwelleth in himself most perfectly Of all places the prophet David speaketh Whither shall I go from thy spirit or whither shall I flee from thy presence If I ascend up to heaven thou art there if I make my bed in the grave thou art there also If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea even there shall thy hand leade me and thy right hand shall hold me And in Isa. 66. 1. God challengeth the whole world for his house Heaven is my throne and earth is my footstool what house will you build for me saith the Lord hath not my hand made all these things Wherefore when we come to worship God in his house we must bring this thought with us to surrender up all our own thoughts of serving him and desire him to ayd us with his holy Spirit And when after this we have done our lowliest service and served him with our best devotions yet we must say Lord we can never serve thee enough because thou art infinite and we uncapable of thy greatnesse and worthinesse Thus farre have I spoken of God and his house but before we enter it it is fit to know our selves and how we are to be qualified for it From the highest to the lowest alas we are all poore creatures At the first originally we were born abroad in the fields our mothers name was the earth and our fathers name was nothing for from nothing God made all his creatures according to that in Heb. 11. 3. So that things which are seen were not made of things which appeare Seeing then we are so poorely descended what shall we do we must go to service we must seek some good house for our preferment The best house in the world is Gods house for he is owner of heaven and earth and able to advance all But what are the orders of this house what will here give content Holinesse becometh thy house O Lord. Would we know what this holinesse is It is no common but a superlative honour it is Gods honour which we call godlinesse and holinesse common honour belongs to all that have Gods image in them but holinesse reflecteth onely upon the high and mighty God For this cause our Saviour hath taught us to say Hallowed which is more then Honoured be thy name according to the Psalme Holy and reverend is his name And this holinesse respective to Gods house consisteth of certain holy offices The first is To adorn and beautifie it fit for his greatnesse as himself gave pattern in beautifying his tabernacle there was gold and silver precious stones silks with all precious colours the most choice woods and all things framed with the best cunning that God inspired Bezaleel and Aholiab and all the wise-hearted of that time Now to prosecute S. Pauls argument if that which was to be done away was glorious much more is that to be glorious which is to remain 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and Dei domus sort well together comelinesse and holinesse joyn hand with each other Thus saith my Text Holinesse becometh thy house O Lord. This office equity exacteth of us for seeing God hath made the worlds great ornament and our 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 our little world for our honour and use should not we proportion a due ornament for his house and service A mans house is his state and the greatest men are esteemed by it And according to this Ezra saith Blessed be the Lord God of our fathers which hath put into the kings heart to beautifie the house of our God that is in Jerusalem And the Psalmist saith Worship the Lord in the beauty of holinesse that is to say in the beautified sanctuary or as the Geneva translation expoundeth in the glorious Sanctuary But how are our Sanctuaries about us for the most part beautified If basenesse were not more then want of beauty I would hold my peace One beauty hath beat out another the beauty of preaching which is a beauty too hath preacht away the beauty of holinesse for if men may have a sermon prayer and church-service with the ornaments of Gods house may fit abroad in the cold Alas that the daughters should drive away the mothers Is it not a shame for us to see the houses of knights and gentlemen sweeter kept and better adorned then the houses of the King of heaven To the one one mans means is sufficient to the other the means of a whole town is liable and yet this latter nothing so beautified as the other is is not this a second shame Our Saviour telleth us that in his Fathers house there are many mansions Shall we look for glorious mansions in the kingdome of heaven and will we not prepare comely mansions in the kingdomes of the earth Doth not God challenge us where he challengeth his chosen people Is it time for you to dwell in your cieled houses and this house to lie waste Gods judgement follows Ye looked for much and lo it came to little and when ye brought it home I did blow upon it and why saith the Lord of hosts because of my house that is waste and ye come every man to his own house Therefore the heaven over you stayed it self from dew and the earth stayed
neither warrant for it nor president The like difference is at this day among our professours One sort will not sociate with the rest of their neighbours in the house of God because they have not every day a sermon to teach them more knowledge Both these the Apostle here reproveth in saying Knowledge puffeth up that is to say makes men proud but Charitie edifieth What the Apostle hath here put down in the generall I will proceed to prove in the particulars And to begin with the pride of knowledge In the creation God made his angels exceeding bright and glorious in understanding and then propounded to them his Sonne to be their governour to direct them in his service according to that Heb. 1. 6. Let all the angels of God worship him as if it were said Let them follow his direction But they seeing themselves made in such perfection of knowledge were so lifted up in pride that they refused a directour and would serve him after their own understanding for which their pride they were thrown down from heaven to hell After this the angels perceiving that the pride of their knowledge had thrown them down they set upon Adam and Eve perswading them also to break their order in eating of the tree of knowledge The serpent-angel told them that if they would eat of this tree they should be as Gods knowing good and evil This conceit of knowledge did so puffe them up too that they broke Gods commandment and were ipso facto thrown out of Paradise After this when man was ejected out of Paradise so politick and proud grew they that they would make a tower to clamber up to heaven and to defend themselves against Gods providence God seeing their pride confounded their devices by changing their language and then they were dispersed all the earth over like straying herds The like pride hath now adayes puft up our Puritanes that being but very ignorant people yet they will not be content to be accounted men of any mean knowledge or be satisfied with any setled estate but they will run from church to church from preacher to preacher and from one opinion to another untill they have lost and confounded themselves in the tower and Babel of their own fancies Knowledge puffeth up saith the Apostle and when a man is at the highest then he falls lowest Knowledge threw the angels out of heaven to hell knowledge threw Adam and Eve out of an earthly Paradise into a wildernesse of miseries and wittie policie cast mighty Nimrod with all mankinde out of the citie to seek straw and stubble with the children of Israel all the world over But saith the Puritane We have no sermons we are without a preacher we shall perish for want of knowledge I answer It is not knowledge that shall save because then all they that know the will of God and the mysteries of life must needs be saved But so they shall not because our Saviour saith He that knows his masters will and doth it not shall be beaten with many stripes and S. Paul saith The hearers of the law are not righteous before God but the doers of the law shall be justified Then knowledge without charitie saveth not but increaseth punishment and puffeth up Besides if knowledge were able to save then the devils might be saved because they know more then the best minister in the land And whereas thou standest upon much knowledge for we will yeeld thee that which is sufficient I say more unto thee that one may be saved without any knowledge at all Know you what you say yes the childe of three moneths old when by Gods providence it departeth what knowledge hath that of salvation yet the Church in all ages hath taught that such shall go to the kingdome of heaven and what should let it is without originall sinne because that is washt away in Baptisme and actuall sinne it never committed any by reason it wanted the use of free-will Besides the infant after Baptisme is within the covenant and united to God by his grace and God cannot denie either his grace or his covenant Now if the poore infant shall be saved without any knowledge at all why then shouldest thou think that thou canst not be saved with mean knowledge fit for thy estate But thou wilt say The infant is not suffered to live to the means of knowledge and therefore he is excused for the want of it Then what sayest thou to the men and women which want the gifts of understanding whom some call fools some innocents who know not the right hand from the left or whether there be a heaven or a hell what shall these be damned which want the knowledge that thou hast where dwells thy charitie I will not beleeve thy knowledge because that makes thee proud and the proud will condemne all save themselves The School Tenet is Amentes furiosi infantes non peccant that is Fools mad-men and children sinne not Therefore mad-men though they kill a man are not put to death for it Again the Church hath ever taught that all they that are within the covenant are in the state of grace untill they fall away but these Christian innocents cannot fall away because they cannot sinne and they cannot sinne because they want knowledge and free-will And my charitie teacheth me to hope that as the Saviour of the world at his first coming had mercie on the Gentiles who before lived without faith and without God in the world so at his second coming he likewise will shew favour to these want-wits and weak-wits and then open the windows of their understanding to see God face to face because they are within the covenant and are baptized Christians But to return to thy former challenge We have no sermons we want a preacher we shall die in our sinnes we know not what to do The Lord open thy eyes as he opened the eyes of Elisha his servant in the 6 chapter of the 2 book of Kings and then thou shalt see a multitude of preachers First all Gods creatures are thy preachers and daily teach thee And to prove this turn to the 19 Psalm 1 2 3. The heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament sheweth his handie work One day telleth another and one night certifieth another There is neither speech nor language but their voices are heard among them Again turn to the 12 of Job 7 8. and there he will bid thee ask the beasts and they shall teach thee and the fowls of heaven and they shall tell thee Or speak to the earth and it shall shew thee or the fishes of the sea and they shall declare unto thee When thou travellest abroad and seest a good piece of ground a good cow or a good horse thou wilt say I would my neighbour would sell me these for reasonable money Canst thou see the goodnesse of the creature in these and not see the goodnesse of the Creatour Canst thou
learn in these books what is good for thy bodie and not learn what is good for thy soul Open thy eyes wider and then thou shalt see that there could be no goodnesse in the creature except God had made it and that if the effect be good then the cause of this good must needs be infinitely more good and therefore he above all things is to be sought of us And this is so cleare a lesson that except a man will shut his eyes he must see it and understand it because the Apostle saith Rom. 1. 19 20. That which may be known of God is manifest in them For the invisible things of him that is his eternall power and Godhead are seen by the creation of the world being considered in his works that they should be without excuse And these preachers are of S. Paul acknowledged for preachers in the 10 chapter following and the 18 vers having relation to the 14 verse Have they not heard no doubt their sound went into all the earth and their words unto the ends of the world Secondly Gods Word is thy preacher And this is proved by the book of Solomon called Ecclesiastes for that book as the learned know signifieth a preacher Again turn to Acts 15. 21. and there the holy Ghost will tell thee that Moses was preached every day in the Synagogues while his words were read unto them If thou saist that Gods scriptures are too high for thy capacitie then what sayest thou to the 19 Psalm vers 7. which teacheth that the testimony of the Lord giveth wisdome to the simple And art thou so simple to think that when God gave his scriptures to the Church he gave them so darkly that men might not understand them then he might as well not have given them Thou wilt object that of the Eunuch in Acts 8. 30 31. where when Philip asked the Eunuch whether he understood what he read he answered How can I except I had a guide And I answer thee again that there is a great difference between the Eunuch and thee and this place of scripture which he read and the places of scripture which to thee are propounded for he was out of the Church which is the house of light and thou art in it Again that scripture was to him a mysterie but to thee it is no mysterie For in Isaiah no name is exprest but it is read He was led as a sheep to the slaughter but what he this was the articles of our faith expresse to the simplest that it was Jesus Christ the Messias of the world who was delivered by the Jews to Pontius Pilate to be slain for our redemption and therefore this excuse of darknesse is utterly taken from thee because the Gospel is the blazing of the Law and there is nothing so dark in one place but in some other it is so bright that the very blear-eied may see it Therefore Fulgentius saith In verbo Dei abundat quod perfectus comedat abundat etiam quod parvulus sugat Ibi est enim simul lacteus potus quo tenera fidelium nutriatur infantia solidus cibus quo robusta perfectorum juventus spiritalia sanctae virtutis accipiat incrementa In the word of God aboundeth that which the perfect man may eat and that which the little one may suck For there is both drink of milk whereby the tender infancy of the faithfull may be nourished and solid meat whereby the strong youth of the perfect may receive the spirituall increase of holy vertue Thirdly Gods holy Sacraments are our preachers while by visible and sensible signes they teach us what we are to beleeve for which they are of the learned called visibilia verba words visible Therefore when we see the water in Baptisme this bringeth to our remembrance the water and bloud which came out of our Saviours side and when we see the bread and wine this preacheth to us that his bodie was broken and his bloud shed for our sinnes as the water signifieth the washing away of our transgressions And these Sacraments do that for us that all the preachers of the land cannot do For they by their words can but onely teach us and enlighten our understanding but these preachers the Sacraments besides the light which they give to our understanding infuse through Christs power and effectuall ordinance grace into our souls and make us acceptable before God Yea so effectually do they this that they can never want grace after who rightly receive them and preserve the vertue of them Therefore our Lord said to the woman in John 4. 14. Whosoever shall drink of the water that I shall give him shall never be more athirst but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into eternall life This water is that grace which is bestowed upon us in Baptisme which after the Eunuch had received as we reade in Acts 8. 39. he went away rejoycing and we reade not that he heard any more sermons or received any other Sacraments for his well of water which he carried away with him into a farre heathen countrey was sufficient for him But oh the lamentation of our times Who shall make our people to beleeve that Christs Sacraments bestow grace they say they signifie onely and that faith cometh by hearing onely yet when they have heard what they can and beleeve what they will they shall never be saved without the grace of the Sacraments at least in desire I can shew you of some that are saved without the hearing of the word preached our baptized infants but I can shew you of none saved ordinarily without the Sacraments in regard of our Saviours exception in John 3. 5. Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdome of God Therefore the men which shut up all in the preaching of the word evacuate Christs Sacraments and do they know not what for preaching is but a preparation for the Sacraments and there the principall grace lies hid For this cause our Saviour said to his Apostles Matth. 28. 19. Go teach all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Sonne and of the holy Ghost For people must first be taught that God bestoweth grace in the Sacraments or els they will not receive them And the principall Sacrament is Baptisme because that onely bestoweth new life and the rest strengthen and preserve it Fourthly printed sermons are thy preachers For assoon as there is any rare sermon preached by and by it is put to print and from the presse it is disperst all the land over There is scarce a house in any town but one or other in it by reading can repeat it to thee Then how shouldest thou starve for want of preaching when the best preachers in the land such as thou never sawest nor they thee yet by this means continually preach unto thee Fifthly Gods Spirit
thy neighbour as thy self ye do well Here the text makes a manifest supposition of fulfilling Gâ—â—â—â— law in this life first it affirmeth this doctrine to be according to scripture next it sheweth how it is to be tried that is by the law in loving our neighbour as our selves and he that can do this there is no doubt but he loveth God above all because without God he could not do this Were Gods law not possible to be fulfilled the supposition should be idle unfit for Gods word and unbeseeming one writing by divine inspiration and then the twelve tribes might justly have returned this caption upon S. James You put upon us that which cannot be done But in this absurditie the Apostle could not be taken because he wrote by divine inspiration and sootheth the thing first by adding to his supposition this commendation Ye do well and secondly by fetching to this head all other parts of Gods law saying afterward For whosoever shall keep the whole law and yet fail in one point he is guiltie of all Here therefore is a generall and absolute fulfilling spoken of and here is implied that every one is bound to bring his obedience not to one or most but to every part of Gods law and so no starting hole is left for any one beloved sinne Secondly this supposition of S. James is confirmed by our Lords prayer Thy will be done in earth â—s it is in heaven If the law which is Gods will could not be fulfilled in earth then Christ obtained not what he would we daily pray in vain and Christ hath in vain commanded us to pray Thirdly this is confirmed by the liturgie of our Church in the collect upon the first Sunday after the Epiphanie in these words And grant that they may both perceive and know what things they ought to do and also have grace and power faithfully to fulfill the same through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen Where we are taught by whose vertue men may fulfill Gods law that is by Jesus Christs grace and power Lastly this is taught by the prayer upon the ten commandments Lord have mercy upon us and encline our hearts to keep this law Where first we are taught to know our own miserie in that we are bound to keep Gods law with the penaltie of everlasting death and yet of our selves we have no power to perform it and therefore we pray God to be mercifull to us Next we pray that he would encline our hearts to keep his law where is shewed that God himself is the first mover and principall actour in this work that we do but run along with him and that of our selves we are so crooked and averse that if he do not encline and bend our hearts as the shipwright boweth his timber by his instruments the strength of his arms and the heat of his fire to make a ship we should never be able to sail to the kingdome of heaven Wherefore if we shall fail to joyn our hands to Gods hand when the principall acting is his the second and inferiour ours when he hath used all his means towards us his threatnings to terrifie us his exhortations to draw us his promises to entice us and propounded the end and reward of the work to be onely ours whereas the greatest merit is Christs if we now be defective and behinde on our part we shall be worthy of many hells To conclude in that we intreat God to enable us to keep his law hence appeareth the laws excellencie and mans benefit in observing it It is Gods image and similitude in which he made man therefore it hath relation to us and we to it it restoreth us to our first perfection and heavens felicitie it is the conformity between God and man it is that which maketh God and us one Therefore to the keeping of this we must strain soul and body we must put all that we can we must not fly to naked imputation where is required our conformation For whom he did foreknow he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Sonne His Sonne hath fulfilled the law and so must we too But here may be objected that they which are in Christ are delivered from the law Rom. 8. 2. For the law of the Spirit of life hath made me free from the law of sinne and of death Therefore we have nothing to do with the law I answer that in this place and in the chapter before by the law is understood concupiscence the law of the members which giveth precepts and motions onely for sinne and not the law of God which giveth precepts against sinne and for holinesse and righteousnesse Again it may be objected that we are not under the law therefore we have not to do with it Rom. 6. 14. Ye are not under the law but under grace It is answered Though we be not under the law to be condemned terrified and forced by it yet we are under the law to Christ that is to be guided by it as the Apostle testifieth of himself 1. Cor. 9. 21. Being not without the law to God but under the law to Christ Therefore if the very just shall transgresse while they are within the law they are bound to make satisfaction by holy penance which is secunda tabula post naufragium Lastly it may be objected that we are dead to the law and therefore we have no more to do with it Rom. 7. 4. Wherefore my brethren ye are also become dead to the law by the body of Christ that ye should be married to another even unto him that is raised up from the dead that ye should bring forth fruit unto God By the law here is not meant the law simply but the law and the flesh compounded together as appeareth in the sixth verse wherein we stood in bondage to both For the laws letter onely shewed us what we were to do but gave us no power to perform and with this the flesh and the old man went hand in hand for though the law gave us no power to perform yet the flesh gave us power to transgresse and sinne To this the Apostle sheweth that we are dead by the merit of the death of Christs body that we might be married to another that is to Christ in Baptisme by whose Spirit and grace we might be enabled to fulfill that which the law taught and commanded to bring forth fruit unto God and our own salvation And from hence it appeareth still that the law of it self is good and we have need of it though it be not sufficient for us because it is our school-master to shew us our sinnes and to bring us to Christ Gal. 3. 24. Rom. 7. 7. I had not known sinne but by the law Having made an end of confirming my first argument from the scriptures supposition and grant now I proceed to my second argument which is founded upon the efficacie and
broken by the voluntarie act of the creature according to the saying of S. Austine Quid est gustato cibo prohibito nuditas indicata nisi peccato nudatum quod gratia contegebat gratia quippe Dei magna ibi erat ubi terrenum animale corpus bestialem libidinem non habebat What is the reason why nakednâ—sse appeared when the forbidden meat was tasted but because that was by sinne made bare which before grace covered for the grace of God was there great where the earthly and animal bodie had not beastly lust And that the sinne of angels and men arose from the frailtie of their composition and nature yet without necessitie or else all should have sinned it appeareth for that absolute simplicitie and unitie cannot admit alteration Secondly because sinne originally springs from pride and the subject of pride is the intellectuall appetite inordinately desiring its own excellencie And the reason why this appetite is inordinate is because it is founded in an unconstant and mutable nature which is free-will to which the creature was left after his creation according to the saying of Ecclesiasticus He made man from the beginning and left him in the hand of his counsel and gave him his precepts And S. Augustine saith Sic Deus Dominúsque omnium angelorum hominúmque vitam ordinavit ut in ea ostenderet primùm quid possit liberum arbitrium deinde quid possit suae gratiae beneficium justitiaeque judicium And to this accordeth the saying of Eliphaz Job 4. 18. He found no stedfastnesse in his servants and his angels he charged with folly But you will say that this composition is as well in God as in the creature because in him there is also will and intellect I answer that though both these be in God yet in him they are without composition for that in him they are not really distinct but in him the whole is intellect and the whole is will because he is simplex totus simul Whatsoever is compounded may fall asunder therefore that which is uncompounded must be immutable and eternal Mans intellect is compounded of simplex and compositus as the Physicks teach The simple intellect is that which apprehendeth the truth and species of things by sense and experience The compounded is that which is occupied in the discourse of things by gathering one thing from another from whence is the discussing of doubts and the constituting of axioms But in God there is no such method because he doth all things without discourse for that he seeth all things and electeth all things at once without any circumstance but man first seeth by his intellect next by reason deliberateth and lastly electeth From the simplenesse of Gods essence followeth his reall existence in all creatures The Spirit of the Lord filleth the world Wisd. 1. 7. Thine incorruptible Spirit is in all things Wisd. 12. 1. Do not I fill heaven and earth Jer. 23. 24. Lord thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations Psalm 90. 1. In him we live and move and have our being Acts 17. 28. For so simple is he that no creature can out him or withstand him And were not his essence in the creatures essence they could not exist Therefore when God leaveth the creature that leaveth to be because there can be no second essence without the first supporting it If God were not in the hard stone and in the spisse iron they could not hold but they would first fall to powder and if after that he should not be in the powder it would vanish into nothing The creatures essence cannot be without Gods essence which sustaineth all things As no accident can be without a subject no more can the creatures substance exist without Gods substance to which it belongs as an inseparable accident But though Gods essence be in all things yet is it not there by way of matter or form or as a part of things for so he should be in composition and then he could not be the first cause of things besides all parts are imperfect because they are not the whole And if God should not be in all his creatures in all places and beyond all places and creatures then he should not be infinite but finite where the creature is and he is not He is in all places not as occupying or filling them like the creatures but as causing places and containing them in himself And he is in his creatures three waies by his essence by his presence and by his power by his essence in causing them to exist by his presence in beholding them and by his power in upholding them Applicat suum esse ad illorum esse alioqui non essent ampliús And this is approved by the School verse Enter praesenter Deus hîc ubique potenter But it may be objected that if God should be in all things then he should contract defilement from the baser things according to the proverb Qui tang it picem coinquinabitar ab ipsa It is answered that Gods simplenesse and puritie is such that it cannot contract impuritie because he is not in any thing by way of composition or participation but seorsum per se. As the pure light though it shineth in the most impure things yet is still pure because it mixeth not with them so though God be in the devils and wicked men beholding their hearts thoughts yet he cannot contract any defilement being purer then the light because he is onely in their essence which is alwayes good and not in their defection wherein lieth the defilement for by sinne onely the creature fell from God Wherefore the errour of Illyricus in affirming sinne to be the substance of the creature fallen is exceeding foolish seeing the Apostle saith 1. Tim. 4. 4. Omnis creatura Dei bona est Further God is in his creatures generally by upholding their essence and governing their wayes but in the regenerate onely by reducing them to their order inflecting their hearts and thoughts to their right end And this demonstration I confirm from these grounds of Gods word Acts 17. 27 28. Though doubtlesse he be not farre from every one of us For in him we live and move and have our being Psal. 139. 7. Whither shall I go from thy Spirit or whither shall I flee from thy presence And vers 13. For thou hast possessed my reins We therefore are all in God prime modo id est per essentiam but if he be not in us and we in him secundo modo per gratiam ordinem it will profit us nothing to our chiefest good Lastly to this attribute of the simplicitie of Gods essence accreweth the attribute of his immutabilitie All corruption is in composition therefore the things which are more simple are farthest from alteration and nearest to eternitie So pure is Gods essence without any mixture of matter and potentialitie that it cannot alter but all things created in that they
are made and compounded have a mixture of infirm matter or potentialitie and therefore are mutable Consectaries From hence arise these consectaries that if God be in every one of us upholding our essence this shall be our greater condemnation if we do not seek and finde him who is so neare unto us and turn to him who is within us Secondly this argueth Gods infinite greatnesse in that no creature can escape his presence which is as well in hell and in the hardest adamant as in the glorious heavens Thirdly to see this wonderfull God with the eyes of our minde whom we cannot see with bodily eyes to see him who is in all things supporting all as a root or foundation with him to converse to walk to talk and to do nothing without him is the onely securitie that is in the world And this appeareth by this saying of S. Paul upon Moses For he endured as he which saw him who is invisible and is seconded by David Psalm 16. 8. I have set the Lord alwaies before me therefore I shall not slide Fourthly to be content with God onely and not to mix our selves with worldly things is mans simplicitie Gods attributes 1 Unitie Having spoken of Gods essence it followeth to speak of his attributes Of which the first is Unitie the first of the 3 great passions Metaphysicall Unum Verum Bonum And this is testified by these affirmations of Gods word Heare O Israel The Lord our God is one Lord Deut. 6. 4. See now that I even I am he and there is no god with me Deut. 32. 39. That which is the beginning and cause of all things must be one and no more As one is the beginning of all numbers so one God is the beginning of all creatures therefore Parmenides said Omnia unum sunt Multiplicitie of things visible is but the multiplied shadow of invisible unitie According to this Seneca said of God Est totum quod vides totum quod non vides But this must cautelously be understood not that God in the stone is truely and properly a stone as Servetus wickedly affirmed but that he is the onely cause of the stones being and of all things else 1. If there were more Gods then one then there would be some difference between them because multiplicitie admits difference and varietie and therefore something should be in the one which is not in the other and so that God which wanteth should not be a perfect God 2. That there is but one God shall appeare from all things that are because he hath set his mark and stamp upon them for all things speak but one Though there be millions of men in the world yet every man is but one man Though there be many species of things made yet they all consist of individuals There is nothing but is one thing Multiplicitie and collectives end in one Many members make but one bodie many sheep but one flock many beasts but one herd many men but one kingdome and all creatures make but one world Wherefore one is the mark and image of God who as he is but one so he comprehends all in himself 3. If there were more then one then warre would not cease between them till one had gotten the upper hand to be above the rest For as Tertullian disputeth against Marcion he which is God must be summum magnum the chiefest great above all other and this can be but one Again S. Cyprian thus Unus omnium Dominus Deus Neque enim illa sublimitas potest habere consortem cùm sola omnem teneat potestatem Ad divinum imperium etiam de terris mutuemur exemplum Quando unquam regni societ as aut cum fide coepit aut sine cruore desiit If an earthly kingdome will not suffer a fellow how should that celestial highnesse endure another And Ennius saith Nulla sancta societas nec fides regniest Alexander likewise told king Darius Mundum non posse duobus solibus regi That the world could not be governed by two sunnes 4. If there were more Gods then one then as fast as the one did blesse us the other would curse us according to that of the Poet Mulciber in Trojam pro Troja stabat Apollo Then again the creatures would not so well agree as they do for if one creature were made by one God and another by another then there would be nothing but relucting The earth would swallow up the water the fire would burn up the aire the host of heaven would set upon the hosts of the earth to depopulate it yea heaven it self would be divided Saturns planet would spoil the planet of Mars the light of the sunne would waste the other lights and every creature as his God should be best able to aid would overcome his fellow or inferiour But now because there is but one God that hath made all therefore he hath care of all alike therefore they agree as they do and mutually serve each others benefit 5. The government of commonwealths where divers and strange dispositions combine themselves into one bodie for one common good shews that nature imitateth the Creatour which is one 6. Contrarietie and discord though it be never so great yet it cannot overcome unitie but unitie overcomes it as an armie concatenate prevaileth against an armie scattered This sheweth that there is but one God ruling over all which is the God of unitie and concord 7. The generall desire that all creatures have to come to one common end which is good argues this for the Philosopher hath Omnia bonum appetunt All things desire good Wherefore as all things joyn in one concerning the general end though all use not the right mean this argueth also that there is but one beginning which hath given but one common appetite to all creatures Now having shewed God to be but one from hence it followeth that in him there can be no pluralitie therefore his essence is not one thing and his attributes another neither may we say of his attributes This is not that but his truth is the same that his goodnesse is his goodnesse the same with his power his power the same with his essence and so there is no difference nor distinction numericall or specificall but in God all is one and one is all and to think otherwise is to make God in himself finite and limited because look how much one attribute hath of infinitenesse proper to it self so much the other must want and so be limited Thus therefore are we to affirm of God and his attributes as convertibles God is truth it self or the first truth and the first truth is God God is goodnesse or the first goodnesse and the first goodnesse is God God is power and power it self is God and so of the rest Next as God is one so he is all because all things are contained in this one Therefore if all the goods of men and angels
his bountifulnesse and patience and long sufferance not knowing that the goodnesse of God leadeth thee to repentance Having spoken of Gods will as it is antecedent and of signe now it followeth to speak of it as it is of good pleasure and of consequent The will of Gods good pleasure is expressed in the 135 Psalme vers 6. Whatsoever the Lord pleased that did he in heaven and in earth in the seas and in all deep places This is Gods proper and essentiall will first because it is of the nature of the will to do of pleasure and next because it is most generall and not restrained to any place or person His will of signe is not alwaies done because it is his will for men and not for himself respectively Therefore his precepts are broken his prohibitions slighted his counsels not regarded but his will of good pleasure is above the law of the Medes and Persians this cannot be put by because it is divina 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Lastly after that God hath shewed man all his favours by his will of signe and word revealed to which he addeth the effects of his grace expressed by S. Prosper in these seven particulars perswading by exhortations admonishing by examples terrifying by dangers inciting by miracles giving understanding inspiring counsel and lightning the heart with faiths affections When all these are despised and rejected then God proceedeth with his will consequent which is the will of his justice First he would have all men to be saved by his will antecedent but because all men will not consent to this therefore to maintain mans free-will God will not save all in effect but the same will turneth from mercie to justice which before turned from justice to mercie and saith Depart from me ye cursed into everlasting fire which is prepared for the devil and his angels Neither is Gods will altered nor broken because it turneth from mercie to judgement for that it still retaineth its former mercie and man his former resistance to receive it How often saith our Saviour would I have gathered thy children together even as a hen gathereth her chickens but ye would not If God hath not bound man to one object but given him free-will to turn from object to object according to reasons rule then should God be bound and man free The will of God is wider then all wills all his divine attributes may rest in it his truth his wisdome his justice his mercie his power his pleasure and displeasure yea all the contraries that are in the world are within it and lie under it as life and death sicknesse and health good and evil salvation and damnation and without this there could be no world Notwithstanding though Gods will be never so wide and comprehensive yet it imposeth no necessitie upon mans will because all will by Gods creation is free and if it were not free it were no will Necessitie and will are incompatibilia they cannot stand together Nature and things without will are of a strait disposition therefore for them God hath ordained necessitie and determined them to one thing but mans will because it is the image of Gods will is wide and capacious and therefore he hath provided for it the ocean of contingencie He hath set fire and water before thee saith Ecclesiasticus stretch out thy hand unto which thou wilt Before man is life and death good and evil and whether him liketh shall be given him Now no man can justly complain while all things are set before him and he hath free choice to all Election expelleth necessitie and necessitie thrusteth out election If mans will were not free from necessitie then there could neither be merit nor demerit that is neither reward nor punishment and then the two great streams of Gods bountie and justice should be dried up but now he hath given to man free-will and to maintain this he hath ordained contingencie and added his grace to aid his will that there might be no defect on his part for freedome naturall to good Theologicall is not freedome but stubbornnesse without grace And this grace and goodnesse of God as it ordereth and aideth things naturall to their naturall ends so it ordereth and aideth man to his supernaturall end which is to live with his God in heaven And this goodnesse of grace is like to the vertuous magnet the most remarkable of all stones the guide of the diall and the direction for sea-travell for as the pin and needle of the diall being toucht with it the needle will stand no way but north and south so the heart of man being toucht with Gods grace in his regeneration will stand no way but to heaven-ward And this touch is that which Divines call the habit of charitie alwaies enclining and bending to heaven and heavenly things through all the rubs of the world Though the toucht needle for a while is shaken and justled from its former due station yet as soon as the shaking is over it returneth instantly to the same point right so though the heart be for a time justled either by the lust of the flesh or the lust of the eyes or the pride of life from its right standing yet as soon as the force is over presently it returneth to its former station to heaven-ward And the onely reason is the touch of Gods goodnesse in the regenerate soul to which above all things mans heart is beholding And this goodnesse proceedeth from the holy Ghost as truth proceedeth from the Sonne of God for as the Sonne is the Fathers essentiall truth so the holy Ghost is the Fathers and the Sonnes essentiall goodnesse And as the holy Ghost is the increate goodnesse of God in himself so love and charitie is the create goodnesse of the holy Ghost in man And untill this be wrought in us by the holy Spirit we may be men and true men but we cannot be good men nor for the kingdome of heaven Therefore S. Augustine saith Sola charitas dividit inter filios regni filios aeternae damnationis So excellent is charitie that God is called by it 1 John 4. 8. God is charitie And so good is it that Divines call it grace per Antonomasiam because it is the principall grace And S. Paul calleth it the greatest The greatest of these is charitie Yea so great is it that no good can be done without it because it is the cause impulsive of every good action You may beleeve without it but then your belief is not good because it wanteth his right end which must proceed from charities election and direction Therefore in this sense S. Paul gives faiths action to charitie It beleeveth all things it hopeth all things c. Why because it enliveneth faith and all other vertues by giving spirit unto them Faith is the candle to charitie and sheweth her light how to work according to Gods word but charitie being the impulse of the
infinitie from the capacitie of the receiver Thus that is infinite which cannot be comprehended or received of any Therefore of Athanasius in his Creed God is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 incomprehensibilis Further God is infinite because he is not compounded of matter and form for that which is in any matter is contracted and determined by its matter but God because he made all matter and forms is beyond all matter and forms he comprehends them but they cannot comprehend him he onely therefore is infinite All greater orbs receive within and under them the lesse but God being the first and largest essence comprehending all things under him cannot be received totally of any inferiour therefore he must be infinite and incomprehensible That which hath no bounds nor borders must be infinite but Almightie God hath no bounds because nothing bordereth upon him and there is nothing above him to confine him He hath no adjacent no equall no corrivall for this cause the Logicians will not entertain him into any Predicament but put him alone by himself in the Transcendent mounting above all things for though he may be apprehended of his inferiour yet he cannot be comprehended of his compeer And this his incomprehensivenesse and transcendencie we shew first in regard of his understanding and will secondly in regard of motion thirdly in regard of place fourthly in regard of time In regard of understanding will because at one act and instant he understandeth all things at the same act and instant he willeth all things His understanding never preventeth his will and his will is never subsequent to his understanding because they have both but one present esse incomprehensible His act is never abrupt but alwaies one and permanent therefore he onely is the true 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whose act end and perfection is alwaies in himself In regard of motion Dionysius saith Nec stat nec movetur He standeth not because he is alwaies moving his creatures and he is not moved because there is nothing to stirre him He is primus motor and if he move not all things lie asleep In regard of place he is incomprehensible for that he is every where and no where He is every where where there is a place and he is no where where there is no place and he must be in no place because no place can contain him Every where speaks finite because all places are created but no where speaks infinite because it is not created And though he be no where yet he is not out of himself therefore he himself is infinite Lastly in respect of time he is infinite for that he had no beginning and because he had no beginning therefore he can have no ending à relatis He hath neither terminum à quo nor terminum ad quem therefore in time also he is infinite And this infinitenesse in God is that which will suffer no man to see him as in himself he is No man shall see me and live saith God Therefore when the Saints stood before God they fell down upon their faces or else God held his hand before their faces as he did unto Moses The rest of Gods attributes his truth his goodnesse his mercie justice power and providence we may in some measure endure but his infinitie no creature can sustain because it hath no measure If we look to the antecedent of Gods eternitie after the first or second prospect the raies of our mindes eyes are broken if we look to the sequent after our sight is reflected from the heavens we can see no further further then the walls we cannot go If we look but upon the image of his infinitie which is his works and his waies our eyes begin to dazle Peter cried out at the draught of fishes Lord go from me for I am a sinfull man and Paul cried out O the depth both of the wisdome and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgements and his wayes past finding out Lastly Job saith He doth great things and unsearchable yea marvellous things without number When he goeth by me I see him not when he passeth by I perceive him not Lastly here the plausible description of Trismegistus affirming God to be a sphere whose centre is every where and whose circumference is no where holdeth better with a metaphor of the creatures residence in God then with any formall veritie or reason of infinitie because every where hath relation to place which is finite for that it is created but in God there is nothing finite If therefore we will assigne a centre to the infinite we must extend it beyond every where because the centre must be proportionate to the circumference but in God there is no proportion because he is all infinite therefore as his circumference is no where so his centre in proper speech must be no where too To which we may applie the doctrine of Dionysius in his book of mysticall Theologie cap. 4. Veriùs subtiliùs omnia de Deo negari quà m affirmari Consectarie The consectarie use is that seeing God is above all our reach therefore we should never speak rashly or ex-tempore of him like bold Puritanes which many times rather babble then speak but with all reverence and maturity like sober Christians like to that of Solomon Be not rash with thy mouth nor let thy heart be hastie to utter a thing before God for God is in heaven and thou upon earth therefore let thy words be few Gods Eternitie The seventh and last attribute is Gods Eternitie and hath reference to time which is alwayes flowing and running and the further it goeth the more it getteth and the more it getteth the more it argueth its want and indigencie in that it needeth but eternitie as it can get nothing so it needeth nothing because it alwayes is and hath neither antecedent nor subsequent but is one individuall having no parts no more then Gods essence for to be is Gods eternitie Time hath parts the first the middle the last as it had a beginning so it shall have an ending Therefore time standeth within eternitie as an inferiour orb and eternitie is the supporter of it so long as it shall stand Time is the shadow of eternitie and eternitie the substance therefore time shall vanish with the shadow because it is following eternitie as the shadow follows the sunne but eternitie cannot vanish because it is a durable substance yea being it self Eternitie is one permanent instant not admitting division it alwayes was and cannot cease to be But here the question may be made that if God was ever before either time or place where then should God be The answer of Divines is that before the creation he was in himself Tertullian saith Ante omnia Deus erat solus ipse sibi mundus locus omnia solus autem quia nihil extrinsecus praeter illum Caeterùm nè tunc quidem
feoffe it upon true doctrine and by writing when they forge a letter and put another mans name unto it Now denying the proceeding of impostours by these three he utterly barres the Thessalonians from admitting this false doctrine that Christs coming was then at hand And therefore he adjoyneth this generall to these particulars Let no man deceive you by any means Though they prophesie in the spirit though they preach out of the pulpit though they shew a letter signed as it were with mine own hand yet beleeve it not according to the like monition Gal. 1. 8. Though we or an angel from heaven preach unto you otherwise then that which we have preached unto you let him be accursed The two antecedents of Christs coming For that day shall not come except there come a falling away first and that man of sinne be revealed the sonne of perdition The Apostle having bound the Thessalonians from the hasty expectation of Christs coming now he gives them two infallible antecedents which must go before so that till these be come Christ may not come and when both these are come then the time which we look for must be at hand so saying our Saviour When ye see all these things know that the kingdome of God is neare even at the doores The first antecedent is the falling away the second and last is the uncovering of the man of sinne These two by reason of congruitie must go before for before these two parts be acted how should Christ come to judgement Cuique sua est tempestas saith Ecclesiastes Every thing must have his time Before Christ can judge the deficient they must have a time to fall away in before Christ can crown the constant they must have a time to be tried in before Christ can fight with his adversarie his adversarie must first shew himself and come into the field so there must be a world before there can be an end of the world besides in generation there is privation ever before form therefore in the breeding of Antichrist before the end defection must precede The falling away Whereas the first antecedent is a falling away we must enquire what is meant by this 'T is not a falling away from the Romane empire as some have imagined for what hath Christ empire to do with the Romane empire but it is a falling away from the faith of the Gospell it is the greatest defection that can be because it is a falling from Christ to the breeding of Antichrist Thus S. Paul expoundeth himself in 1. Tim. 4. 1. Now the Spirit speaketh evidently that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith He saith some because all shall not But that this some shall be the greatest some our Saviour sheweth in the Gospel by an interrogation But when the Sonne of man cometh shall he finde faith on the earth Defection spirituall is like a river the further it runneth the greater it groweth therefore the fittest time for the great Antichrist is the last time Where the falling away is Next the question is where this apostasie is to be found in what part of the world whether in the east church or in the west church Let us search the new Testament and see if we can finde any thing for it there First the Gospel was preached to the Jews many embraced it at the first as we reade in the Gospel but now they be all gone from it looking for a new Messias Where is the Church of the Corinthians the Church of the Galatians the Church of the Ephesians the Church of the Philippians the Church of the Colossians the Church of the Thessalonians to all which S. Paul wrote what is become of the twelve tribes to which Saint James wrote and whither are gone the seven great Churches of Asia to whom S. John wrote All these East Churches founded by the scripture are fallen from Christ and become Mahometans and Nestorians Their falling away was prophesied by S. John in the 2 of the Revelation The Church of the Ephesians was challenged for leaving their first love and were threatned with the removing of their candlestick if they did not repent The Church of Pergamos was challenged for maintaining the doctrine of Balaam the doctrine of the Nicolaitans and was threatned to be fought against with the sword of Christs mouth The Church of Thyatira was charged for suffering of Jezebel to deceive the people and was threatned to be cast into a bed of affliction The Church of Sardis was challenged for being then dead or at least a dying and was threatned to be come upon as a thief comes unexpectedly The Church of the Laodiceans was challenged for that they were neither hot nor cold but luke-warm and were threatned to be spewed out of Christs mouth All these with all the Churches of Africa as lamentable experience proveth a long time ago are gone in denying Christ totally and in receiving of circumcision the mark of the beast Therefore here that is in these Churches of the east which at this day are all under the great Turk this apostasie of which S. Paul speaketh of necessitie must be understood Thus the Church which rose in the east like the moon in the firmament is going down in the west expecting Christs coming Then from this great defection let us acquit Christendome whether they be Papists Protestants or Lutherans because though there be some differences amongst us in ceremonies and expositions which destroy not yet still our head Christ by Baptisme standeth upon our bodie and the substance of the Gospel is entire and whole amongst us by retaining the articles of the faith the volume of the new Testament and the practise thereof by faith and good life But where Baptisme is removed there is perfect apostasie because there the head is cut off from the body And this is contrarie to the commission of our Saviour Matth. 28. 19. The authours of the falling away To proceed in this point next it is expedient to know the authours of this defection how long it hath continued and who is the upholder of it For the first we finde that the first authour was the arch-heretick Arius who as we reade in S. Austine held the Sonne of God to be a creature and the holy Ghost to be the creature of a creature Hence he is called of S. Hilarius Principium Antichristi the beginning of Antichrist and in the Councell of Sardis he is named 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a fighter with Christ. The second authour was the heretick Nestorius who affirmed Christ to be onely man And he was termed Ecclesiae incendium the firebrand of the Church as we reade in Socrates and officina blasphemiarum the shop-house of blasphemies as we reade in Euagrius The third and last authour was the false prophet Mahomet who by the help of Sergius the Nestorian Monk forged his Alcoran in which as in the sink of heresies is contained
the prudent Now from this demonstration of the two beasts ariseth this argument That the Antichrist could not rise up under the first beast he was his onely let And because there are but two of these beasts therefore it is left that he must rise up under this last as Antiochus Antichrists figure rose out of one of the foure horns of the goat in the end of that kingdome Dan. 8. 23. Therefore in the sixteenth of the Apocalyps he is yoked with this beast and the dragon under the title of the false prophet where is said And I saw three unclean spirits come out of the mouth of that dragon and out of the mouth of that beast and out of the mouth of that false prophet to go unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world to gather them to the battell of that great day of God Almighty By the Dragon is meant the Devil as S. John interpreteth by the Beast is understood the Turk which is the second and surviving beast because where the first beast ended there the second began therefore it remaineth that the false prophet in the last place should be the Antichrist that is that singular man whose name consisteth of these Greek letters 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and whose coming as S. Paul saith shall be after the working of Satan with all power and signes and lying wonders To these ends First to make the people to beleeve in him as the onely God the Turks as if their Mahomet were returned and the Jews as though their Messias were come And secondly as S. John testifieth to gather the world together to the battell of the great day of God Almightie which shall be at the worlds end Hence it is apparent that the second beast cannot be the Papacie as some have interpreted First because the Papacie rose up and to this day resideth where the first beast rose up that is out of the sea at Rome but the second beast as S. John sheweth rose out of the earth And secondly because the second beast and the false prophet conspire together but the Turk and the Pope are enemies one to another Thirdly because the blowing of the sixth trumpet and the pouring out of the sixth vial in Apoc. 9 and 16 as M. Fox and most interpreters do consent belong to the kingdome of Antichrist and is properly understood of the Turks dominions as appeareth from the circumstance of the river Euphrates where the foure angels were loosed to destroy the third part of men and the river dried up to prepare the way for Antichrists armie And if the Pope should be the second beast then we must make the Turk to be the third because he teareth more then the other and thus we should have one beast more then S. John saw So that now it lies between the Turk and the Pope who shall have the horns and let the wiser sort judge Lastly if the Pope should be the second beast or the Antichrist from him because all interpreters understand Antichrist to belong to the second beast as Doctor Whitakers writeth in his answer to Sanders then he must not arise at Rome which is the first beasts originall for that this is found contrary in Revel 13. and 11 verse being compared with the first verse But there remaineth a stumbling block to be removed which is the misapplying of the prophesie of the whore of Babylon in the 17 of the Revelation For all there understand the Whore to be Antichrist in regard of her cup full of abominations and fornications and the beast upon which she sitteth to be the citie of Rome or the governour thereof by a metonymie Verse 3. I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet-coloured beast full of names of blasphemie which had seven heads and ten horns These seven heads are by S. John expounded to be seven mountains in verse 9. Now it is confessed on both sides that this citie consisting of seven mountains is Rome and therefore the men which would have the Pope to be Antichrist affirm it because at this day the Pope sitteth on that seat I answer Though the Pope at this day sitteth on that citie which is called the beast because the first beast which was the devouring empire of ethnick Rome there resided yet the Pope shall not alwayes there sit except he sit beside his cushen because when the great Antichrist shall come toward the end of the world aided by the second beast which is the Mahometicall empire then shall the Pope be outed and the second beast and the Whore Antichrist shall come in where sitting by the space of three yeares and an half the Beast the Whore and the Citie for so I finde them conjoyned in this chapter as making but one bodie shall be drunken with the bloud of the saints and martyrs which they shall then shed in abundance and thus at last the second beast shall sit on the first beasts seat and so become as it were one beast as it is in the 8 verse of this 17 chapter where it is said When they shall behold the beast which was and is not and yet is The beast which was must of necessitie be understood of persecuting Rome in the time of the primitive Church That Rome at this day is not the beast is manifest because the Pope there now sheddeth no bloud Yet this first beast at this day is in his successour the second beast which is the Mahometicall empire doing all things that the first beast could as you may reade in the 13 chapter and 12 verse Thus the first beast shall be in his esse by the second beast and Antichrist the last of that wicked line in the end of the world and shall sit upon the seven-hilled Rome abounding with blasphemies spirituall fornications and bloud untill the moon be turned into bloud and the great and terrible day of the Lord be come And that Antichrist when he cometh shall sit at Rome I prove it first from S. Pauls testimonie saying that he shall sit as God in the temple of God Where by the temple of God we are not to understand the temple at Jerusalem as Bellarmine would have us for that was to cease with the old law and was long since demolished by Vespasian and Titus and when Julian the apostate would have built it again to increase the Jews and to lessen the Christians no sooner were the foundations laid but an earthquake cast them up again and fire from heaven consumed the tools of the workmen with the stones timber and other materials which is a signe that God will not have that temple to be built again But by the Temple we must understand the Temples of Christians which are our Churches because the Apostle wrote this to the Christians at Thessalonica and not to the Jews And thus Oecumenius interpreteth S. Paul saying 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He doth not say the Temple at
seen Antichrists description and his warres and now we are to behold his furniture and setting forth He is furnished with all the devils power and therefore his marching shall be like the marching of Jehu the sonne of Nimshi who marched furiously But here we must observe with Carthusianus that Antichrists coming is twofold the one secret the other open His secret coming belongs to his breeding of which I have alreadie spoken in the apostasie and his open coming belongs to his preaching and progresse in conquering when he shall shew himself to the world in the person of Christ and in the form of God secundum operationem Satanae according to the working of Satan And how is that That is as Anselm interpreteth diabolo instigante the devil inciting him He shall be possest with a devil and at his instigation he shall do all things not like a phrentick without sense but with forecast and deliberation He shall put his will to the devils cunning and the devil shall put his cunning to his will The one shall devise and plot and the other shall perform and effect As God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself so the devil shall be in Antichrist seducing the world from God to himself And as Christ saith in John 14. 10. The Father which remaineth in me he doth the works so the devil dwelling in Antichrist he shall do all that he doth too Thus they shall conferre their forces that they may do the more hurt according to the proverb Vis unita fortior United force is the stronger With all power and signes and lying wonders Because Antichrist hath two ends the one to be honoured as a king the other to be worshipped as a God therefore he shall come instructed and furnished with full means with all power of mans arm to throw down and to enthrone and with all signes and lying wonders to prepare faith for him With the first agrees the type with the second the antithesis accords Of the type it is said in Daniel The prince that shall come shall destroy the citie and the sanctuarie and the end thereof shall be with a floud and unto the end of the battel it shall be destroyed by desolations So when Antichrist comes he shall spread the breadth of the earth with his armies as a floud covers the drie land For the antithesis look how Christ wonne the world to his faith by true signes and miracles so shall Antichrist prevail with the reprobate by his false signes and lying wonders And as when Christ came not he onely wrought miracles but his disciples also did the like so when Antichrist shall come his ministers shall work as false miracles as their master Therefore it is said in Matth. 24. 24. that the false prophets shall shew signes and wonders as well as the false Christs Hitherto there have been many false Christs and many false prophets as we reade in storie but the last false Christ and the last false prophets which are Antichrists false prophets shall outgo the rest for they shall mork miracles which the former could not do for they shall cause fire to come down from heaven in the sight of men as it is Revel 13. 13. because at that time Satan shall be loosed and they shall have all his power And these miracles of theirs are said to be lying wonders in respect of all the causes matter form efficient and end In respect of the matter because many of them shall be phantastick deceiving the eye like the tricks of juglers Such were the rods and serpents of Pharaohs inchanters which were devoured of Aarons rod because they were but shadows and his was a substance In respect of the form because though they have a matter yet they shall not exceed the force of nature And such are the prodigies of Necromancers while by the help of the devil they conjoyn naturall causes to the producing of some strange effect beyond the ordinary course of nature And thus they may cause fire to fall down from heaven for that in the aire there is the element of fire and the fuell of exhalations for the fire to feed upon But true miracles have no naturall causes and therefore they are miracles not onely in the sight of men but also in the sight of devils and angels These are competent to God onely as it is Psal. 72. 18. Benedictus Dominus Deus Israel qui facit mirabilia solus Blessed be the Lord God of Israel who alone doth wondrous things And our Lord Christ saith Joh. 15. 24. If I had not done among them the works which no other did they had not had sinne Again in regard of the efficient they are lying miracles because the devil the father of lies shall be the principall agent whose coming is after the working of Satan Therefore the Fathers affirm that Antichrist shall be a notable witch and that the devil shall inhabit him from his conception or at least from his cradle Lastly they shall be lying signes in regard of their end because they shall tend to shew that Antichrist is God and the Messias which is a Jewish and devilish lie For as Christ by his true miracles proved his divinitie so shall Antichrist by his false miracles labour to do the like but all in vain because lying miracles are but idols and prove nothing And for this cause miracles are called signes for that they signifie to the world some strange and wonderfull thing Vers. 10. And with all deceiveablenesse of unrighteousnesse in them that perish In these words is expressed a second member of Antichrists provision to obtain his purpose which is his hypocrisie and dissembling His life in outward shew is righteousnesse but inwardly it is unrighteousnes therefore to such as cannot unmask it it is deceiveablenesse He shall feigne notable justice to give all the world content his forehead shall be made of equitie but his intralls shall be fraught with iniquitie Therefore he shall be the arch-hypocrite Ephrem Syrus in his sermon of Antichrist hath these words Ut omnes fallere possit falsus atque falsiloquus humilem se simulabit blandum c. That he might deceive all he being false and a false speaker shall counterfeit himself humble and fair-spoken despising injustice preferring pietie gentle poore studious beautifull beyond all admiration pleasing cheerfull to all he shall endeavour to please all that he might soon be sought of the people and be beloved The books of this Ephrem were thought so notable that they were read in the Church as S. Hierome testifieth To proceed Carthusianus upon this text saith Variis modis Antichristus decipiet mundum videlicet simulatione sanctitatis scripturarum allegationibus sapientiâ ornatu sermonis eminentiâ miraculorum promissione divitiarum terrore minarum potestate prosperitate ac multitudine ministrorum suorum Antichrist shall divers wayes deceive the world with counterfeit holinesse with
to heaven in the gaze of their enemies which is a signe of the resurrection and of their fellows following shortly after Here beginneth Antichrists horrour as we reade in Revel 11. In the three dayes space and half while the witnesses bodies lie dead in the streets and uninhumed the Antichristians shall make great mirth and send gifts one to another but when they shall see them to stand again upon their feet and after that to go up to heaven then shall great fear come upon them The second prodigie is the blacknesse of the sunne the bloudines of the moon and the falling of the stars As in the worlds creation the light was the first dayes work so in the worlds destruction the light shall be first obscured And as when the candles are put out men take their rest so when sunne and moon shall be extinct the righteous shall be translated to the rest of souls To the wicked the light shall be put out with utter darknesse but the godly shall go from the light variable to the light of glorie These two lights of sunne and moon shall be to Antichrist and his companie two glasses to behold themselves in The glasse of the sunne which represents the Father of lights by his black darknesse shall reflect upon their consciences the light of Gods countenance removed from them and the blacknesse of darknesse reserved for them in the pit of darknesse The glasse of the moon which sembles the Church by her bloudy colour shall oppose to them the multitude of Christian bloud by them shed in their persecution for the space of three yeares and an half And the falling of starres like mountains of fire dashing before their faces shall daze them with unspeakable perplexitie and record unto them their falling from grace The third is the great Terrae-motus such an earthquake as was not since men were upon the earth as it is in Revel 16. 18. One saith it shall be so great that neither man nor beast may stand upon the earth Shaking goes before ruine as a signe of falling Hereupon the Apostle inferreth that the things which are not shaken may remain The fourth is the roaring of the seas and waves expressed Luk. 21. 25. And to this Maris-motus he addeth that the sea shall lift it self fourtie cubits above the height of mountains insinuating that now the waters prepare themselves to claim their ancient right which they had in the creation which is to be above the earth as then it was till God commanded the contrary for the seat of men and terrene creatures And this is confirmed Revel 6. 14. where is said And every mountain and isle moved out of their places Which is not so to be understood as though they were to leave their situation but for that they shall be no more seen the mountains being demolished to make the orb even and the waters being drawn over their faces like a carpet over a table The fifth is the horrour of the aire by fearfull voices thundrings and lightnings and the fall of hail Every stone about the weight of a talent expressed Revel 16. 21. and Ezek. 38. 22. All the elements shall be out of order presaging their dissolution and the fearfull punishment which Antichrist must expect when shortly after the element of fire shall be out of his place and flaming all the world over The sixth is the falling of buildings mentioned Ezek. 38. 20. and Revel 16. 19. And every wall shall fall to the ground Et civitates gentium ceciderunt And the cities of the nations fell When houses and castles fall then there will be no more dwelling here Therefore it behoveth all beforehand to provide for buildings made without hands The seventh is the strange behaviour of living creatures intimated Ezek. 38. 20. The fishes of the sea the fowls of heaven and the beasts of the field and all that move and creep upon the earth shall tremble at my presence One interpreteth that all the sea-beasts shall be gathered together above the sea and shall give a lowing up to heaven The fowls shall flock together and sigh and howl one to another And the beasts shall go lowing to the field and when they come there shall refuse to feed thereby portending their expected end The eighth is the cleaving and rending of rocks and stones prefigured by the stones rending at Christs death and demonstrating the hardnesse of Antichristian hearts which refuse to melt at the death of Christians when the inanimate and hard stones break in many pieces And to this end the woods trees and herbs also shall sweat bloud as Sibylla foretold 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The ninth is the opening of graves and the coming forth of bones standing by the graves rehearsed by one and foreshewed by the graves opening and the bodies coming forth at Christs resurrection For if such demonstration was made for the beginning then the like premonstration is to be looked for in the fulfilling as a competent consectarie The tenth is the appearing of the signe of the Sonne of man in the firmament which the Fathers understand to be the signe of the crosse upon which Christ suffered S. Augustine saith Quid est quod omnes noverunt signum Christi nisi crux Christi Quod signum nisi adhibeatur sive frontibus credentium sive ipsi aquae quâ regenerantur sive sacrificio quo aluntur nihil eorum rite perficitur What is that which all have known to be the signe of Christ but the crosse of Christ which signe unlesse it be applied either to the foreheads of beleevers or to the water it self whereby they are regenerated or to the sacrifice wherewith they are nourished none of these are rightly performed This the Gospel placeth as the immediate preceding signe of Christs coming like the mace or rod born before Kings and Judges when they go to their tribunals or like the ensigne or standard carried before conquering Emperours For in this our Lord Jesus triumphed over his enemies as is expressed Coloss. 2. 14 15. where it is said that he nailed to his crosse the hand-writing of ordinances that was against us and spoiled principalities and powers triumphing over them in it Wherefore upon the sight of this signe it is said Then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn because then the Jews which put Christ to death upon it and Antichrist the Arch-Jew with the whole earth adhering to him shall see him with his crosse coming to take vengeance upon them And then shall the saying be fulfilled They shall see him whom they have pierced These prodigies with others by S. Luke intimated under the shaking of the powers of heaven and the things coming upon the earth shall interpose themselves between the end of Antichrists persecution and Christs coming and shall so follow on the neck of one another that they shall be heartlesse and witlesse not knowing what to do by reason