make us beleeve in Christ The next two Articles of Christs Conception and his Birth are declared by the Angell to Joseph Feare not Joseph to take Mary thy wife for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost and she shall bring forth a Sonne and thou shalt call his Name jesus Then the next Article of Christs suffering under Pontius Pilate is sufficiently testified in Pontius Pilate who gave sentence to have Barrabas released and Christ to be scourged and then his being Crucified Dead and Buryed are for more surety recorded with their circumstances That he was Crucified betweene two Theeves and when his Legges should have beene broken he was found to bee Dead before and then was Buried and laid in a Sepulchre where never man had been laid before by Joseph of Arimathea as all the Evangelists testifie But now the Article of Christs Descending into Hell makes us at a stand For none of all the Evangelists bring Christ any further then his Grave there they leave him and say not a word more of him till his Rising from the Dead that for any thing appeares yet this Article is like to be lost for want of a Testimoniall It may seeme indeed strange that this Article should be in the Creed and not bâ— found in the Gospel seeing thâ— Gospell seemes to bee the ground from which the Creed is taken Bâ—â— is it not that the ground of ouâ— Creed is not onely the Gospell buâ— all the whole Scripture For thâ— Gospell seemes to deliver no morâ— of Christ then what was visible and done in his body and least wee should bee doubtfull what became of his Soule when his body was dead therefore this Article Hee descended into Hell is added For wee may observe that in these Articles concerning Christ this word Hee personates three Estates as when it is said Hee was Crucified Dead and Buried here the Word Hee Intends but onely his Body as when it is said Hee Descended into Hell heere Hee intends but only his Soule and when it is said He rose againe from the Dead heere the word Hee intends both his Body and Soule together and so continues in all the Articles following He ascended into Heaven He sitteth at the right hand of his Father He shall come to Iudge the Quick and the Dead still the Word Hee intends both his Body and Soule together From whence wee may gather how it is like to be with us also that though our soules and bodies be parted for a time yet when in the Resurrection they once meet againe they shall never afterward be parted any more But though this Article seeme to have no ground in the Evangelists yet in the Apostles and Prophets it hath at lest the Prophet David long before had said in the person of Christ Thou wilt not leave my soule in Hell by which it appeares that his soule was in Hell and theâ— what time so fit for the being thereâ— as while his Body was lying in the Grave and Saint Paul also seeme to say as much where hee saithâ— He Descended into the lowest parts of the Earth which must needes bee certainely a lower place then the Grave And so between the Prophet David and the Apostle Saint Paul we shall be able to make this Article a good Testimoniall having from the one the Place from the other the Motion David naming Hell and Saint Paul descending After the stop of this Article wee come againe into the Roade For the Article of Christs Rising from the Dead hath not onely the Voyces of all the Evangelists but it hath a clowde of Witnesses besides Saint Paul affirming that more then five hundred brethren at once saw him being Risen from the dead Then he next Articles whether two or one of his Ascending into heaven and sitting at the Right hand of God are in such manner testified by Saint Marke that the words of the Creed are but the very Transcript of his Text. Then the Article of Christs comming to Iudge the Quick and the Dead is Proclaimed as from Christ himselfe that it is Hee which was ordained of God to be Judge both of quicke and dead And then the Article of Beleeving in the Holy Ghost is made good by Christs last charge to his Apostles Goe teach all Nations Baptizing them in the name of the Father of the Son and of the Holy Ghost and in whose Name wee are Baptized in Him certainly we have just cause to beleeve But then the Article of beleeving the Holy Catholique Church makes us at a stand againe Foâ— what place of Holy Scripture caâ— bee brought for a Testimony oâ— Beleeving the Catholick Church wheâ— not so much as the word Catholickâ— is to be found in any place of Holy Scripture For though some Epistles of some Apostles be Inscribed Catholicke yet Inscription of Epistles is no part of the Scripture no more then part of the Epistles But is it not that though the word Catholicke be not directly exprest yet it may be directly inferr'd seeing many places of Scripture binde us to Beleeve the Church but no particular Church and therefore the Catholicke or Universall Church Then the Article of the Communion of Saints Is it not fully exprest by Saint Paul where hee saith There is one Body and one Spirit one Lord one Faith one Baptisme one God and Father of all who is above all and through all and in us all Then for the Article of Remission of sinnes We have as many Testimonies of Scripture as there are words but it may bee Testimoniall enough which Saint Iohn giveth where he saith The bloud of Jesus Christ clenseth us from all our sinnes Then the Article of the Resurrection of the Body though it might passe under the Article of Christs Resurrection without any other Testimony For if Christ be risen from the Dead we also shall rise from the Dead Yet it hath a Testimony by it self where it is said God that raised up Christ from the Dead shall also quicken our mortall Bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in us And lastly the Article of Everlasting Life is Testified by Saint John as it were in Red Letters where hee saith God so loveâ— the World that hee gave his onely bâ—gotten Sonne that whosoever beleeveâ— in him should not perish but have liâ—â— Everlasting And now having shewed that aâ— the Articles are contained in thâ— Scripture It remaines to shewâ— what it is they containe I Where first it may be demanded that as in saying the Lordâ— Prayer we say Our Father taking others along with us and not going our selves alone So in saying the Creede why we doe not as well say Wee Beleeve that so wee may not goe alone but take others along with us Is it not that Beliefe is Personall but Prayer belongs to the Communion of Saints Prayer proceeds from Charity and therefore is Communicative but Beliefe proceeds from Faith and â—erefore is reserved Another may â—ray for mee but another
the innumerable number of persons that must make their appearance there scarse the whole earth would be roome enough to make a Sessions-house for such a company unlesse perhaps by the like miracle as is said to have beene usuall in the Jewish Synagogue that when the people kneeled downe there was roome enough in the Temple to hold them all but when they stood up they were fain many of them to goe out of the Temple for want of roome when yet kneeling downe must needs take up more roome then standing up But though we know not either at what time or to what place hee shall come yet we beleeve to what purpose hee shall come For hee shall come to judge the quicke and the dead The quick those whom hee shall finde alive at his comming and the dead those who dyed before his comming Or the quicke those that are alive in grace and the dead them that are dead in sin But not to judge the dead while they are dead for so they should not bee able to answer for themselves which cannot stand with the justice of so righteous a Judge but at his comming at the sound of a Trumpet The Sea and the Earth shall give up their dead and they shall all arise and stand at his Tribunall to receive their sentence of pardon or condemnation according to their works And oh how terrible will that day be For if the day were terrible in which the Law was given so terrible that Mount Sinai was all of a smoake how terrible will that day bee in which the transgressors of the Law shall all be brought to receiue their Triall If the day were terrible which was a day of grace how terrible will the day be which shall be a day of punishment O my soule let the remembrance of this Article be never out of thy minde and if at any time thou find in thy selfe either suggestions of Satan or motions to sinne then thinke upon this Article and when thou thinkest upon it beleeve it and be most assured that there shall most certainly bee a day of judgement in which all thoughts of the heart though never brought forth in words shall bee discovered all actions of life though never so secretly done shall all be laid open and judgement shall be given upon them all without favour or partialitie And let us not flatter our selves in security because he who is now our Advocate shall be then our Judge but rather consider that though hee be now a Lambe he will then be found to be a Lyon Demonstravit potentiam qui demonstravit patientiam and let us prepare our selves against that day in feare and trembling and let us send up strong cries to him that as the good Thiefe obtained to be remembred of him when he came into his kingdome so wee may obtaine of him to be remembred in mercy when he comes to judgement Before wee leave this Article there is one observation which may not be omitted that this Article is of a different making from all the rest all the other might bee made by Apostles but this seemes rather to bee made by a Prophet For our beliefe in it is Propheticall and tells what Christ will doe in time to come Indeed none of the Articles concerning Christ are in the Future tense but onely this as none of them is in the Present tense but onely the next before He fitteth at the right hand of his Father all the other Articles are in the Preter perfect tense and speake of the time past even from his conception to his ascending into Heaven in the Preterperfect tense all but once ascended into Heaven where all time is Present no more Preterperfect tense then no more mention of time past and therefore our Article turnes Present too He sitteth at the right hand of his Father and there should sit and enjoy his Present tense and time for ever if it were not for us but as once before for our sakes hee left Heaven and came downe to redeeme us so once againe for our sakes hee will leave Heaven and come downe to judge us For without judging he could not come to rewarding No comming to Venite benedicti Patris Come yee blessed of my Father untill hee have judged first and without comming to this Venite all that went before would come to nothing And therefore all the benefit of these Preterperfect tenses consists in this Future all the harvest I may say of the other Articles is reaped in this last that Christ shall come to judge the quick and the dead O therefore my soule be carefull to lead thy life so in this present world that thou maist not bee afraid of his comming to judgement because of Ite maledicti in ignem aeternum Goe yee cursed into everlasting fire but maist rather rejoyce at his comming because of Venite benedicti Patris Come yee blessed of my Father For as that Ite will pay them home for all the pleasures of a wicked life So this Venite will make amends for all the pressures of a wretched life and indeed without the benefit of this Venite all the delights and pleasures the world can afford will prove but as Naboths Vineyard to Ahab Corosives in the end And now having beleeved in the first and second Person of the Trinity I beleeve in the Holy Ghost the Father and the Son if wee should not beleeve in the third Person the Holy Ghost wee should doe him great wrong and our selves more seeing it hath been through him and by his assistance that we have beleeved in thē For as it is true that the Holy Ghost proceeds from the Father and the Son so it is true that beleeving in the Father the Son proceeds from the Holy Ghost For beleeving being a work of Faith and Faith a worke of Sanctification and Sanctification a worke of onely the Holy Ghost how should wee come to beleeving but by the Holy Ghost And it is indeed for this that he hath his Name to be called the Holy Ghost or Spirit Not but that the Father and the Sonne are both Holy and Spirits as well as he but because it is properly Hee that inspires our mindes with all good thoughts and holy desires And now my soule while I beleeve in the Father as the author of my Creation and in the Sonne as the author of my Redemption and in the Holy Ghost as the author of my Regeneration that all the Persons in the Deity may have their severall operations in me and bestow their severall gifts upon me will there not be cause of my thankefulnesse to every one of them and of returning to every one of them all praise and glory who are all of them but one But why is there so much spoken of Christ and so little of the Holy Ghost being a Person in the Trinity as well as hee Is it not that there is more spoken of the Sonne then of the Holy Ghost
in regard of the Sonnes being Incarnate and taking our nature upon him For this indeed brings in many points to bee beleeved whereof considered onely as the second person in the Trinity there should be no need So as the two Natures in Christ must needs give cause to have more spoken of him then of the holy Ghost that hath but one nature The Doctrine concerning the Holy Ghost hath in all Ages beene most obscure so much that in some Churches it was some time before it was beleeved at all or so much as knowne whether there were a Holy Ghost or no even in these present times the Greeke Church a Church of great extent differs thus from us that where we beleeve the Holy Ghost to proceede from the Father and the Son that Church beleeves the Holy Ghost to proceed from the Father by the Sonne a nice difference in so Incomprehensible a Mystery that there seemes no just cause to lay such Anathemaes as some doe upon that Church for so beleeving If wee should beleeve in the Father and in the Sonne and not beleeve in the Holy Ghost this beliefe would never be sanctified seeing the Holy Ghost onely is the Sanctifier and sanctifies none that beleeve not in him and the beliefe not being sanctified would never bee acceptable to the Father himselfe notwithstanding our beliefe in him And this perhaps was the cause why the Offering of Cain was not accepted because though a Sacrifice yet it wanted a devotion sanctified by the Holy Ghost There is a sinne which is properly called The sinne against the Holy Ghost and for them that commit this sinne we are forbidden to pray a grievous sinne no doubt which stops the current of Charity whose nature is wont to overflow al banks but what the sinne is and by what marks it may certainly be known though a Question much agitated is not yet so fully explicated but that it leaves scruples but whatsoever it is or may be we may be sure that the Not-beleeving in the Holy Ghost is one principall ingredient in it Or rather where a true beleeving in the Holy Ghost is this sinne properly can never bee committed And therefore in making profession of our Faith there is none of all the Articles in the whole Creed that seemes more necessary to be said then this For by saying this Article we make it appeare there can bee no danger in praying for us as not being likely to commit the sin against the Holy Ghost who beleeve in the Holy Ghost But why is it that sinnes committed against the Father or the Sonne shall bee forgiven but a sinne committed against the Holy Ghost shall never bee forgiven neither in this world nor in the world to come Is it not that if a sinne bee committed against the Father or the Sonne the Holy Ghost being the Sanctifier can sanctifie that sinne and make it pardonable but if a sinne bee committed against the Holy Ghost there is none to sanctifie it and not being sanctified it justly exceeds all bounds of Remission O therefore thou blessed God the Holy Ghost Vouchsafe to endue me with a Spirit of sanctification that what other sinnes soever I may happily unhappily commit yet I may never be so unhappy to commit this dreadfull sinne of sinning against thee When we read the order of the Persons in the Trinitie the Father placed first the Sonne second the Holy Ghost last wee must not conceive it as though there were any Priority betweene them in time who are all Go-eternall or any disparity betweene them in dignitie who are all Consubstantiall but that it is an expressing of Order onely to our capacities seeing although they be Three Persons yet they are all but One God All but One in Substance though Three in Subsistence The Incomprehensiblenesse of which Mysterie though it exceed our capacities yet not our Beliefe Or therefore the fitter for beliefe because it exceeds our capacities And now having professed our Beliefe in God the Father God the Sonne and God the Holy Ghost wee may justly conclude and say O Holy Blessed and glorious Trinity Three Persons and One God have mercy upon us miserable sinners And thus is finished the first part of our Creed In whom it is we Beleeve the other part remaines containing What it is we Beleeve For to know In whom to beleeve and not know what to beleeve were to stand at a gaze and bee to seeke when wee come to our lesson Indeede the things wee beleeve have dependance upon the Persons in whom we beleeve and such dependance as without beleeving in those wee cannot truely beleeve these If wee did not beleeve in the Holy Ghost we could not beleeve the Holy Catholike Church nor the Communion of Saints for these are benefits that come by the Holy Ghost And if we did not beleeve in the Son of God Christ Jesus we could not beleeve the Forgivenesse of sinnes nor the Resurrection of the body for these are benefits that accrue unto us by the Sonne of God Christ Jesus And if we did not beleeve in God the Father we could not beleeve the life Everlasting seeing by him onely it is that we live and have our present being and shall have our eternall being And the first Article of this kinde is this I beleeve the holy Catholike Church I beleeve the Holy Catholike Church I beleeve it in deed but not in it as I doe in God For this is a Priviledge due onely to him and besides if I should beleeve in it I should beleeve partly in my selfe as being a Member of it but I beleeve there is a Holy Catholike Church Holy as in which are the Elect of God and Catholike as in which are of all Nations under heaven and this is not the Church of the Jewes for that Church though at some time it were Holy yet it was never Catholike as being bounded within Canaan but now as the Holy Ghost hath made the Church Holy by sanctifying it so Christ hath made it Catholike by enlarging it for at his comming at least at his going away he broke downe the Partition wall by his last Warrant to the Apostles Goe teach all Nations Baptizing them in the Name of the Father and of the Sonne and of the Holy Ghost But though Christ set his Church at large yet not long after his time a Sect of Hereticks would needs restraine it againe For Donatus and his followers would perswade the world that as before the true Church was onely in Canaan so now the true Church was onely in Africa but by beleeving the Holy Catholike Church I now disclaime both these Churches the Church of the Jewes as not being Catholike and the Church of the Donatists as being neither Catholike nor Holy But what use is there of this Article May not a Christian man doe well enough and yet leave this Article out of his Creed Indeed there is not onely great use of it but even necessitie For
the first Gospell that was written of Christ was that of Saint Matthew which was not writteÌ„ til eight years after Christs death the other much later especially that of Saint John which was not written till thirty yeares after and therefore the Creede no doubt was delivered if not in forme as now it is at least in substance as now it is long before any Gospell was written And may it not bee further said that this Creed seemes to have been penned when Religion was first translated from Judaisme to Christianitie and therefore that there are no other Articles in it then such as are in opposition to the doctrine of the Jewes by introducing in their place the Christian beliefe For by the Article of beleeving in God the Father God the Son and God the Holy Ghost we utterly renounce the doctrine of the Jewes who acknowledge no Trinity of Persons in the Deity By beleeving the Incarnation of the Sonne of God Christ Jesus and his passion under Pontius Pilate we renounce the doctrine of the Jewes who teach that the true Messias is not yet come By beleeving the Holy Catholike Church wee renounce the opinion of the Jewes who thought that the Church of God was bounded onely within Canaan and that no Church could be holy but that of Israel By beleeving the Communion of Saints we renounce the doctrine of the Jewes by which a Jew indeed would take no usury for money of a Jew but to any of another Nation they would use oppression to the very grinding of their faces By beleeving the forgivenesse of sinnes we renounce the Pharisees Justification by workes and sticke onely to the Publicanes Justification by Faith O God be mercifull to me a sinner By beleeving the Resurrection of the Body we renounce the errour of the Sadduces whom Christ confuted by this argument Have ye not read that which was spoken to you by God saying I am the God of Abraham the God of Isaak and the God of Jakob God is not the God of the dead but of the living By beleeving the life everlasting we renounce the opinion of the Jewes who depended onely upon temporall benefits and the blessings of this life and as for the life to come were as carelesse of it as ignorant And now seeing all the Articles of this Creed are in opposition to the doctrin of the Jewes what marveile that in it there is no Article for beleeving the Scriptures wheÌ„ as concerning the Scriptures that were then there was no opposition beweene the Christians and them It may with more reason bee demanded why in these Articles of beliefe there is no mention made of the Sacraments seeing Baptism and the Lords Supper were ordained by Christ himself and are things so necessary to be beleeved But is it not that of Baptisme Christ said Goe teach all Nations Baptizing them in the name of the Father of the Sonne and of the holy Ghost and of the Eucharist he said Doe this in remembrance of me and so both these are things of Action which wee must not onely beleeve but doe and therefore fitter placed Inter agenda amongst the records of things to be done then Inter credenda amongst the Articles of things to be beleeved The Catholike Church is no sooner founded The Communion of Saints but the Communion of Saints followes presently upon it as was seene at the Pentecost after Châ—ists Ascending when the Holy Ghost descended upon the Apostles in cloven Tongues for then were present of all Nations under Heaven who it seemes made the representative body of the Catholike Church and then being all of one accord and having all things in common and distributing to every one as they had need they acted the Article we here beleeve If there were not a Communion of S t s the wicked should be more charitable then the godly for among the wicked there are leagues and confederacies and they hold together for the common good and oftentimes their lives are engaged for one another and if the wicked doe this the godly certainely will doe it much more and this makes me to beleeve assuredly The Communion of Saints But are there Saints then on earth Are not all men living sinners and can sinners be Saints Indeed not Saints by Canonization of men but by the Canonization of the Holy Spirit Not Saints in perfection but in Inchoation called Saints as Saint Paul saith because called to be Saints as having their Names written in the Booke of God in Heaven But we must here take heed of the Anabaptists Communion of Saints For by their Communion no man should have any thing in private but all should be in common and so none should be richer or poorer then another which would make Christs Praediction directly false where hee saith The poore yee shall have alwaies with you and would make all these exhortations voide Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorifie your Father which is in Heaven Charge them which are rich in this world that they be ready to give and glad to destribute Give Alme of thy goods and never turne thy face from any poore man But indeed this Communion is in part exprest by Saint Paul where he saith Doe good to all men but especially to those of the houshold of Faith For the being of one houshold implies plainely a common provision for al the house but implies withall a disparity of estates Indeede the first flowre that growes in the Garden of the Catholike Church is the Communion of Saints which as it begins in the Militant so it continues in the Triumphant Church Continues there when the other flowres are withered and gone For when Faith and Hope shall be no more yet Charity shall continue and not onely continue but be then most flourishing and if we did not beleeve the Communion of Saints wee could not truely say Our Father in the Lords Prayer for in saying Our Father wee professe this Communion But for the better understanding of this Article It may bee conceived that there are Saints on Earth and Saints in Heaven and this Article containes the Communion of them both both of the Saints on earth between themselves and of the Saints in Earth and Heaven with one another What though they bee farre distant and asunder Are not the feet so from the head are not the hands so from the heart Yet if there were not a relation and correspondencie betweene them neither the feet would bee able to move nor the hands to stirre and perhaps not the head in many things to doe his Office And this Communion consists either in Assistance or in Love but in Assistance for a time in Love for ever For as the Saints in Heaven assist us by praying that wee may so leade our lives in this life that we may come to bee admitted into their Societie in the next So we assist the Saints in Heaven by praying that the suite
MEDITATIONS AND Disquisitions UPON THE CREED BY Sr. RICHARD BAKER Knight LONDON Printed by IOHN DAVVSON for Francis Eglessield at the Marigold in Pauls Church-yard 1646. TO THE GENEROVS and worthy of much honour THOMAS BAKER of FREZINGFIELD in the County of Suffolke ESQVIRE Most honoured Cosin IT is not the propinquity of bloud that is between us It is not the great Obligation in which I stand bound unto you which yet were causes of themselves sufficient but it is the generousnesse of your minde that make me desirous to consecrate something t◠the memory of your Name for thoug◠your owne vertue will preserve it sufficiently yet my affection is not satisfied without bearing a part in it that being my selfe but a whithered bough may expresse my joy in so flourishing branch of our Family as your selfe is And now I know not whether I ma◠account you young in regard of your fer yeares or Old in regard of your muc◠experience having spent Twelve year together a longer time then Vlysses in travelling over the most flourishing parts of Christendome where having spent your time in so noble 〈◊〉 manner as Report delivers you cannot chuse but be returned home Vir pau◠corum hominum more compleat in good parts then to have man Peeres But to leave this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Having heretofore written Meditations upon the Lords Prayer J have now adventured to doe the like upon the Creede which Treatise as J Dedicate to your Name so my selfe to your Service and remaine Devoted to you in all true Love and Affection Richard Baker MEDITATIONS AND DISQVISITIONS Vpon the CREEDE IT seemes that in laying the Foundation of CHRISTS Church where many Proselytes were to be admitted this forme of Beliefe was first penned to the end that they which would be admitted into the Church should first professe the Beliefe of these Articles and these being beleeved were thought to bee sufficient to shew the professed Faith of an Orthodoxe Christian But whether the Apostles themselves were the Penners of it as some have thought or whether some other out of the Apostles Doctrine as the most conceive is not much materiall to be examined It is sufficient for us to know that it is received by a Generall consent of the whole Church And although the Article of Christs Descending into Hell hath for some time in some Churches not been received yet this is no more then hath befallen some parts of the holy Scripture it selfe For the Epistle to the Hebrewes and the Epistle of Saint Iude and some other now generally received have for some time in some Churches not beene admitted But howsoever former times have had some scruple about this Article yet wee must admit it now without scruple unlesse we will make scruple also to admit the Article of beleeving the Holy Catholike Church seeing the Holy Catholike Church hath long since admitted it into our Creede as an Article necessary to be beleeved of every Christian man And it seems to containe a Breviate of those things which of a Christian man are Credenda to be Beleeved as the Ten Commandements a Breviate of things that are Agenda to be done and the Lords Prayer a Breviat of things that are Oranda to be Prayed for which Three as they differ not much in the number of their Articles so they seeme to have a great coherence one with another For what wee Beleeve that wee have reason to doe and what we are to doe that we have just cause to Pray for to be enabled to doe That whilst our Beleeving is manifested by our doing and our doing prospered by our Praying The man of God may bee made perfect in every good worke If wee should doe as much as wee are commanded to doe and not beleeve as much as we are taught to beleeve that doing would doe us little good and if wee should beleeve as much as wee are taught to beleeve and not doe as much as wee are commanded to doe that beleeving would doe us lesse good Then onely will the benefit of both of them accrew unto us when Beleefe is joyned with Action and Faith with good Workes without which conjunction there may be Leaves but there will bee no Fruit. For if we should do the Commandements and not beleeve this Creed our Profession would want the Basis and if beleeve this Creede and not doe the Commandements it would want the Coronis And so these Articles are the fundamentals of that which is to be beleeved of a Christian but the fundamentals of that which is to be done of a Christian are the Commandements in the Law and in the Gospell Both which Fundamentals must be joyned together to make up the building of our salvation And this summe or Breviate of beliefe which wee call our Creede consists of two parts Personae Res First the Persons in whom wee must beleeve and then the things which we must beleeve The persons in whom to beleeve are three God the Father God the Son and God the Holy Ghost Three Persons and one God Blessed for ever The things which we are to beleeve are five of which the two first which are The holy Catholique Church and the Communion of Saints as they heere stand next to the Holy Ghost so most properly they relate to the Holy Ghost He being the fountaine of Sanctification of which these two are streames The next two which are the Forgivenesse of sinnes and the Resurrection of the Body seeme properly to referre to God the Sonne in whose merits as Man all sinnes are forgiven and by the power of whose Rising as God and man shall be our Resurrection And then the last which is the Life Everlasting most properly relates to God the Father He being the Author of Life In whom we al live move and have our being shal have our eternal being And this is the Coherence Personarum Rerū of the Persons in whom to beleeve and of the Things which we are to beleeve If wee should know in whom to beleeve and not know what to beleeve we should want our lesson and if we should know what to beleeve and not know in whom to beleeve we should want our Teacher and therefore to make both perfect both are heere exprest and exprest so punctually that nothing can be added either to make it plainer or to make it fuller And heere it may not be amisse for the credit of our Creede before we goe further to shew that all the Articles of it are contained in the holy Scripture and to bring some place of Scripture for a Testimoniall of each of them that it may appeare wee ground not our Beliefe upon Quagmires of uncertainetie but that wee have firme ground to stand upon and it will be a worke not long in doing The first Article is the subject of the whole Bible all tending to make us beleeve in God The next Article is the subject of the whole Gospell all tending to
Credere Deum or Credere Deo which a man may doe as a stander by and as onely a looker on though he make himselfe no party in the matter The true Beleeving in God indeed is Credere in Deum to interest our selves in him to depend wholly upon him to put all our trust and confidence in him to account him not onely our Oracle to Direct us but our Sanctuary to Protect us to make him not onely our Hope but our Assurance and both in life and death to say that to him which Christ said at his death In manus tuas Domine commendo spiritum meum Into thy hands O Lord I commend my spirit I therefore beleeve in God indeed but not in Gods and therefore not in Gods because there are no Gods to beleeve in For if there were more Gods then One there should be none at all seeing it is against the nature of God to bee more then One. Neither indeed will Time or Place allow any more For of Place it is true which God saith of himselfe Caelum Terram ego impleo Heaven and Earth I fill and if One God fill all places what roome can there be for any other And of Time it is true also that God is Primum Ens the First Being but there can be but One First and therefore but One God And as One multiplyed by One can never make any more then One so God being Unity it selfe can never be multiplied into a number but it is most true which the Jewes say of him Hu a'chad ue aein shenì He is One and there is not a Second and yet perhaps not true in their meaning For they may meane it of the Persons in the Deity of which here is both a Second and a Third and yet all Three but One God And if there were more Gods then One there could bee no Beliefe at least but distracted Beliefe and distraction is destruction to beliefe For if it be not Fixt and Intentive upon One and the same power still it may bee Opinion but it cannot be Beliefe But what is God or who is the Lord that I should beleeve in him For to Beleeve in God and not know what God is were to Beleeve in I know not what and were like to make but a blind Beliefe Is it then that there is something which is seene by being invisible which is known by being Incomprehensible and that my Soule is God Or is it there is something whose Center is every where and Circumference no where whose Power is Infinite and in whose hands are all the corners of the Earth and that my Soule is God Or is it there is something which cannot be said It was and yet hath alwaies been Nor cannot be said It wil be yet shal be for ever and that my Soule is God Or is it ther is somthing whose Being cannot be conceived and yet whose Being onely is conceivable which exceeds the Sun in brightnes yet is no quality the World in greatnes yet is no quantity and that My Soule is God But indeed God is He who brought the Ten great Plagues upon Pharaoh for presuming to aske this Question For who can be excused that takes not notice of his Being who is the Author of al Being Who can be excused that knows not who Hee is that onely is And therefore when Moses asked God his Name he answered I am that I am meaning that his Being was his Name For as a name is proper to the thing named so Being is proper only to God all other things rather seeme to be then are Or if they bee indeed yet it is but a Being which they have from him seeing in Him we all live and move and have our being And this I am of Moses is my I am too For it is true which God saith of himselfe Ego Deus non mutor I am God and there is none to change for me and therefore in Beleeving in this I am I am I am sure in a a right Beliefe which makes me to beginne my Creede with this I beleeve in God But thought the Beliefe no doubt be true Yet it is but a truth which Jewes and Turkes beleeve as well as we For they also Beleeve in God and in one God and shall a Christians Belief go no further then theirs Yes my Soule For I beleeve in God the Father the first Person in the Trinity and this no Jew nor Turke beleeves For they have alwaies stuck at One and could never bee gotten to come to Three when yet without knowing this Three that One can never be truely knowne Although to say the truth this Mystery of Three in One is a Truth not so much to be known as to be Beleeved For if it could be perfectly knowne It would not perhaps bee so fit for a Creede which consists in Believing as for some Art that consists in knowing But though I cannot perfectly know this Mystery yet I Beleeve it because I submit my understanding to Faith which though I cannot make to goe along with Beliefe as a Companion yet I make it to wait upon Beliefe as a Servant and this neither Jew nor Turke will be gotten to doe They like not to make their Understanding a Servant though they can be content to be servile themselves yet they will have their understanding to be Free and therefore what they comprehend not they beleeve not Foolish men that would bring downe Heaven to Earth and bound the profound Mysteries of God within the shallow lymits of their owne braines But what is meant by a Person in the Trinitie which is necessary to be known that when wee say there bee Three persons It may not bee thought we meane Three Gods Indeed humane Infirmity is apt to fall into such errour Wee must therefore know that a Person in the Trinity is a Name of Distinction but not of Diversitie It makes Alium Alium but not Aliud Aliud and it is an Appellation proper onely to the nature of the Deity and not to be found in any Creature whatsoever The Person of the Father is distinct from the Person of the Sonne and the Person of the Sonne from the Person of the Holy Ghost but Distinct in Relation not in Substance and all Three Persons are but One God And to make it plainer we may say that God considered as Begetting is the Person of the Father considered as Begotten is the Person of the Sonne and considered as proceeding from the Father and the Sonne is the Person of the Holy Ghost In these onely distinguished in all other points of Deity One The Father is not more God then the Sonne nor the Son then the Holy Ghost They are Three in Subsistence but one in Substance the Subsistence makes the Trinitie the Substance the Deitie an Ineffable Mystery which we may Beleeve but cannot Comprehend O my Soule how much â—re wee bound to God for revealing this Mystery of the Blessed Trinity
yet in some respects they are sometimes appropriated more to One then to another heere therefore in speaking of Heaven and Earth the Originall of Creatures the making them is justly attributed to God the Father the originall Creator for otherwise it is so true that they all had a hand in making them that it is said of the Holy Ghost also that Spiritus Dei Incubabat the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters and what was this but a Fomenting the worke of the Father and the Sonne by the Bond of Concord the proper worke of the Holy Ghost From hence we may learne that the World hath not been from Everlasting For if God be Maker of Heaven and Earth then Heaven and Earth were made and if made then made in time and if made in time then there was a time when they were not made But how could this bee seeing there was no time till they were made But yet there was a space of Duration and that space had beene from Everlasting and being from Everlasting how could it ever come to have an ende and an End it must have before Time could come to have a Beginning O my Soule These are no Thoughts for thee thy wings are too weake to fly so high a pitch Thy Plummets are too short to sound so great a depth It may bee sufficient for thee to know that although God made not the World from Everlasting yet hee made it then when from Everlasting hee had Decreed to make it but how hee brought Time out of Eternity is a mystery thou shalt never attaine to know till thou come thy selfe to attaine Eternity Thus farre wee are brought by Beleeving in God the Father And in his onely Sonne Jesus Christ our Lord. but seeing Father is a Relative and every Relative imples a Correlative and the Correlative to Father is Sonne this brings my Beliefe a degree further to Beleeve in his onely Sonne Jesus Christ our Lord Not his Sonne by Adoption as we are nor his Son by Creation and Grace as Angels are but his Sonne by Generation as onely himselfe is and such a Sonne as the Father Proclaimes to be His and tels the day when he begot him Hodie genui te This day have I begotten thee But what day was this day Not such a day as our dayes are which follow one after another but a day in which there is nothing Before nor after but the Past and the Present are both at once the Past in Genui the Present in Hodie indeed a day Not of Time but of Eternity which makes him Co-eternall with his Father One good degree of Equality And as the day of his Begetting is not like ours So neither is the manner of his Begetting like ours For where our Begetting is a Third from Two his Begetting is a Second from One and therefore must needs bee of One substance Both and this makes him Consubstantiall with the Father another good degree of Equality which kind of Begetting though it exceede our capacity yet it exceeds not our Beliefe and therefore though our Inquisitive Thoughts would faine bee making further Querees about it yet Faith makes us contented to take this for an Answer Generationem ejus quis enarrabit Who shall declare his Generation If then the day of his Begetting make him Co-eternall with the Father and the manner of his Begetting make him Consubstantiall with the Father have we not as good ground for our Believing in him as in the Father And though it may be thought no Power is left for the Sonne the Father being Almighty yet all Power is given to the Sonne both in Heaven and Earth for though the Father bee Almighty yet Almighty but as God and therefore Almighty as due to the Sonne who is God with the Father and as just cause wee have to say to the Sonne as to the Father Wee praise thee O God wee knowledge thee to bee the Lord. But how can the Sonne that is begotten be Co-eternall with the Father who Begets Seeing that which Begets is alwaies before that which is Begotten But is not this a fallacie They being Relatives Seeing nothing can Beget but there must bee something Begotten there cannot bee a Father till there bee a Sonne and therefore if the Father bee from Everlasting the Sonne also is from Everlasting and so are Co-eternall But though the Sonne may bee Co-eternall with the Father yet how can he be Consubstantiall with the Father Seeing the Substance of every thing is proper to it selfe and cannot bee communicated to another This indeed were true if the Father and the Sonne were Aliud Aliud and not onely Alius Alius but now being Both One God and onely Two Persons Seeing the difference of Persons makes no difference of Substance they remaine of One Substance Both and so are Consubstantiall Thus farre reacheth our Beliefe in the Divinity of the Son but seeing we beleeve him to be both perfect God and perfect Man this leades our Beliefe a degree further To Beleeve in Jesus Christ our Lord Termes belonging to his Humanity Jesus a Name given him by an Angel when hee was yet in his Mothers womb Because hee should save his people from their sinnes Christ a Name given him from his Office As being a Priest after the Order of Melchisedech annointed with the oyle of gladnesse above his fellowes Lord a Name given him from his Dominion For of his Kingdome there shall be no end O Blessed Son of God Let mee enjoy the benefit of thy Name Jesus that I may bee saved from my sinnes Let me enjoy the benefit of thy Name Christ that I may bee partaker of the oyle of gladnesse with which thou wert Annointed Let me enjoy the benefit of thy being my Lord that being thy Servant I may have thy Protection and Thou my Obedience But how happens it that having said in the beginning of my Creede I Beleeve I now come to say Our Lord and so where I went single out am now suddenly fallen into company It is true indeed I sayd I Beleeve when I spake but as regarding my owne person but now that I speake as regarding the Communion of Saints I say Our Lord. For though Saint Thomas said My God and my Lord as though hee would claime CHRIST wholly to himselfe yet that seemes spoken but in passion and to make amends for his former doubting But now that I speak deliberatly I can say no lesse then Our Lord seeing as Christ is a Saviour not of me onely but of all mankinde so he is the Lord not of me onely but of all that serve him and thus Christ is that Lord in whom is expounded the Riddle of David The Lord said unto my Lord For if hee be Davids Lord how is hee his Sonne and if he bee his Sonne how is he his Lord Indeed Both his Son as concerning the Flesh but his Lord concerning Divine Generation and if Davids Lord
then also of us all seeing of his Kingdome as there shall be no End so neither is there any limitation but it is as Universall as Eternall But though Christ bee the Sonne of God by Generation concerning his Divinity yet not by generation concerning his Humanity but I Beleeve Conceived by the Holy Ghost He was conceived by the Holy Ghost Not that the Holy Ghost was his Father For the Father contributes matter to the being of a Sonne but the Holy Ghost contributes no matter to the being of Christ doth nothing to supplere vicem Patris but onely to be supplementum Matris Indeed a Conception which passeth our conceiving That if Mary doubted how this should be seeing she knew not man we as well may doubt it seeing we know not the manner nor ever can know it but the answer which the Angels gave to satisfie Mary must serve also to satisfie us The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee and the Power of the Highest shall overshadow thee And here now comes in the great Mystery of the Incarnation of the Sonne of God to the Jewes a Scandall and a stumbling Blocke to the Gentiles and yet the Mystery not more hard to Beleeve then necessary to be Beleeved indeed so necessary that there is properly no Antichristian but hee that denyes it as Saint John saith Who is the Antichrist but hee that denies Christ to be come in the flesh But why was it necessary that the Sonne of God should bee Incarnate Indeed for many great reasons For his being Incarnate makes him the more to commiserate our infirmities his being Incarnate brings our Flesh againe within the Verge of Sanctification but chiefly his being Incarnate makes him fit to be a Mediator betweene God and us makes him fit to bee a Sacrifice for our sins and if it were not for his being Incarnate we should never have Accesse to the Throne of God O blessed Iesus what Infinite benefits doe we receive by thy being Incarnate but what benefit dost thou receive by it thy selfe Alas onely to make a purchase of a number of ungratefull wretches who little consider what great things thou hast done for us little consider what great sufferings thou hast endured for us little consider thy Love thy Patience thy Humilitie in taking our Flesh upon thee when yet but for thy taking it upon thee our Flesh should never have come to Inherit Heaven But why was the Sonne Incarnate and not as well the Father or the Holy Ghost Indeede for just cause For it was not fit the Father should bee Incarnate because the Incarnation was to pacifie the Father Nor was it not fit the Holy Ghost should be Incarnate because the Incarnation was to be the worke of the Holy Ghost onely the Son was fit to bee Incarnate because it was congruous that being the Sonne in the Trinitie hee should also bee the Sonne of the Woman So to make us the Sonnes of God without remooving out of his Spheare of Sonne-ship at all And heere begins the difference betweene the Humane nature of Christ and Ours For wee are all of us conceived in sinne as David saith of himselfe That he was conceived in sinne and as David so wee all but Christ was conceived by the Holy Ghost and therefore without sinne And as all the passages of our time esteemed are like our Beginning Conceived in sinne Borne in sinne Living in sinne and Dying in sinne So all the passages of Christs time afterward are like his Beginning Conceived without sinne Borne without sinne Living without sinne and Dying without sinne by which it was wrought that though he tooke upon him our whole nature became in al things like to us yet sinne was excepted And that which was conceived by the Holy Ghost did not prove we may be sure a false conception but prospered and proceeded to a perfect Birth therfore as I Beleeve he was conceived by the Holy Ghost So I Beleeve Borne of the Virgine MARIE hee was Borne of the Virgin Mary Conceived altogether Supernaturally in her but borne for the most part Naturally of her was nourished in her Wombe lay nine moneths enclosed in her Wombe came forth of her Wombe after the course of Nature and yet Borne Supernaturally of her too Supernaturally as of a Virgine though naturally as of a Woman For he was Natus ex Virgine Borne of a Virgine So he was Factus ex muliere made of a Woman Not made in her but made of her was Flesh of her Flesh and Bone of her Bone as truly as Eve of Adams It may well bee said hee was Borne Supernaturally of her For who ever heard of such a thing before a Virgine to bee the mother of a Childe But though it were never heard off before that such a thing was Yet it was heard before that such a thing should bee For the Prophet Esay long before had foretold A Virgin shall be with Childe and shall bring forth a Sonne and what marvell if there never were such a Mother before when there never was such a Childe before For this is that Childe of whom it is said This day is borne to you a Saviour which is Christ the Lord and a Saviour of whom No lesse then of all mankinde and this no lesse strange then his Birth A child to be a Saviour of men and One Childe of all mankinde fully as strange as to be Borne of a Virgin Indeed strange Both or rather Wonderfull Both yet as strange or wonderfull as they Both are we Beleeve them Both though but One of them be delivered heere for an Article of our Creede It is Recorded of many that they were Sanctified in their Mothers Wombe as amongst others of Jeremy the Prophet but never Recorded of any that he was Conceived by the Holy Ghost but onely of Christ and between being Sanctified and being conceived by the Holy Ghost there is very great oddes For to be Sanctified is only to have a measure of Holinesse but to bee conceived by the Holy Ghost is to have the whole Substance made Holy To be sanctified is onely to have Grace infused in the Soule but to be conceived by the Holy Ghost is to have both Body and Soule bee altogether Grace it selfe But though Christ were conceived without sinne because conceived by the Holy Ghost yet how could hee bee borne without sinne being borne of a sinnefull woman For though Mary were a Virgin yet no doubt shee was a sinner For why else should she need a Saviour as shee saith her selfe My spirit rejoyceth in God my Saviour and could Christ take flesh of a sinner and not with that flesh take sinne But is it not that the Holy Ghost is the Sanctifier and could aswell sanctifie the Flesh it selfe as the motions of the Flesh and therefore make him as well borne without sinne as conceived without sinne sinne not being able to enter where the Holy Ghost keeps possession But why is there
seeing there is no salvation out of the Catholike Church what assurance could I have of my salvation if I did not beleeve that there is a Catholike Church How can I beleeve my selfe to be a member of that Body which I doe not beleeve to bee For this Holy Catholike Church is the number of all those whō God hath Predestinated and Elected and though the Catholike Church may have in it errours and perhaps Heresies yet the Holy Catholike Church can have none in it but Orthodoxe and true beleevers For it is as the Arke of Noah to save all that beleeve the comming of the Flood but unbeleevers are all excluded from entring into it It is as the Corporation of the Citizens of the New Hierusalem in which whose names are not Enrolled and none are Enrolled that beleeve not they can bee no partakers of the Heavenly Priviledges of which Salvation is the chiefest If there were not a Holy Cathotholike Church then Christ should be a Shepherd without a Flocke then God the Father should bee a King without a People then the Holy Ghost should bee a guide and have none to lead but the Two first of these are assured us by Christ where he saith Feare not little Flock For it is your Fathers pleasure to give you a kingdome and the last where hee saith Hee will send the Holy Spirit to lead them into all truth Therefore there is an Holy Catholike Church which he that beleeves not is not of it and not being of it can have no hope of salvation by it To be Holy and Catholike are indeed the proper Caracters of a Christian Church the first representation whereof was then when at Pentecost there met at Hierusalem of all Nations under heaven Parthyans and Medes and Elamites and the dwellers in Mesopotamia and Judea in Cappadocia Pontus and Asia Phrygia and Pamphylia in Aegypt and in the parts of Lybia and sirangers of Rome Jewes and Proselites Creetes and Arabians For here was no bounding within Canaan no bounding within Africa but the Church was made apparent by plurality of Nations to bee Catholike and by visible graces to be Holy This Church therefore I beleeve to be holy yet not holy in perfection but tending to perfection and justly called holy for its Inchoation and I beleeve it to bee Catholike but Catholike in doctrine not in discipline and therefore the rule of it as concerning doctrine is this Quod ab omnibus Quod ubique Quod semper For if it be not ab Omnibus It is not Catholike in Persons if not Vbique not Catholike in place if not Semper not Catholike in time and all these must concurre to make the Church be Catholik in Doctrin In Discipline not so for there neither ab omnibus nor ubique nor semper is required but it may be various and diverse according to the diversity of Time and Place and yet in doctrine bee the Catholike Church For Discipline is but onely Ecclesiasticall where Doctrine is divine This Article bindes my beliefe to no particular Church as it is a particular but as it is a Member of the Catholike For take it by it selfe without considering it as a Member of the Catholike Church and it is not so properly a Church as a Conventicle which though I cannot deny but it may be Holy at least in a Morall holinesse yet I can deny that I am bound to beleeve it to be holy because I am bound to beleeve no true holinesse to bee out of the Catholike Church This Catholike Church is a Schoole of instruction to teach us as much as we are bound to know and a Rule of direction to informe us as much as wee are bound to beleeve if it were but onely what Saint Thomas saith this might make us doubt of Christs resurrection or if it were but onely what Saint Peter saith this might make us incline to comply with the Jewes but when it is that which all the Apostles with one consent say this is the voice of the Catholike Church and can never make us to goe astray And therfore to this Church I submit all my faculties both my understanding to her decrees and my will to her counsels and make account that if I know any thing and not of her instruction it will prove but falsehood if doe any thing and not by her direction it will prove but folly For this that Spouse of Christ of which it is said Thou art all faire and there is no spot in thee Oh then let not me beginne to make any spot in the face of thy Spouse O Lord but so purge me with Hysope that though I be not pure yet I may bee cleane at least not so foule to defile others nor deserve with Miriam to be put out of the campe of thy Militant Church but may come to thy Triumphant As therefore this Article is the first of all we have to beleeve so let it have the honor that is due to the first and have the highest place in our beliefe For indeed all the Articles that follow are but as flowres that grow in the garden of this Catholike Church The Communion of Saints as the flowre of Charitie The forgivenesse of sinnes as the flowre of Faith The resurrection of the body as the flowre of Hope and the life everlasting as the flowre of reward if I may not rather say as the whole nosegay of all the other flowres together seeing in this they have all their smels united into one fragrant odour Charity raised to perfection Faith turned into love and Hope into enjoying But what should be the cause why amongst these Articles that are to be beleeved there is no mention at all made of the Scriptures For seeing we are commanded to search the Scriptures No doubt it is required wee should beleeve the Scriptures and if we should beleeve them why are they left out in the Article of our beliefe Is it not that these were Articles of Beliefe for a Christian man before any Gospell of Christ was written and how then could they have any place in the Creed when they had not as yet any being in the world For the life and doctrine of Christ was published by word before it was recorded by writing and the Apostles preached it before the Evangelists writ it and this Creede being a Breviate and summe of that which was preached who can tell but it may bee more antient then that which is written at least being the substance of them both what more is it to beleeve the Scripture then the Creed And then what neede is there to have them named when they are exprest And as for the words of Christ Scrutamini Scripturas Search the Scriptures or yee search the Scriptures if we extend them no further then Christ spake them we may be farre enough off from beleeving the Gospel For Christ spake then but of the Olde Testament and not of the New which at that time was none For
remedy and so between the little knowing of sinne and the little acknowledging of sinne the beliefe of this Article is in no little danger to be very little only Faith stands in the breach and supplies all defects and it is the worke of Faith and indeed of a great Faith that can truly say I beleeve the forgivenesse of sinnes There have been Hereticks of old who held this opinion that no fins should be forgiven that were committed after Baptisme and they grounded their opinion upon the saying of Saint Paul If wee sinne wilfully after we have received knowledge of the truth there remaineth no more Sacrifice for sinnes and grounding themselves upon this Text they would neither Baptise others nor be Baptized themselves till in their old age making account that Age having repulsed in them inordinate desires they might safely then bee Baptized without feare of committing any wilfull sinnes afterward But would any man beleeve that men of common sense could ever fall into so grosse an errour especially having heard it said At what time soever a sinner repenteth him of his sinnes I will put all his wickednesse out of my remembrance saith the Lord. That we may see it is not time that prejudiceth Gods forgivenesse whether before Baptisme or after whether sooner or latter but come at any time and bring Repentance and God at no time will be wanting to Forgivenesse For as it is mercy in God which is the motive to us to Beleeve the forgivenesse of sinnes so it is Repentance in us that is the motive to God to Forgive us our sinnes But why is the Forgivenes of sins put here inter Credenda amongst things to be Beleeved and not rather inter Agenda amongst things to be done seeing to Remission of sinnes there belongs Repentance a thing to bee done and without Repentance no forgivenesse Is it not that forgivenesse of sinnes is an effect of Faith and therefore justly placed amongst things to be Beleeved and though Repentance be necessary to come in the Recre yet Faith must lead the Vant-gaurd and have the Preceedence For if Faith goe not before Repentance will not follow indeed cannot follow seeing without Faith It is impossible to please God And now my soule observe the great extent of this Article it keeps mee from sinning against the Holy Ghost whilst I beleeve the forgivenesse of sinnes by his inspiring it appeaseth the wrath of God the Father whilst I beleeve the forgivenesse in onely his mercy It glorifies his Sonne Christ Jesus whilst I beleeve Gods mercy through onely his Merits that seeing this Article is reguardant to all the Persons in the Trinity I may hope that by beleeving it all the Persons in the Trinity will be reguardant upon me and specially the Sonne For indeed this Article and the next that followes are two flowres I may say that grow upon the very Grave of Christ For as there is no Forgivenes of sinnes but onely by the vertue of his death so there is no Resurrection of the body but onely by the operation of his Rising from the Dead And thus farre wee are brought by this flower of Faith I beleeve the Forgivenes of sinnes The next is the flower of Hope The Resurrection of the Body by which wee Beleeve the Resurrection of the Body and it followes indeed very fitly for seeing the body dyed not at first but by reason of sinne what should hinder if sinne bee forgiven but that the bodie should rise againe and returne to life This indeed is a flower something hard of growing but 〈◊〉 growne sends forth a most 〈◊〉 savour and as of all the Articles in the Creed there is none more hard to be beleeved so once beleeved there is none that ministers greater comfort For what need I care though my body bee laid in the grave and bee turned to dust so long as I am sure and undoubtedly beleeve that hereafter it shall rise againe and bee in the same but a better state then now it is In the same for substance but in a better for quallities and endowments If there were no Resurrection of the body then neither the godly should have Reward in their Bodies nor the wicked Punished but seeing both the godly shall bee Rewarded in their Bodies and the wicked Punished therefore there shall bee a Resurrection of the Body This Article no doubt is hard to be beleeved For who would beleeve there should be Regressus a corruptione ad generationem a privatione ad habitum a going backe from Corruption to Generation from Privation to Habit a thing impossible in Nature and improbable in Reason yet this impossibility in Nature this improbality in Reason must be beleeved before wee can beleeve the Resurrection of the Body Who would beleeve that a Body consumed to dust and that dust scattered by the wind into a thousand places should ever be brought together againe to be the same body it was before who would believe that a Body devoured perhaps by wild beasts perhaps eaten by Fishes and by digestion become a part of those Beasts or Fishes should ever returne to be the Body of a man againe as it had beene before Indeed none would beleeve it that looked only upon the power of Nature as were ledde only with the light of Reason but when we looke upon a Power that is stronger then Nature and are led by a Light that is brighter then Reason what should hinder why we should not beleeve it Shall we not beleeve the Resurrection of the body because we know not by what wayes it shall bee raysed Is it not enough that we know the power of Gods wayes but that we must also know the waies of his Power Doe we know how the body at first is formed in the Mothers wombe and would we looke to know how it shall bee formed the second time in the wombe of the Earth Have wee professed by the first Article of our Creed that God is Almighty and will we not allow him to do the works of an Almighty Doe we beleeve that nothing is impossible for God to doe and yet thinke there is this thing which he cannot doe Looke upon the Corne when it is cast into the earth and after a few daies you shall see it to bee nothing but as a kind of corruption and yet of that corruption doth God make the same Corne to spring up againe and to bee as flourishing as it had beene before and if God doe this in the Corne shall hee not as well doe it in our bodies But it is not perhaps that wee doubt of his Power but of his Will seeing his Will is not alwaies to doe all hee can And can we doubt of his Will his Will so often revealed to us in his Word so firmely assured to us by his Word This is the Fathers Will which hath sent me that of all which he hath given mee I should loose nothing but should raise it up againe at the
rising seeing hee therefore did rise that hee might be Primitiae resurgentium The first fruits of them that rise but the first Fruits he could not be if others did not rise as well as hee And therefore having beleeved in an Article before that Christ rose from the dead this Article of our own rising is but Ex Abundanti more then needed but that the difficulty of beleeving it requires as it were a double Buttresse to strengthen our Faith There are some perhaps that look for Naturall reasons to prove Demonstratively the Resurrection of the body but is not their expectation very unjust to expect Naturall reasons to prove a thing that is not Naturall If Naturall reasons could be given of it it should be fitter for the Metaphysicks then a Creed and as able to breed a Knowledge as Beliefe Our Reason onely helps us thus farre to make us know there is something left for Beliefe which Reason cannot reach to and of this nature is the Resurrection of the body our Beliefe shall then be turned into knowledge when we shall come to have experience of it in the meane time wee must content our selves with Beleeving it And O my Soule doe thou beleeve it indeed and be most assured that though thy Body leave thee for a time and bee laid in dust and bee turned to dust yet it will not bee long ere it shall rise and bee joyned with thee againe as now it is but in a far happier condition then now it is Not stubborne and restiffe then but tractable and obsequious not earthly and lumpish then but Aery and light and indeed such a body it shall be as thou wouldst wish it to be Not subject to diseases Not weary with labours Not itching with lust Not drowsie with sleep Not hungring after meat and which is most of all where now it takes upon it to be thy Master It shall then be content to be thy servant but such a servant as shall therefore serve thee because thou servest God For it is sowne a Naturall body it shall bee raised up a spirituall Body It is sowne in corruption it shall be raysed in incorruption the same body in substance that now it is but endued with Spirituall and better qualities Many questions are here moved by the Schoolmen as whether the bodies of Abortives which were never borne but dyed in their Mothers wombes shall be partakers of the Resurrection seeing though they never came to see the light yet they had beene once alive and quicke Then whether bodies shall arise of the same age and stature at which they died as Infants at the stature and age of Infants and others at their severall statures and ages Or else shall all rise at a perfect age and stature because of the words of Saint Paul in his Epistle to the Ephesians Till we all come unto a perfect man to the measure of the stature of the fulnes of Christ Then whether bodies shall arise with the same deformities and defects which they had living as Crooked Lame Blinde or otherwise mutilation of Members seeing Christ arose with the same wounds which he received when his body was pierced with the Speare And many such questions moved more out of vaine curiosity then tending to Edification and which perhaps may probabably be argued as having coulours on both sides but can never directly be defined as having warrant on either side Reason may make conjectures of it but Faith will build no certainty on it It may bee sufficient for us to beleeve that the bodies of all men shall rise at the last day and stand at the Tribunall of Christ who shall come from Heaven to judge the Quick and the Dead And now having beleeved the two Articles that properly relate to the Sonne of God Christ Jesus the Forgivenesse of sinnes and the Resurrection of the Bodie It followes fitly to beleeve the Article that properly relates to God the Father The life Everlasting and it followes not onely fitly but very necessarily For if we should not adde the life Everlasting it might be thought that our Resurrection were but like theirs who rose at the time of Christs rising and appeared to many in the Holy City who rose indeede but then died againe at least who can tell what became of them and so our Beliefe should cast Anchor in a very unsafe harbour but now by adding the life Everlasting we make the Resurrection of our Bodies a perpetuity and beleeve they shall rise againe never any more to dy And indeed how can it be otherwise seeing there never was but one sentence of death denounced against man and that sentence once executed by his dying once there is no new sentence of dying any more and therefore the Body being beleeved to be raised from the dead the life Everlasting will bee beleeved of course Death indeede is a debt due to nature and a debt that nature lookes to have payd but yet nature is not so unjust to looke that a debt should be payd her more then once and therefore the body having payd the debt once by dying once if it can get to rise againe and live it will not be then in natures debt any more and therefore cannot naturally dy any more but shall live for ever But why is there no mention made in our Creed of the Immortality of the soule that of this poynt there might be left no scruple for as long as this is in sufpence wee shall necessarily fall into the errour of the Sadduces and never beleeve the Resurrection of the body Is it not that the Immortalitie of the soule is therefore not made an Article of our Creed because it is not so properly credible Per fidem as demonstrable per artem there being so apparent reasons for it that even the Heathen themselves have not denyed it and one of their owne Poets could say Parte tamen meliore mei super acta perennis Astra forar meaning his soule Besides what need is there of mentioning it when it is sufficiently intimated or included rather in these two last Articles For if we beleeve the resurrection of the body we cannot doubt of the Immortality of the soule seeing the body cannot rise without the soule and if we beleeve the life Everlasting we cannot but beleeve the soule to bee Immortall seeing without the soule there can be no life at all And now wee are come to the last Article of our Creed which may well bee the last seeing it brings us to that which is Everlasting And here it may not be unfit to examine a little the extent of this Everlasting life seeing it is not momentary and fading as our present life is but continuing and lasting without having any lâ—st that if we say it shall last a Thousand years if a million of thousand years if so many millions of thousand yeares as there are sands in the sea although an infinite incomprehensible extent of time yet wee shall
cannot â—eleeve for me I must beleeve for â—y selfe another cannot I speak â—ot of Infants but of Adulti It â—s not here that Per alium is as good â—s Per se and therefore no such Tye â—or saying Wee Beleeve in making â—his Profession as for saying Our Father in making that Prayer I Beleeve But when I say I Beleeve Doe I well consider what it is I say a word indeed soone spoken but not a worke so easily done for we must not thinke to put it off with God as he did with men who said Iuravilingua mentem injuratam gero I swore with my tongue but I kept my heart unsworne For God is a searcher of the heart and lookes after that and as soone as wee say to him I Beleeve he seemes presently to say to us Then give me your heart for unlesse you give me your heart I will never beleeve you speake as you meane And thus my soule thou seest how deepely thou hast engaged thy selfe by saying I beleeve and yet thy engagement not so great but thy undertaking is greater For to Beleeve is no such easie matter as the World accounts it It is indeed more then of our selves we are able to doe For it is a worke of Faith and Faith is the gift of God and so we undertake to doe that to God which without Gods assistance we cannot doe as though wee had Gods assistance at command No my soule but wee must bee faine to helpe our selves with saying I beleeve O God helpe my unbeliefe But why am I so forward to Beleeve and doe not rather make a stand and doubt Seeing doubting is commonly safe where credulity runs headlong into danger Is it not that Beleeving is acceptable and hath reward For Abraham beleeved and it was counted to him for Righteousnesse where Not-Beleeving is distrustfull and hath not so much as Hope and againe Beleeving may make me of the number of the Faithfull where Not-Beleeving may make me an Infidell and though Beleeving may have lesse worldly providence yet certainely It may have more spirituall wisdome then Not-Beleeving and these are Reasons that make me so forward to Beleeve But what reason can I have to make me beleeve when I must not beleeve reason No doubt in matters of the world the Rule is good to beleeve no more then wee see good reason for and thereupon is the counsell given 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Becarefull to bee mistrustfull but in matters Divine and belonging to God hee that beleeves no more then Reason warrants may justly be said not to Beleeve at all seeing Beliefe is a worke of Faith and Faith properly beginnes not her worke but when the Reason hath given over working There seeme to bee many inducements of Beliefe but specially two First the Testimony of the Sense For who will not beleeve that which hee sees with his eyes but this beliefe will not serve the turne For Faith is an evidence of things not seene and therefore wee must beleeve though wee doe not see Then the Testimony of Reason for who will not beleeve that for which hee sees apparent reason but neither will this Beliefe serve the turne for Faith is above Reason and Nisi Credideritis non Intelligetis Unlesse yee Beleeve yee shall not understand and so Beliefe must not alwaies stay for understanding but we must be faine to have recourse to this stil I beleeve O God helpe my unbeliefe Beliefe indeed is two fold Humane and Divine Humane Beliefe is alwaies grounded upon Sense or Reason but Divine Beliefe hath other grounds to stand upon either the ground of Abraham Qui in spe contra spem credidit Who contrary to hope Beleeved in hope or the ground of those whom Christ calls Blessed Blessed are they that have not seene and yet have beleeved For we must not alwaies looke for the favour of Saint Thomas to bee allowed to put our hands into Christs sides before wee beleeve but we must sometimes come with Faith without the concurrence of eternall Evidence and then indeed is Beliefe most kindly when it stands not upon the Prop of Sense and Reason which may be preparatives to Beliefe but it is Faith that gives the confirmation And as there are certaine inducements of Beliefe so there are certaine properties in Beliefe It must be steadfast without wavering assured without doubting confident without presuming but above all it must bee rightly applyed for without right application Beliefe is no better then Infidelity and then onely is Beliefe rightly applyed when it is applyed to God and this brings me to say I beleeve in God For now I am sure I take my ayme right and apply my Beliefe to the right Object If I should apply it to any but God it must be to some Creature and seeing every Creature is subject to a Higher Power what hope could I have to Beleeve in such a one who must himselfe Beleeve in another But when I apply my Beliefe to God not onely I may justly hope but I may securely be assured seeing God is a Power Supreme and hath no Equall to contest with him much lesse any Superiour to controule him If I should Beleeve in man I might feare that which David saith that All men are lyers but when I beleeve in God I am out of that feare seeing God is the Truth it selfe and cannot lye If I should Beleeve in Angels I know the Angels did once fall and what they did once they might doe againe if they were not upheld by a stronger Power and can it bee safe Beleeving in them who stand by the power of another and not by their owne But when I beleeve in God my Beliefe is built upon a sure Foundation seeing Heaven is Gods Throne and the Earth his Foot-stoole that he is neither capable of Rising nor subject to falling David would not put his trust in man pronouncing him accursed that should doe it and why should I Moses would not trust an Angell to be his guide though God himselfe offered him one and why should I No my soule but Adhaerere Deo bonum est It is good sticking to God and no assurance indeed of any good but onely in sticking to him and depending wholly upon him And as there are certaine properties of Beliefe to make it bee right so there are certaine degrees of Beliefe to make it perfect The first Degree is to Beleeve There is a God and this Degree is so sensible and plaine that he must be a Naturall foole that beleeves it not as David calls him The Foole hath said in his heart There is no God Another Degree is to Beleeve him in all he saith or promiseth which is in effect but to account him an Oracle Another Degree is to beleeve him to be a Rewarder of them that serve him an effect of his Justice and all these Degrees of Beliefe may be in a man and yet no true beleeving in God For these doe but amount to
to us and more for making us capable to Beleeve it For as without revealing wee should never have knowne it So without Grace wee could never have Beleeved it But now by the Eye of Faith and by the Light of Grace we come to see as it were a glympse of that glorious Appearing when wee shall see God not in Idaeas represented by the Fancie but in the miraculous Verity of his owne Being which as none can see now and live so there shall be then no life but in seeing it no joy but in beholding it But though the Persons in the Trinity be all equall in Deity yet not all Equall in all respects For how then should it be true which Christ saith of himselfe Pater major est me The Father is greater then I Not greater then Hee onely as Man For this were no great matter nor greater then He as God for this were no possible matter but greater then He as Sonne for the Sonne is of the Father the Father is of None and in that respect is greater then the Sonne Not as God but as Father and therefore in the sense in which Christ saith The Father is greater then I in that sense doe I place the Father first in my Creede and say first I Beleeve in God the Father And though I cannot apprehend how God being but One should be Three yet I beleeve it and beleeving it I Adore it and though I cannot apprehend how Almighty One should be Almighty where Three be Equall yet I beleeve it and beleeving it I admire it Indeed if God were not Almighty he could not be God seeing his power should bee limited and a limited Power implies a greater Power that limits it which should be God rather then Hee and therefore not Almighty no God And againe if hee were not Almighty our Beliefe in him might be frustrate For his want of Might might be in that for which wee depend upon him and if no depending upon him then no beleeving in him neither but now being God and being Almighty we Beleeve in him not onely justly as God but securely as Almighty seeing whatsoever our want be yet he being Almighty can supply it how great soever our Danger be yet he being Almighty can Defend us how strong soever our Enemies be yet he being Almightie can Protect us and as wee are assured that he can so wee doubt not but he will seeing there is in him no lesse readinesse to doe it as being a Father then Power to bee able to doe it as being Almighty Here the Atheist inferres that God cannot truely be said to bee Almighty seeing there are many things which he cannot doe as he cannot Dye he cannot lye he cannot deny himselfe and if hee cannot doe these things then he cannot doe all things and If hee cannot doe all things then can hee not truely be said to be Almighty But who sees not the grosenesse of this subtilty seeing theve are not Actions of Power but Infirmities and not to be able to doe things which it is not Ability to doe but Infirmity what prejudice can this be to Almightinesse And yet it cannot so properly be said of God neither that hee is not able to doe these things as that hee is able not to doe them and so his not being able is indeed an Ability and an effect of Power and therefore no cause for this to deny his Almightinesse but to affirme it rather But what is more frequent with Heathen Writers then to call their fained God Jupiter Pater Omnipotens The Almighty Father and what doe we then Beleeve more in this then the Heathen doe Wee therefore Adde Maker of Heaven and Earth and this no Heathen man did ever beleeve For some of them thought the World to be made by chance and by the casuall concourse of Atomes Some againe thought it to bee Eternall and not to have beene made at all None of them ever ascribed the making it to God and therefore in our Creede we justly say God the Father as against the Jew and Turk we say Almighty as against the Atheist and we say Maker of Heaven and Earth as against the Heathen Indeed nothing doth so manifestly demonstrate the Almightinesse of God as the making of Heaven and Earth because hee made them when there was no matter to make them off as it is said In the beginning God made Heaven and Earth and againe In the beginning there was no Time so before Heaven and Earth there was no matter and to make them when there was no matter to make them off was to make Something of Nothing the most absolute Character of Almightinesse that can bee If we should say Maker of Man and Beast this would not serve to shew Almightinesse seeing there was matter whereof they were made for of Earth they were made both But to say Maker of Heaven and Earth is so evident an argument of Almightinesse that the Heathen themselves could not chuse but have acknowledged it if they had not beene blinded with their false Principle Ex Nihilo Nihil fit of Nothing is made Nothing a Principle true indeed in relation to Nature but false in relation to the Power of God to whom Nothing is as much as Matter and Matter is no more then Nothing seeing Matter and Nothing are all One to him Neither yet is the Almightinesse of God more evidently seene in making the Heaven and the Earth of Nothing so contrary to the course of Nature then it is seene in making them in a Frame so contrary to the course of Art For where in all Artificial Buildings the Roofe is alwaies contiguous by mediate Joynts unto the Foundation In this Frame the Heaven which is the Roofe is so farre from being contiguous to the Earth that there is Magnum Inane an Infinite extension of empty Ayre betweene them And where the Foundation in all Artificiall Structures is alwaies laid upon firme ground that it may sustaine and beare it up In this Frame the Earth which is the Foundation is laid upon nothing but thinne Ayre so farre from any firmenesse that it is alwaies in motion and yet the Earth it selfe never moving And if wee take the Sea as a part of the Earths Globe Is there not as great a wonder in that also seeing where all liquid things doe naturally overflow all that is under them here the liquid Sea is above the Earth and yet overflowes it not And now stand and wonder all yee Heathen acknowledge and admire the Almightinesse of God that is the Maker of Heaven and Earth But is God the Father the onely Maker of Heaven and Earth Is it not said in Saint John In the Beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God all things were made by him and without him was nothing made that was made It is true indeed all Opera ad Extra all exteriour works are common to all the Persons in the Deity but
O blessed Saviour I know not whether more to grieve for thy Descending into Hell or more to joy for thy Ascending up to Heaven yet I must confesse there is advantage on the joyes part For though one of them was to thee most prejudiciall yet both of them are to mee most beneficiall There are many that ascend for we are all of a climbing nature but not into Heaven They ascend but with Symon Magus up into the Ayre the popular ayre of Ambition and glory of the World and alas they presently fall downe againe because the thin Ayre is not able to beare them up and the end of these men is worse then the beginning There is no Ascending good but into Heaven For once come thither there will be no falling down againe For though Lucifer did so once yet it is never like to bee done so any more It was never heard that any Ascended up to Heaven till now but onely Elias the Prophet a type perhaps of Christs Ascending who ascended up in a fiery Chariot and wee may marvell how hee could ever get to Heaven and not bee burnt by the way but indeed the fire of his Chariot was perhaps the ardour and burning love of Seraphins which like the fire that appeared in the Bush to Moses though it burnes it never consumes And thou my soule if with this ardour and burning love of God thou couldst enflame thy heart thou also might'st Ascend up to Heaven in a fiery Chariot as Elias did But though Elias went up into Heaven yet it cannot properly be said that he Ascended into heaven For he was taken up in a Fiery Chariot and to bee taken up is by the power of another to Ascend is by his owne power and this Elias did not nor ever any but onely Christ But though Christ ascended into Heaven yet he ascended not as the soules of the Saints doe He fitteth at the right hand of God to lye under the Altar when they come there but he Ascended to sit at the right hand of God the Father Almighty For who indeed is fit to sit at the right hand of the Father but his onely Sonne And now by his Ascending a great alteration is made in the order of taking place in Heaven For where before the Cherubins or Seraphins or what other Order is the highest in the Hierarchy of Angels tooke their places next to God Now the humane Nature of Christ takes place before them all that if Lucifer were now in Heaven he might have juster cause to murmur at Gods partiality as he would call it then ever he bad when he first revolted But we must not here bee ledde with the weake conceit of flesh or with the vaine conceit of errour as though God were a body and had a right hand and a left hand like to us who is purus Spiritus a pure and simple Spirit but as we make account that to fit at our right hand is to have the highest place next our selves so when Christ is said to sit at the Right hand of his Father it is meant that all power is given him both in Heaven and Earth at least a power far supreme then any creature a soveraigne power over all creatures And this my soule makes well for thee and for us all for we may bee sure hee sits not there for his owne glory onely but as well also for the good of his Church that by sitting there he may bee the readier to make continuall Intercession for us for alas if it were not by this benefit how were it possible his little Flocke should have been able to withstand so many Assaults as have most violently beene made upon it in all Ages O Blessed Jesus thou well deservedst to sit at the right hand of the Father who didst offer up thy selfe a perfect sacrifice of obedience to thy Father Thou well deservest to have the highest place in Heaven who didst humble thy selfe to the lowest place in Hell Thou art worthy to have all knees bow to thee both in Heaven and Earth who didst drinke the bitter Cup of thy Fathers wrath to reconcile all things unto him both in Earth and Heaven And though in the time of thy Pilgrimage upon Earth thou wert faine to flee out of Judea into Egypt and faine to stand as a Prisoner at the Barre of Pilate and faine to hang nailed on the accursed Tree and faine after all to lie buried in a Grave all Postures of misery yet now at last thou art come to a Posture of rest For thou sittest and to a seat of glory For thou sittest at the right hand of thy Father and there shalt sit in rest and glory till the time come that thou come to give just sentence upon them who gave unjust sentence upon thee and to bee avenged of all thine enemies For as we beleeve that Christ sitteth at the right hand of his Father So we beleeve hee shall come from thence to judge both the quicke and the dead But how can wee beleeve that Christ shall come to judge the quicke and the dead From thence he shall come to judge c. when he professeth himselfe that hee Judgeth no man It is true indeed he judged no man while he was here upon earth to be judged himselfe but now that all power is given him both in heaven and earth wee beleeve it is a part of that power that he shall come to jduge both the quicke and the dead But when will the time of his comming bee O my soule thou maist well rest satisfied with that answer of Christ to his Apostles It is not for you to know the times and seasons which God hath lockt up in his owne breast Yet see the vaine inquisitivenesse of mans nature that would know that which is hidden from the Angels and more then this from the Sonne of man himselfe although it may seem strange that he should not know the day of Judgement who is himselfe to be the Judge and yet not strange seeing to appoint the day of judgement belongs to him that appoints the Judge and is perhaps one of the things which makes God say Secretum meum mihi My secret to my selfe but most of all my soule it may be enough for thee that thou art sure to heare newes of thy own judgement soone enough even as soone as thou leavest this sinnefull body and as for the generall Judgment thou needest not trouble thy selfe when or how long it shall be a comming seeing though it may perhaps encrease thy particular judgement yet it shall not alter it And as wee are uncertaine of the time so wee are no lesse uncertaine of the place For though we beleeve from whence he shall come yet wee have no beliefe whither he shall come It hath bene a received opinion by some that he shall come into the Valley of Jehosophat and keepe his Sessions there but alas what is the Valley of Jehosophat to receive
which they make lying under the Altar may be heard and accomplished They pray for us that we may be partakers of the forgivenesse of sinnes and wee pray for them that they may be partakers of the Resurrection of the body But as this Communion of Assistance is but for a time so the Communion of Love will be for ever For we shall love one another and bee loved of one another as Members of one Body as Inhabitants of one Citie and as Fellow-labourers in the worke of exalting Gods glory a work which because it shall never end there shall therefore never be end of this Communion If the Communion bee of the Saints on earth betweene themselves this is visible charity as it is said If yee love not your brother whom yee see how can yee love God whom yee doe not see And it consists in supplying what wants soever we see in a brother as farre as wee are able and in doing to others as we would be done unto our selves If the Communion bee of the Saints in Heaven between themselves this is Intellectuall Charitie and it consists in a reciprocall love they beare one to another in regard of the love they beare all to God If the Communion be of the Saints in Heaven towards the Saints on Earth this is condoling charity and it consists in a griefe they take at any sinnes we commit least wee should not be found blamelesse at the great day of the Lords appearing If the Communion be of the Saints on Earth towards them in Heaven this is a congratulating charity and it consists in a pious rejoycing at the happinesse wee conceive they enjoy in the fruition of God and of his blessed Angels This Communion of Saints is a Gazophylacium or Treasurie where there is receiving indeed but not without contributing we must do our parts to it or never looke for any part in it and it is to be doubted there are many Hereticks amongst us concerning this Article that either understand it not or at least beleeve it not For if they did truely beleeve the Communion of Saints were it possible they should passe by the man lying wounded in the way and not doe as much as the Samaritan did take care of his curing It is no doubt good to observe the Rule that Charitie begins at home but it is good also to understand the Rule and to know what is meant by home for the Home of Charitie is included in the Communion of Saints and extends as farre as the releeving of a needy brother But alas because Charity seekes not her owne therefore she her selfe is not much sought after and while Charity is neglected this Article stands in our Creed but as a Cypher and as well we may forbeare to fay we Beleeve it as forbeare to shew by our actions that we Beleeve it Or rather better indeed to leave it out of our Profession then not to take it into our Practise And this Communion is therefore necessary to be beleeved because it is the flowre of Charitie and must be set in our hearts betimes that it may take the deeper root as that which shall continue when the flowres of Faith and Hope shall be faded and gone And now having spoken of the two Articles The forgivenesse of sinnes that properly relate to the Holy Ghost It followes to speake of the two next Articles which properly relate to the Sonne of God Christ Jesus whereof this is the first I beleeve the forgivenesse of sinnes And indeed after the Communion of Saints this Article followes very fitly seeing there is seldome any mention made of Forgiving of sinnes but that there is mention made of Charity also as in the Prayer taught us by Christ we say not Forgive us our trespasses but say withall as we forgive them that trespas against us For Love covers the multitude of sinnes and the sinnes being covered they are the more easily forgiven afterward But whether the connexion of this Article to the former bee for this reason or no there are certainly of this Article many great reasons For if there were not Forgivenesse of sinnes the whole world should bee damned For all the World being guilty of sins and the Wages of sinne being death if that wages be not forgiven how shall any man be saved But seeing there are which are Elect and ordained to salvation this makes me assuredly to beleeve the Forgivenesse of sinnes If we should not beleeve the Forgivenesse of sinnes Why have wee Beleeved that Christ was Crucified For why was hee Crucified but to pay the penalty of our sins And the penalty being paid how can the sinnes but bee forgiven To what end was all the suffering of Christ but to satisfie his Fathers justice That laying the severity of his justice upon him hee might conferre the benefit of his mercy upon us and how is his mercy conferr'd but by Forgiving of sins If we should not Beleeve the Forgivenesse of sinnes how could wee beleeve that God were merciful seeing the chiefest act of Mercy consists in Forgiving And to deny God to be mercifull what were it but to deny him the most glorious and the most eminent of all his Attributes seeing his mercy is above all his workes Alas if we did not beleeve the Forgivenesse of sinnes in what miserable affliction should our mindes be For knowing first that we cannot but commit sinnes dayly and then knowing how grievously our sinnes provoke the wrath of God against us and lastly knowing how fearefull a thing it is to fall into the hands of the living God in what a miserable condition should we be if we did not beleeve the Forgivenesse of sinnes If I should not beleeve the Forgivenes of sinnes what hope could I have they should ever be forgiven seeing all the meanes I have in my selfe to procure their forgiving is onely my beliefe that they shall be Forgiven O how comfortable an Article is this which makes it be truly said of Christ In odore vnguentorum tuorum curremus post te In the savour of thy sweet Ointments wee will run after thee For with this Oyntment hee healeth all our sores he makes us whole in all our diseases he makes us strong in all our Infirmities O my soule if at any time thou either by infirmity fall or by allurements be entised to commit sinne then have recourse to this Article I beleeve the forgivenesse of sinnes and thou shalt certainly find in it both rest and refreshing to thy fainting spirits And of what sins is it then that I beleeve the forgivenesse Indeede of all sinnes how great or many soever they bee for seeing there are no limits of Gods mercy neither is there any bound of his forgiving And therefore though mâ— sinnes be more then the haires of my head though a burden farre greater then I can beare yet I beleeve the Forgivenesse of them all But if I beleeve the Forgivenesse of all sinnes doe I not then beleeve
the Forgivenesse of a sinne which shall never be forgiven For is there not a sinne against the Holy Ghost which shall never bee forgiven either in this world or in the world to come and so my Beleeving will prove a false Beliefe and deceive mee in the end It is true indeed that such a Sinne there is but is it not that the chiefest Ingredient of that sinne is the not-beleeving the Forgivenes of sinnes And therefore hee that truely beleeves this Article is never likely to commit that sinne seeing the beleeving being from the Holy Ghost the sinne against the Holy Ghost can never be committed But is this the uttermost of our beliefe to Beleeve the Forgivenesse of sinnes Is there no place for beleeving the Merit of Workes If there be why hath it not here a place in our Creed Indeede in the Pharisees Creed it might perhaps have a place but in the Penitent Publicanes Creed such as wee professe our selves to be what place can it have seeing all his beliefe is terminated in this O God be mercifull to me a sinner Indeed as Solon amongst all his Lawes made no Law against Parricides not that hee did not thinke them worthy of Punishment but because he thought there would never bee any so unnaturall and therefore thought it not needfull to make a Law against a Non futurum against a fault that was never like to be committed So in our Creede there is no Article of the Merit of good works Not that good works may not Merit but because such Meritorious works are never like to be done by any and therefore not fit to make an Article of a Non futurum of a thing though possible yet not likely or rather so farre from being likely as not being possible And indeed which of the Apostles can we thinke should have been the Author of such an Article Saint John we may be sure would not For he saith plainely If we say wee have no sinne there is no truth in us and where there is sinne there can be no Merit Saint Peter we may be sure would not for though there was a time when hee thought hee could doe wonders of good works and even dye with Christ yet when it cam to the point he was glad to bewaile his infirmitie with teares and to say to Christ when time was Depart from me for I am a sinfull man And Saint Paul wee may well thinke would not For hee professeth directly To glory and rejoyce in nothing but in the Crosse of Christ crucified And for what serves the Crosse of Christ but for the Forgivenesse of sinnes And by the judgement of these Apostles wee may judge of the rest and therefore no defect of our Creed in this but the uttermost bounds of our Beliefe in this point beyond which there is no Plus ultra goes no farther then this to Beleeve the Remission and forgivenesse of sins We may indeed labour we must labour to do good works the best we can but all the Merit of it is but this and it is a great Merit too that we cannot rightly beleeve the Forgivenesse of our sinnes if wee doe not labour not to sinne and doe our endeavour to doe good works O my soule all we have to trust too all we have to hold by is the Forgivenesse of sinnes For these are they that make God angry with us and these forgiven will reconcile him These are the causes why he turnes away his blessed face from us and these forgiven will make his couutenance to shine upon us all Merit must be ascribed to him onely in whom they are forgiven between whose Merit and his Fathers mercy I know not how to distinguish and therefore take them both but as one motive to make me Beleeve the Forgivenesse of sinnes All of us have onely sinne Christ onely hath Merit his Father onely hath Forgivenesse For with him there is mercy and plentious redemption But may not a sinne be forgiven and yet the Penalty be still in arere Was not the sinne of David with Bathsheba forgiven and yet punished afterward by the death of the child that was begotten of her It is true indeed the life of the Child was taken away indeed but this was not properly a punishment for the sinne but a castigation of the sinner to make him the better to resent his sin and to bee the more wary afterward of committing the like Besides it may be thought rather a favour then a punishment to David for in taking away the life of the Childe there was that taken from him which upon his repentance would have beene a perpetuall eye-sore to him if it had lived according to that of St. Paul What fruit have yee of those things whereof yee are now ashamed Withall it was not perhaps without Mystery to shew that the pleasures of sinne never beare but blasted fruits which fall off the tree before they come to ripenesse But at what time is it we beleeve that sinnes may bee forgiven Indeed at all times as long as sinnes may be committed which is all the time that wee are living in this world but if once we be dead as there will be then no more committing of sinne so neither will there be any more forgiving of sinne but where the tree falleth there it will lye But is there not a sinne of which it is said It shall never bee forgiven either in this world or in the world to come And why is this said but because a sinne may bee forgiven in the world to come though it be not forgiven in this world and this perhaps is a cause why some have conceived that in the world to come even the Divels themselves shall bee forgiven But is it not that the Not-forgiving of sins in the world to come is therefore mentioned because in the world to come shall be pronounced the sentence of Not-forgiving and so it is but as to say it shall never be forgiven in this world upon private conviction nor in the world to come upon publicke condemnation For otherwise it is most evident if absolutely a sinne bee not forgiven in this world neither shall it ever bee forgiven in the world to come It is no small impediment to the beliefe of this Article that there are few who thinke they sinne at all but are of the Pharisees mind and their Consciences are as cleare as Chrystall and of those againe that thinke they sinne there are few that know the greatnesse of their sinne but they judge of their sin as of the Moone this little because farre from their sight that little because farre from their thought And of those againe that know the greatnesse of their sinne there are few that say with David I acknowledge my iniquity and my sinne is ever before me For sinne being an unpleasing sight they love not to look upon it more then needs they must while they looke not upon the discase they looke not after the