say an apple cometh from the root by the branch yet the root and branch are not two principles The pool ariseth from the river and the river from the fountain but the water of the fountain river and pool are all one and the same The Father as the fountain begetteth the Son as the river The Father and the Son as the fountain with the river breathe forth the Holy Ghost as it were a pool yet their essence is one and the same The late Grecians are accused because they think that the Holy Ghost did not proceed from the Son neither will I contend very much to excuse them but if their doctrine were with moderation explained perhaps the difference between them and us may seem to be in words and not in the thing it self And if any urge us more morosely that it is no where said that the Holy Ghost proceeded from the Son we will not contend about the word if he be granted to be the Spirit of the Son no less then of the Father and to be sent from the Son as from the Father which is all one in sense as to proceed Neither do I beleeve that the Grecians will deny this Certainly this procession is done in an unspeakable manner and how it may be done is not for us to search over-curiously The Spirit is said to be Holy because he is essentially holy when as the Angels are so by the grace of creation beleevers by the grace of adoption And again he is said to be Holy because he is the Author of true or perfect holiness he is a quickening Spirit because he is the efficient cause of spiritual life in our souls The body is dead without the soul and the soul is dead without the Spirit Let us say with David O Lord renew a right spirit within us Psal 51.10 and so the short third part of the Creed is briefly explained The fourth follows I beleeve the holy Catholick Church I beleeve the Church was is shall be and that I am a lively member thereof I beleeve not in the Church the affiance of the heart is to be directed onely to God This Church is a company of men that are called who do embrace the word of God and that rightly use the Sacrament The Church is called Ecclesia from the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to call forth The convention or meeting of Citizens amongst the Athenians who were called forth by the Cryer from the rest of the company to hear the judgement of the Senate had that name given them answerable to which there are a company of the faithful amongst Christians who by the preaching of the word are called out of the kingdom of the devil to hear Gods will and pleasure The Church is called holy because it is sanctified by the most precious bloud of Jesus because by his merits it is purified through the word sacrament and faith and because it is taken up in the holy exercises of Divine worship and Christian charity They are not true members of the Church who abroad in the world shine in sanctity and at home abound in iniquity nor those who are like to the lascivious Monks whose body is in the Quire and their minde in their chamber of whom Innocentius said of old In the night they embrace venery and in the morning they adore the Virgin From outward sanctity we cannot necessarily conclude the inward holiness of the Church But beloved be you holy within and without To be Saints and seem so is good to seem and not to be such is worst of all Feigned sanctity is double iniquity saith S. Austin To proceed The Church is called Catholick that is Universal This word is not written in the Scriptures but after the times of the Apostles it began to be used The Church is so called because it is gathered out of all kinds of men throughout the whole world and because it doth profess and approve of the Catholick doctrine of the Prophets of Christ and of the Apostles by an unanimous consent So Catholick is the same with Orthodox and it is opposite to heretical as it was first of all opposed to the Arrian heresie and to others not judging aright of the Trinity And they were called Catholicks who did follow the true doctrine of the Divinity of Christ as it was expounded by the Nicene Council This signification of Catholick is the most principal one Where there is not an universality of the faith there the universality of time and place is of no avail If any one should say that the Church of Rome is Catholick in respect of place Object It is a contradiction in the adject Answ because all and one do not agree The Universal and Individual the whole and the part Neither is the Romish Church Catholick in respect of the doctrine of it because it is foully fallen from the faith and fosters most grievous errours Neither doth that make for it that it is called Catholick For it is not enough to be so called but to be such We are not to look what is done but what ought to be done The Pontificians are called Catholicks by us but either according to their own opinion or ironically even as they call us the Reformed But ours is the true Catholick Church because the doctrine thereof was declared by the Apostles throughout the whole world and because it is entertained and received by men of all sorts because it was proposed in all ages although not in a like degree and for that it is consonant and agreeable to Holy Writ Let others please themselves in the beautiful shell of a name we had rather obtain the kernel of the thing Hitherto concerning the Church now let us treat something of the Communion of Saints in the Church Communion is a relation between two or more having something common Saints are the members of the Church which are said to be holy either for the imputation of Christs righteousness or their begun conformity to the law or for their separation from the world The communion of Saints is the common possession and interest which the members of the Church have amongst themselves in Christ their Head and all his benefits and gifts This communion therefore consists First in the union of the members of the Church with their Head Christ which is not the subsistence of the body of Christ within our bodies but the inhabitation of the same Spirit And truly they are three yea four times blessed whose fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ concerning which Saint John speaketh in his first Epistle chap. 1. verse 3. Good God what a noble association is this What is more desireable in this life then to have perfect amity with God the Father and Christ by faith by hope by reciprocal love by mutual colloquies obsequiousness joy by the communication of good things as it is between a father and an adopted son between the bridegroom and the
future events the end and profit of all things the impossibility of the progress of causes without end It may be proved likewise out of Scripture well-nigh by infinite testimonies by divers apparitions by stupendious miracles by the writings of the Prophets and by the admirable event of things He therefore that denies that there is a God is not void onely of reason but sense also as AviceÌ„na is reported to have said It is manifest therefore that there is a God now let us see what he is God cannot be defined because he is immense he may be described Philosophically and Theologically Philosophically God is a Spirit sufficient of himself and the cause of all good Theologically God is the most perfect being one in essence three in Persons The Theological description differs from the Philosophical first in perfection for it adds something unknown to nature concerning the Trinity and unfolds or explains that which is known to nature Secondly in effect natural knowledge renders men onely inexcusable Rom. 1.20 but supernatural knowledge is saving hence then the true God differs from the gods of the Gentiles in Attributes Persons Works In Attributes because they are not rightly and entirely understood by them that are without the pale of the Church In Persons because the Gentiles are ignorant of the Trinity In Works because the wonderful works of God and especially that of the Redemption are not perceived by them who are out of the Church But now omitting other proprieties which amongst Schoolmen are handled at large I will first shew that God is one the Lord he is God there is none else besides him Deut. 4.35 Furthermore chief Majesty is competent to no more but one None can be the most perfect unless he be but one but God contains in him all possible perfection by reason of the latitude of his essence Yea there can be but one onely Omnipotent And if there should be more Gods they are all imperfect or the rest are superfluous both which to say is absurd Besides that which is Infinite can be but one onely neither can there be but one first cause of all things and to conclude it is most necessary that the onely chief good be but one God therefore is one and the onely one as Saint Bernard saith Object Yet there are many that are called Gods Answ But this is done improperly either by reason of a certain similitude or likeness or according to the opinion of vain man First by a certain similitude as either for eminency of nature and wisdom as Angels or for excellency of office as Magistrates or for exceeding great power as the Devil or for the â—oo too much indulging of it as the belly Secondly out of a false opinion of men Idols are called Gods It appears therefore that God is one now we are to shew that he is three in Persons Tho. Par. 1. q. 32. art 1. â— Sent. dist 3. The Trinity cannot be proved by the light of nature as Thomas teacheth against Scotus Yet Lumbard fetcheth some footsteps of the Trinity from the creatures especially from the three faculties of the soul the understanding memory and will But these do onely produce a confused knowledge not a distinct God is three but not threefold for he is a most simple being of himself and we use the name of Trinity not because the Scripture saith so but because it doth not contradict it and for the thing it self it is in the Scriptures though not the very word that being implied this not expressed and you may interpret Scripture in convenient words especially by reason of the deceit of Hereticks concealing their heresies for the most part under Scripture expressions In many places of Holy Writ it doth evidently appear that there are three Persons Matth. 3.16 The Father proclaims it This is my beloved Son The Son is baptized and the Holy Ghost descendeth in the likeness of a dove 1 Joh. 5.7 There are three that bear witness in heaven The Father is of himself the Son from the Father begotten from eternity The Holy Ghost proceedeth from both The Father is distinguished from the Son but not another essence and so of the rest But in this matter better is a faithful ignorance then a rash knowledge I conclude therefore with Robert Holcot Quaest 10. a most famous Professor in our University of Oxford who as Gabriel Biel relates it Quaest 10. Determ 1. sent dist 13. qu. 11. saith thus modestly Dignè loqui de Personis Vim transcendit rationis Excedit ingenia Quid sit nasci quid processus Me nescire sum professus Thus Englished To speak condignly of the Persons three Transcendeth reason in a high degree It doth exceed all wits What it is to be born what the a Alià s proceeding process I understand it not I do profess Some one perhaps may say Obser that the three Persons are not essence Answ But this is true of a finite essence onely Object Moreover that where there are three and one there are four but in God there are three Persons and one essence Answ yet they are not really distinct Object But it may be objected that their essences are distinct whose operations are distinct Answ We answer that this is to be affirmed onely of persons that have a finite being The first Person then of the Trinity is called the Father The name of the Father is taken sometimes personally by way of distinction from the Son and sometimes essentially in reference to the creatures for the whole Divine essence The first Person is called Father either in respect of Christ or in respect of us Or like as Durandus sheweth he is the Father of all generally the Father of Christ singularly and the Father of the elect especially Credo in Deum I beleeve in God It refers not onely to the Father but also to the Son and Holy Ghost and the Father is called omnipotent not excluding the other Persons God is omnipotent because he can do all things what he pleaseth all things that do not imply a contradiction and which are not repugnant to his nature and because he doth all things without difficulty or by his beck onely because he alone hath power of doing all things and for that he is the Author of all created power If it be said that God cannot die sin Object lye We answer Answ God can do those things which imply power but nothing that argues impotency or weakness for this would not stand with his perfection And if it be said that he cannot do those things which are contradictory We answer that this would be inconsistent with his immutability I pass by niceties This is the most principal thing seeing that God is omnipotent he that feareth God hath not any thing beyond that he need to fear and if God be with us who can be against us It follows in the Creed that God is the Creator of heaven and earth that is of the whole
been yet in our sins all our faith would have been in vain 1 Cor. 15.17 He rose for his own and his Fathers glory for the dignity and authority of his Person Because of his office he ought to reign for ever and always to intercede for us He rose for our salvation for our justification for our regeneration for our resurrection and glorification That he might raise up our bodies at the last day the head being risen the members cannot but rise like as Adam brought death upon himself and his posterity even so Christ life the Lord makes the faithful coheirs of his glory let us therefore rise again to the life of grace and persevere in the same It is objected that these benefits flow from the death of Christ Object Answ We answer that Christ did merit them by his death but they are declared and applyed by his resurrection And if it be further said that these benefits were given to the faithful beleevers under the Old Testament our answer is This was done in respect of the resurrection to come But may some say the ungodly also shall rise again They shall rise again indeed but to the judgement of condemnation not of absolution And these things out of many concerning the resurrection of Christ His Ascension follows Jesus like the Sun at his full meridian ascendeth the highest Heaven He ascended from the mount of Olives to Bethany and not onely into the aereal and starry heaven but also into the empyreal into the seat of the Blessed He ascended according to his humane nature Object But we have it S. John 3.13 the Son of man was then in heaven Answ But this was spoken by communication of idioms whereby the properties of either nature are attributed to one and the same Person of Christ by what name soever expressed He was there then according to his Divinity But he that descended hath also ascended Object saith the Apostle Answ Ephes 4.10 He did not descend as man it seems therefore that neither did he ascend as man But here the kinde or manner of the predication is changed the Divinity descended that is did shew it self in a place where before it had not so discovered it self And even as Jesus did discover or manifest himself in his humane nature in like manner he ascended He ascended on the fourtieth day after the resurrection in this space he would instruct his disciples concerning his kingdom He ascended visibly and locally he ascended into heaven But S. Object Paul saith he ascended far above all heavens Answ Eph. 4.10 That is say some far above all the starry heavens others determine that this doth not denote the sublimity of the place but the excellency or highness of the Divine Majesty because he hath all things in subjection under him Some will have Christ to be in a void space above the heaven and with his feet to stand upon the outmost surface of the highest Heaven where the Saints live under him But the words of the Apostle compel us not to the belief of this He may be said to have ascended far above all heavens when he ascended into the supreme or highest Heaven and to the most worthy place therein even as we say not onely he that gets up to the very top is said to ascend a tree or a tower but he also that climbs up to the higher boughs or steps although he stays beneath the top But it may be objected Obser that Christ promised he would be with us to the end of the world Answ But this is to be understood of the Deity of Christ of his grace and power spiritually not of his humanity and corporally Christ ascended that he might intercede for us and although the intercession of Christ was before his ascension yet it depended upon this glorious intercession It was made before in the worth of the sacrifice that was to be offered but now of that which hath been offered Secondly Jesus ascended as an eagle that we although but worms may ascend with him Adam had shut up heaven Christ opened it again And although Enoch and Elias ascended before him yet it was not by their own but Christs power by which also he himself ascended Thirdly Christ ascended that he might give the Holy Ghost and although he was given before yet it was in regard of the Ascension and after it in a more plentiful manner Hitherto of the Ascension of Christ his sitting at the right hand of the Father followeth The right hand is attributed to God per 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is by a borrowed speech from men and it signifies the chiefest power and glory To sit at the right hand is a phrase taken from the custom and manner of kings who place those whom they honour at their right hand and cause them whom they set over the affairs of the kingdom to sit together with them So Christ is said to sit at the right hand of God the Father because the Father after he had finished our redemption on earth crowned him with the chiefest glory above all Angels and men in heaven and declared him to be Head and King of the Church by whom he would immediately govern all things both in heaven and earth and whom he would have to be adored of all creatures The Lord said unto my Lord Sit thou on my right hand saith the Prophet Psal 110. The sitting therefore at the right hand of God is the singular and proper dignity of Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God and man conferred upon him by the Father after his Ascension And it consists First in the perfection of his Person or the equality of the Word with the Father which indeed he did not then first of all receive but it being vailed in the time of his humiliation he did again make apparent or manifest Secondly this dignity consists in the perfection of the humane nature which the infirmities being put off or laid aside is adorned with supereminent and surpassing excellency of gifts wisdom and power Thirdly this dignity consists in the perfection of his office because Jesus is constituted or appointed Head of the Church This true Trismegist is King Prophet Priest And although he was the Head of the Church before yet was not that according to both natures nor always exalted Fourthly the dignity of Christ consists in the perfection of his honour because he ought to be acknowledged and extolled by all as Lord of all All things are put under Christs feet by reason of his glorious victory and although some things may seem to be refractory to him yet they are to be repressed by him at his will and pleasure It may be objected against the sitting of Christ at the right hand of God the Father Object that S. Stephen saw him standing at the right hand of God Acts 7.55 But by this posture he expressed Christ his readiness to assist them that are his Champions Answ as when Christ is said to sit
at the right hand of God thereby is shown the Majesty of Christ glorified therefore both of them are true in a diverse respect Besides some may argue after this manner The right hand of God is every where the humane nature sitteth at the right hand of God therefore it is every where But in this argumentation you are to say there are four terms as in this which follows The sea compasseth the whole world a certain city is situate by the sea therefore a certain city compasseth the whole world Neither also doth the uniting of two inseparable things require that wheresoever one is the other should be but onely that they are somewhere together and not at a distance This is evident in the soul and in the head which are united inseparably and yet not wheresoever the soul is there is the head when as the soul is in the feet where the head is not But let us give over this subject and be of good courage Christ sitteth at the right hand of God the Father interceding for us O how great a comfort is this Let us therefore embrace the Lord Jesus with our chiefest love and do his will so we shall be blessed when he shall come to judgement of which there is mention made in the next Article From thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead That word From thence designs the place from whence the Judge shall come namely from heaven He shall come from thence whither the disciples saw him ascending Acts 1.9 10. And although the work of judgement may be assigned to every one of the Persons according to decree consent and authority yet the exercise of this visible act and the execution is committed to the Son as he is the Son of man As for that place Object Joh. 5.22 The Father judgeth no man to it we say thus He judgeth no man alone and without the Son Answ but by the Son Neither doth that of Christ in any wise contradict this when he saith Joh. 12.47 I came not to judge He speaks there concerning his first coming in the flesh in the which he came not to condemn the world but to save it and not of his second coming which is unto judgement Neither is that which is said of the Apostles that they shall judge the twelve tribes Matth. 19.28 and of the Saints that they shall judge the world 1 Cor. 6.7 any let hereunto for this shall be done of them by way of approbation not of authority The end of Christs Advent or Coming is explained by the distribution of the subjects that he may judge both the quick and the dead under which terms all men altogether are comprehended who are said to be quick of dead in respect of that state which precedes the judgement The quick being they whom the last day of judgement shall surprize alive who in a moment shall be changed from a mortal condition to an immortal The dead those who from the beginning of the world have departed this life and before the last day shall be raised up at length by the trump of the Arch-angel and presented before the judgement-seat of Christ and the Angels are included also who kept not their first station Jude v. 6. and are therefore reserved in chains under darkness to the judgement of the great day 2 Pet. 2.4 It may be objected Object that the devil is now judged Joh. 16.11 and he that beleeveth not is condemned already John 3.18 We answer Answ that this is done in part to wit in the word of God in their own consciences or in respect of the beginning of their punishment but they shall be judged afterwards in regard of the manifestation and promulgation of the judgement already made the exasperation of the punishment and the consummation of the torments both of body and soul The last judgement shall be set up that every one may receive what he hath done in his body whether it be good or evil and that the justice of God may be published to the praise of it Since God is just it is necessary that it be perfectly well with the good and godly and that the wicked and impious be for ever miserable this very thing is not done in this world therefore it is righteous to recompense to them who trouble the godly trouble and to you who are troubled rest when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven 2 Thess 1.7 That there shall certainly be a judgement this we know against the Epicureans but the year moneth day and hour we know not no not the Angels in heaven Mark 13.32 The Fanaticks err who either out of an enthusiastical revelation or Arithmetical calculations and Astrological prognostications do set down the time when the judgement shall be but without a right judgement Let us in the mean time prepare our selves all our days and moments of our lives for the coming of Christ and let us take heed lest that day come upon us unawares and finde us unprepared The last day is hid from us that we might watch all our days it is always unknown that it may be always expected let therefore that terrible trumpet ever make this noise in our ears Arise ye dead and come to judgement The second part of the Creed was concerning the Son of God the third follows of the Holy Ghost I beleeve in the Holy Ghost We are to beleeve that the Holy Ghost is God and that he is the third Person of the Trinity equal to the Father and the Son in all perfection This is clear out of Sacred Writ and the doctrine of the Church which do render equal glory to the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost Yet it may be said Object that he who receives from another is not his equal But the Holy Ghost hath received something from the Father and the Son Ergó This is true of him who receiveth part from another Answ in time successively and by grace but the Holy Ghost received from the Father and the Son the whole essence from eternity and by nature Some may object that he that is sent is not equal to him that sendeth but this doth not hold where the mission or sending is by a voluntary consent He is called a Spirit because he is a spiritual essence and that by way of excellency because he is far above all created spirits It may be objected Object that the Father and the Son are by way of eminency Spirits and holy So they are indeed absolutely Answ and bynature but this is attributed to the Holy Spirit by appropriation as it were a characteristical note and because his proper office is to sanctifie the elect He breathes into our hearts good motions and he himself was breathed from the Father and the Son as from one principle or beginning and this is that which the Oriental or Eastern Fathers do teach when they say that the Holy Ghost proceedeth from the Father by the Son even as we
the life and in all the other Articles of the belief being briefly handled thou wilt finde many excellent observations much comprized in few words And to conclude I wish that these precious truths were imprinted in our minds as well as in this book the which God grant Courteous Reader Farewell in the Lord Jesus W. F. The Key of Faith EVen as the river that watered Paradise was divided into four heads so in like manner is the doctrine of the Church to wit The Apostles Creed the Decalogue or ten Commandments the Lords Prayer and the Sacraments First we are to live in the Church by faith Secondly to come unto the rule of life by precepts Thirdly lest we faint we are to take heed by prayer and when notwithstanding all these we are yet weak we are to have recourse to the seals of grace which are the Sacraments First faith is necessary Without faith it is impossible to please God Heb. 11.6 For the sum of faith is contained in the Apostles Creed or Symbol It is called a Symbol because it is a token or mark by which Christian Souldiers are discerned from others or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from contributing as if it were compiled and composed by the Apostles However it is said to be the Apostles because it comprehends the sum of the faith which the Apostles preach'd We are to search the Scriptures and to beleeve those things which are contained in them but above all the special and fundamental places which are simply necessary Lib. 6. confess cap. 6. S. Austin writes they are to be blamed not to be listened to if perhaps there be any such that should say How knowest thou that those books which are ministred to us by men are the minde of the onely true and unerring God for that for it self it is chiefly to be beleeved Notwithstanding there are enough 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 evidences which evince and clear it that the Scripture is inspired from God whereof these are the most choice The authority of the writers who were in an extraordinary manner called and sent forth The majesty of the doctrine The amplitude and clearness of the miracles The truth of the prophesies The sanctity of the Bible nothing is here to be found dissonant to piety and truth nothing of contradiction And to add to this the sublimity of the mean style and the sublime humility To conclude the harmonious truth of either Testament that which lieth hid in the Old is manifest in the New But the Symbol or Creed it self which is taken out of the Scriptures containeth in it twelve Articles and is as it were the a A circle in heaven wherein the twelve Signs are zodiack of a Christian But these may be reduced to four parts The first concerning God the Father who hath made all things The second concerning God the Son who hath redeemed mankinde The third concerning the H. Ghost who hath sanctified the faithful The fourth concerning the Church and its priviledges which the Lord hath communicated to it But some one may say Object The works of the Trinity which have a reference to the creatures are undivided common to all the three Persons how cometh it then to pass that creation is attributed to the Father redemption to the Son sanctification to the H. Ghost This cometh to pass Answ not to exclude but to distinguish between the Persons and the order of their acting Omitting these let us come to the Articles themselves The first is I beleeve in God the Father Almighty Creator of heaven and earth It is said I beleeve not we beleeve because every one ought to have a special faith of his own explicit not implicit or taken upon trust We cannot see well with other mens eyes neither is it sufficient to have an opinion in divine matters The disputation of Gregory de Valentia is of no force Lib. 6. Analys fidei cap. 13. in which he thus asserts concerning a man that is not Theologically learned That if he prefer the Romish Church for its outward authority before the Reformed then God shall have nothing to object against this illiterate man in that most dreadful Tribunal for God doth not require of him this that he should come to the knowledge of the truth by searching into the doctrine since that he understands not Theological controversies These things saith he But let him say what he will every one certainly ought to hold the substance and saving sense of the Articles although not all the most difficult circumstances of questions from thence arising But now to beleeve is not onely to know and give assent to those things which are propounded in the Gospel but also to acquiesce and rest satisfied in them It is not all one to beleeve a God and to beleeve God and to beleeve in God In the two first senses sinners and devils do agree the third sense none attain to unless they be such who have faith formed in them in this manner to beleeve is to go into God by good works 3 Sent. Dist 23. saith the Master of the Sentences To beleeve a God is to know there is such a God To beleeve God is to confess that he is true but to beleeve in God requires application that he is my God There is a faith found that is not right There is a faith that is feigned and it is of the hypocrites the Apostle saith that the end of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart and faith unfeigned 1 Tim. 1.5 There is a kinde of dead faith and it is that of sinners or of those that are still in their sins Faith without works is dead Jam. 2.26 There is a kinde of weak faith and it is of the luke-warm Receive you him that is weak in the faith Rom. 14.1 There is likewise a little faith and it is of the fearful therefore Christ said O thou of little faith why doubtest thou Matth. 14.31 Hitherto we have treated concerning faith it self now concerning the objects of faith of which God is the principal whom not to know is death and whom to know is life And first it is to be demonstrated that God is This may be proved out of the book of Nature inasmuch as he is the Creator and out of the book of Scripture in that he is Creator Conserver and Redeemer Sum part 1 quaest 12. Art 7 God may be known although not comprehended as Aquinas saith These arguments that are drawn from nature do prove that there is a God which notwithstanding are common to Scripture also to wit the most beautiful order of the creatures as the heavens declare the glory of God Psal 19.1 the understanding of man the knowledges of principles and the knowledge of this principle That God is Rom. 1.19 the tremblings of consciences in sinners the rewards of good men the punishments of the wicked the political order the heroick vertues the invention of arts the prediction of
world Creation is the producing of something out of nothing it is either immediate of the first lump or mediate of things produced out of that lump This power of creating belongs to God alone it appertains not to the creatures because there is nothing presupposed in that work part 1. quaest 45 art 5. which is capable of disposition by the action of the instrumental agent as Thomas sheweth touching the manner of the emanation or proceeding of things from their first principle And assuredly Suarez in his Metaphysical disputations and Pererius in his book of Natural Philosophie prove this thing very notably It may be demonstrated out of Scripture that the world was created by God and by natural reasons also for there is no infinite progress of causes and effects in nature and the world is the first and most excellent effect therefore it is from the first and most excellent cause The Philosophers err therefore who either with Aristotle dream of the worlds eternity or suppose with Plato an uncreated matter or with Democritus Leucippus Epicurus bring in atoms and a concurring of them by chance Hermogenes errs who affirmed the world to be coeternal with God and the Stoicks who feigned two beginnings But the Philosophers object Object if the world be not eternal God did not always govern it therefore he was sometimes idle We answer Answ He was not therefore idle But what then did he do It may be said that he chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world Eph. 1.4 or as S. Austin answereth For them that do too curiously enquire After such things he made th' infernal fire But every thing that hath a beginning hath his end the world hath no end ergó Here is a distinction to be made between things that have their beginnings by a natural generation and such as have them by creation both which those as well as these God may either preserve or reduce them into nothing But it may be said again that he who is lord and governour actually is more happy then he who is such an one potentially therefore either the world was from eternity or God is made more happy by the creation We answer that no felicity can accrue to God from the creature who is most perfect and happy in himself The world was created of God the Father by the Son and the H. Ghost All things are created out of nothing not out of the substance of God nor out of any preexistent matter But out of nothing comes nothing Object This is true in a natural way or course Answ or as proceeding from men But man is not created out of nothing It is true in respect of the next matter but not in respect of the first He created all things most wisely and very good But the Prophet saith Object There is no evil in a city that God hath not done Amos 3.6 Answ This is to be understood of the evil of punishment not of the evil of sin Besides the world was created not of a sudden but in the space of six days In the beginning Gen. 1. In the beginning of the universe or generality of things so Basil and Ambrose Hom. 1. Hexam l. 1. de gen ad literam c. 1. Before all created things saith S. Austin And it was created for the glory of God and the profit of men Under creation the providence of God is comprehended God doth still work by preserving but not by creating things As there is nothing made but by his creating essence so nothing thrives without the power thereof keeping and preserving it In Monol c. 12. Tom. 3. as Anselm saith For providence is Gods action or working whereby he doth liberally wisely well and powerfully preserve and govern all things for the glory of his Name and the salvation of the godly It is the action of God for it is not an idle intuition or looking on but an effectual administration of things The most minute or least things are subject to Gods providence as sparrows hairs worms God is all eye because he seeth all things yea the most abject of them And excellently saith S. 1 Offic. cap. 13. Ambrose If it be not an injury and disparagement to God to have made the most small things much less disparagement is it to him to govern them being made God doth act most freely God is not subjected to necessity but necessity to him The Stoicks err who tie God to a fatal necessity of causes God doth all things wisely to certain ends contrary to that of the Epicureans who affirm that all things come to pass by fortune Chance and fortune are words used by the unlearned saith S. Basil Conc. 8. in Psal 32. Lib 1. Retr c. 1. nothing comes by chance in respect of God but in regard of us and S. Austin doth acknowledge that he did ill to use the name of fortune so often in his writings God worketh powerfully and cannot be hindred by any might bound by any law wearied by any impotency or weakness God doth all things well because he is the best out of the most evil things he bringeth good and maketh use of evil things to a good end But the providence of God is either universal or particular That of the Apostle 1 Cor. 9.9 Doth God take care for oxen is not spoken absolutely but comparatively that God hath not the like care of beasts that he hath of men his care towards men is greater Object Neither is it any obstacle that many things are so confused Answ Confused things are governed by God but not confusedly and in the seeming confusion there is some order Neither doth the inconstancy of weather hinder any whit for snow hail ice they do his will It becometh us to admire the works of God but not to search too curiously into them Neither do monsters and natural defects hinder These are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the transgressions of nature according to Aristotle his fourth book of the generation of animals They forsake not the order of the universal cause but of the particular onely or according to Thomas they fall short of the ultimate or last end which is the perfection of the thing generated but not of their nearest end for nature still worketh and formeth somewhat at the least And if any one doth speak concerning sins We answer that sins are not actions but are accidental to actions which are good of themselves and from God likewise But some one may say sins happen by the providence of God It is true by the providence of God permitting determining directing them to the best ends but not effecting or being the procuring cause of them Let them be confounded who do think or imagine God to be the Author of evils or wickedness Lib 4. de Orthodâ—xa fide c. 20. this is the vote or wish of Damascen And if it be said that the same evil work is attributed both to God and the
By right of the Fathers constitution because the Father hath put all things under his feet and gave him to be the head over all things to the Church Eph. 1.22 and hath made him heir of all things Hebr. 1.2 His Dominion therefore extends not onely unto us but unto all creatures Seeing therefore Christ is the Lord of us all we ought to be humble and meek one towards another for we are fellow servants of the Lord. Masters give unto your servants that which is just and equal knowing that ye also have a Master in heaven saith S. Paul Col. 4.1 And seeing that Christ is the Lord let us adhere to him alone otherwise we shall have very many strange lords whom to serve it will be most miserable Most truly said S. Ambrose O how many lords hath he who hath not one he hath so many lords or masters as he hath sins yea holy father he hath so many mistresses as lusts and certainly thou thy self being judge lust is a most furious mistress Let us therefore serve the Lord Jesus onely And if we be noble and generous Christians let us not admit of any other government As Thomas Aquinas observeth of horses that a spirited and wel-mettled one will not admit of any other rider but his own master and is moved onely at his beck Hitherto of the titles of the Mediator he is further to be described according to the degrees both of his exinanition or humiliation and likewise of his exaltation First Christ did empty himself and became very low The word is made flesh Joh. 1.14 The Son of God is made the Son of man that the son of man might become the son of God He is now who was and what he is he was not De Trin. lib. â—0 saith S. Hilary Our Mediator is become God and man that he might conjoyn God and man together again who were separated and disjoyned And if it be said Object that the flesh of Christ could not be united to our flesh because our flesh is sinful Answ We answer It doth not follow for sinfulness is accidental to our flesh not of the substance or essence of it so that Christs flesh may be united to our flesh but not as to the sinfulness of it If it be said that no accession can be made to God we say That is true if meant of perfection but not of union If further any object Object that the humane nature cannot come or be united to God It is true unless that God assume it That it is most ignominious for God to be a creature Answ It is most ignominious for him to be changed into a creature but not to be united with it without the change of his essence But although there be in Christ two natures yet there is onely one Person Although he be God and man yet he is not two but one Christ as S. Athanasius professeth in his Creed The humane nature of Christ doth not constitute a person because it subsists not of or by it self but it is upheld or sustained in and by the Word If it be objected Object that God and man are two persons We answer Answ That it is true if they be not united If it be said that dead and always living are not the same It is true that they are not the same according to the same But Christ was so according to his divers natures If it be enquired How is the Incarnation attributed to the Son We are to know that the Incarnation is the work of the whole Trinity by inchoation and of the Son alone by termination He assumed our nature which the Father formed in him out of the substance of the Virgin by the Holy Ghost This substantial knitting or joyning although produced by all the Persons yet formally it did not knit or conjoyn the humane nature with any In 3. p. D. Thom. but with the Person of the Son as Suarez copiously and other Divines And of the two natures there was an union made hypostatically or personally not physically as the form is united to the matter nor spiritually as the elect among themselves and with God nor by help and assistance as the mariner to the ship nor relatively as a friend to a friend nor mystically as in the Sacrament the two natures were united inconfusedly unchangeably not admitting of any division inseparably Inconfusedly each nature having their properties remaining but the properties of one nature by communication of idioms is attributed in the concrete to the person denominated from either nature as that God hath purchased his Church by his bloud Acts 20.28 The Lord of glory was crucified 1 Cor. 2.8 this is spoken according to his humane nature This speech ought to be taken in the concrete not in the abstract and it follows not that because God is said to suffer therefore the Deity suffered Secondly the natures were united inconvertibly that is without the change of the Divine into the humane or of the humane into the Divine Thirdly individedly without division of natures although not without distinction they are not two but one Christ Fourthly inseparably this union remains for ever At the death of Christ his soul was separated from his body but the Divine nature remained united to both after its own manner the natural union was dissolved and not the personal Thus far concerning the Incarnation in general The parts thereof follow the conception of Christ and his nativity Conceived by the Holy Ghost Not of the essence but by the efficiency of the Holy Ghost This particle of doth not denote the matter as if that Christ was of the Holy Ghost for he was of the fathers according to the flesh Rom. 9.5 God also is immutable and the Word assumed our flesh and is not changed into it but of signifies the efficient cause because by the vertue and power of the Holy Ghost Christ was conceived His conception by the Holy Ghost speaks the miraculous forming of the flesh or body of Christ without the help of man then the sanctifying of it from original sin and the hypostatical union of it with the Word The body of Christ is thought to have been made simul semel together and at once perfect not successively as the bodies of men are in the space of fourty days otherwise Christ should not have been conceived a man but an embryo yea he was inspired with a reasonable soul Wickedly did Apollinaris say that the soul of Christ was his Divinity His soul was heavy and sad which is not competent to the Divinity at his death his soul departed from his body but his Divinity did not recede or depart He was conceived for us behold his love how can we conceive to express it He was conceived of the Holy Ghost behold his wisdom that he might be free from sin let us mourn by reason of our impure conception Let every one say with David Behold in iniquity was I conceived Psal 51.5 His pure
conception will cover our impurity if that hereafter we endeavour to be pure So was his conception his nativity succeeds Christ was born that he might signifie to us the truth of his humane nature Born of Mary to shew that he was of the fathers to wit David and Abraham of whom Mary came Born of the Virgin Mary lest he should be defiled with original sin and that the Scripture should be fulfilled this the Prophet foretold Isai 7.14 Behold a Virgin shall conceive and bring forth a Son Neither were the Sybils silent in this matter if those things be true which are written of them And truly Boetius in his Tractate of Scholastical discipline reports a wonderful thing to wit that there was found in Plato's tomb a plate of gold in which was written I beleeve in the Son of God that is to be born of the Virgin And such a like story Nicephorus tells of a certain man that in the time of Constantine and of his mother Irene there was a stone chest found under the earth with this inscription The Messias shall be born of a Virgin and I beleeve in him Out of all these ariseth the confirmation of our faith and firm consolation that a Saviour is born and born to us Isai 9.6 When he was rich he became poor for us For our sakes he was disgraced of men and contemned of the vulgar he was humble because he would not have us to be proud he was born of a poor Virgin that he might shew to us that we ought not to boast in riches and honour and that he might teach us to be contented with the meanest condition The Virgin brought forth her Son she wrapped him in swadling clothes having taken him first in her Virgin arms into the which he being new born the Angels had laid him as Suarez conjectures The Pastor of Israel manifested himself to be a good Shepherd to the shepherds The Angels brought news of great joy that should be to all people for that a Saviour was born Christ the Lord in the city of David and suddenly there was with the Angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God Jesus the bread of life was born in Bethlehem the house of bread He was born in a stable that we should not so much care for sumptuous Palaces in which place afterwards there was built by S. Beda de locis sanctis alii Helen a most sumptuous Church to the honour of the Virgin the Mother of God Concerning the manner of his birth it was wonderfully singular and singularly wonderful Of this thing Saint Austin doth very admirably discourse saying thus Let the incredulous Jew tell me how or in what manner the dry rod to wit Aarons budded and blossomed and brought forth almonds then I will tell him how the Virgin conceived and brought forth But truly neither can the Jew explain the one nor I the other Divine mysteries are not to be discussed or searched out by the understanding but to be adored by faith saith S. Gregory I beleeve therefore that it is enough for us simply to beleeve that Christ was born of the Virgin Mary And certainly we ought piously to hold and maintain it that the blessed Mother of our Redeemer always remained a Virgin She was a Virgin before in and after her bearing or bringing forth The which S. Jerom at large proves against Helvidius And that place Mat. 1.25 He knew her not till she brought forth her first-born Son notes that he knew her not at all The like you have 2 Sam. 6. and the last verse where it is said Michal the daughter of Saul had no childe until the day of her death that is she never had any But how is Christ said to be the first-born if he had no brethren We answer that Christ is so called not because there was not any son after him but because there was none before him And where in the Scripture there is mention made of the brethren of Christ there cousin-germans and kinsmen are understood so Abraham said unto Lot We are brethren Gen. 13.8 Hitherto of the nativity of Christ his passion followeth He suffered under Pontius Pilate The whole life of Jesus was a passion he suffered in his circumcision in his flight into Egypt in fasting fourty days and in his temptation by the Devil he suffered in the want of the chiefest felicity he suffered all kinde of evils all humane infirmities sin excepted he endured poverty injury and the sense of the wrath of God but without despair and to conclude he suffered death it self according to his humane nature To teach that Christ felt no pain in his flesh nor true sorrow in his soul at the time of his passion is contrary to truth and heretical as if it should be said he took not upon him to be true and real man but onely his similitude So truly saith the Master of the Sentences The Divine nature did rest 3 Sent. dist 14. that the humane might suffer but it upheld the humane in its agonies that it might overcome The cause moving God to subject his Son to sufferings was either inward or outward The inward was the love of his good pleasure The outward threefold the misery of sin from whence was mercy sin it self from whence justice and the tyranny of the Devil from whence revenge the end and fruit of Christs passion are the same in a diverse respect the end in respect of Christ the fruit or benefit in respect of us and they are two the glory of God and our salvation The Judge under whom he suffered was Pontius Pilate the Governour of all Judea for Tiberius the Emperour that it might be evident that Jesus was the true Messias who was not to come till the sceptre was wholly taken away from Judah Gen. 49.10 which came now to pass Judea being overcome of the Romans Then it is also said that he suffered under Pilate that the truth of that which Christ spake concerning his being delivered up to the Gentiles might be manifest Matth. 20.19 Besides because his sufferings under Pilate were most heavy and grievous For Pilate scourged Christ and with thongs not by his own but by the hands of the executioners saith S. Jerom. Soon after when his body throughout was torn with scourges being crowned with thorns adorned with a purple robe and a sceptre of reed by a new kinde of mockery as it were to act in a theatre Pilate brings him in a King of misery to be beheld of the people and saith Behold the man By which words he would have moved the Jews to pity But they O hard-hearted men as they were used Christ very unmercifully made choice of Barabbas one notorious for lewd pranks to be released from punishment and were very instant requiring that the most innocent Jesus might be crucified Pilate could have denied them but he would not and against his conscience he delivered Jesus into the hands
not sin therefore reign in our mortal bodies that we should obey it in the lusts thereof let us not be buried as it were in sleep and wine but let us reckon our selves dead unto sin and alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. The death of Christ is explained proceed we to his descension into hell Hell in the Scriptures is taken many ways properly for the place of the damned metaphorically for the greatest sorrows and infernal anguishes moreover for the grave and sometimes for extreme ignominy Hence arise the diversities of opinions concerning this Article Some interpret it of the grave but if so the same should be twice put in and declared by a more obscure one which in so perspicuous a Compendium it is not likely would be done It matters not much that this Article was left out in the Nicene Creed perchance the reason of it was because it never came into disputation Howsoever Eusebius who was present at the Council delivereth the same as also S. Athanasius in his Creed received by the Church although he omits the burial Others expound it of the torments of hell Which if they understand thus that Christ before his death felt torments equal to the infernal this opinion is pious enough but if their meaning be that after his death he did really feel the pains of hell it is impious for before this all things were finished If we say as Durandus doth that Christ descended into hell vertually or effectively that is to destroy hell in the behalf of the faithful or if with others that Christ descended to the lowest degree of exinanition or emptying himself verily these opinions contain nothing in them of falshood But some refer this descension to the soul of Christ This opinion that you meet with in Noels Catechism our Church seems to approve of in this sense Christ is said to have descended into hell that he might demonstrate himself to be Conquerer over the devil and all the infernal host that he might strike terrour into the devils and triumph most powerfully over them Many write many things concerning this matter But my judgement is that this Article ought not to be handled subtilly or scrupulously Our English Confession hath so appointed it in the third Article Even as Christ died for us and was buried so also is it to be beleeved that he went down into hell Here is nothing determined of the manner of his descension Let idle wits by their curious speculations search out this and here if I be not deceived they will finde somewhat to do Let it suffice us to beleeve that Christ descended into hell and hath performed all things necessary to our salvation but for the manner how this hereafter will be better known The Papists who have been bold very accurately to describe the parts of hell are not yet agreed whether Christ descended onely into the limbo of the fathers or into Purgatory also whether he delivered any from thence out of his special grace and favour as Thomas doth conjecture or whether he delivered all as Bonaventure and Gabriel or whether also he descended into the place of the damned as Bellarmine affirms They feign that he descended that he might deliver the Fathers out of limbo but we say plainly that limbo is not known or mentioned in Scripture that the souls of the godly were in the hand of God not in hell that the Fathers were redeemed by vertue of the merit of Christ the Lamb slain from the beginning of the world and not at length freed by Christs descension Neither is it any obstacle Object that Christ did preach to the spirits in prison 1 Pet. 3.19 Answ That place is thus explained Christ by the spirit that is by his divinity went that is being sent to the Church by the Father from the beginning and preached not by himself but by Noah to the spirits in prison that is to men whose souls are now in hell who were in time past disobedient that is before the floud while they then lived But it may be objected out of the same Apostle Object that the Gospel was preached to them that were dead 1 Pet. 4.6 Here lieth the fallacy in the words or sentence Answ The Gospel is preached to the dead that is to those who were dead when Peter wrote these sayings but it was preached to them when they were yet alive Others with S. Austin interpret this verse of the Gentiles being spiritually dead before conversion I confess many places out of the Fathers are brought against the Protestants but this consequence holds not good some affirm it therefore it is true We must know also that the Fathers have uttered many things Rhetorically concerning the efficacy of Christs descension into hell and have amplified them in lofty expressions acting like Ecclesiastical Orators and therefore making use of Rhetorical figures not onely to teach magisterially but also to perswade and move the affection Let others contend concerning this matter but thou O. Christian soul hold this faith that thou hast faith sufficient to beleeve that the descension of Christ is the cause of thy ascension on high And so from the degrees of Christs exinanition and the state wherein he was before he made it evident that he was alive let us pass to the degrees of his exaltation amongst which the first that offers it self is the resurrection from the dead The third day he rose again from the dead Christ is said to have risen again on the third day not fully complete but being begun which is typified by Jonah Matth. 12.40 It seemeth notwithstanding that Christ was not three nights in the Sepulchre no not so much as by parts but onely the night of the Sabbath and of the Lords day Here therefore it is to be noted that their days were reckoned from one mid-night 〈◊〉 the other Christ was in the Sepulchre part of Good Friday all the Sabbath day and part of the Lords day on the which he rose early in the morning And so the Romans who then ruled over the Jews did compute their days and nights Christ rose on the third day not sooner that it might manifest him to be truly dead not later because he would not hold his disciples and others any longer comfortless He rose that by his resurrection from the dead he might declare himself with power to be the Son of God And this was merely an effect of his divinity to quicken himself by his own vertue and power wherewith being the Son of God he was invested That the Father is said to have raised the Son is no hinderance to this Eph. 1.20 Object This cometh to pass by reason of the unity of essence in both Answ which is so great that whatsoever the Father doth the same also is the Son said simply to do He rose that he might demonstrate himself to have satisfied for our sins and to have purchased true righteousness for us Unless he had risen we had
bride I beseech you therefore by the plentiful effusion of the bloud of Jesus on the Cross that ye walk with God or have your conversation with God not in the darkness of unbelief or of sin but in the light of faith grace and vertue God by his nature is light void of darkness if ye would be joyned to him ye must of necessity bid adieu to darkness and your delightful sins The second part of this communion is the union of the members of the Church between themselves We being many are one body in Christ and every one members one of another saith the Doctor of the Gentiles Rom. 12.5 and from thence the holy man doth infer golden or precious precepts amongst some other these Let love be without dissimulation Communicate or distribute to the necessity of the Saints rejoyce with them that rejoyce weep with them that weep be of the same minde one towards another as if he should say I would have such a sympathy or fellow-feeling among you Christians as to be equally affected both with the good and evil things of all whether in prosperity or adversity Beloved Auditors yeeld ye obedience to these admonitions of the Apostle Be ye endued with humanity or brotherly love charity meekness bounty let it be a shame to Academians who ought to be more rational creatures then others to be given to anger brawlings envyings disobediences evil-speaking inhumanity and revenge shun these vices which become not the Students of humane learning and after the examples of the Christians of the Primitive Church Be ye of one heart and of one minde Acts 4.32 And if ye shall forgive others the injuries that are offered unto you by them ye shall also obtain remission of sins from your heavenly Father The which is treated of in the following words I beleeve the remission of sins Forgiveness of sins is the will or good pleasure of God whereby he forgiveth beleevers both the sin and the punishment due to sin for Christs merits sake Yea their most enormous sins shall be forgiven for it is repugnant to the infinite goodness of God to be overcome by any humane wickedness He doth injury to God that despaireth of his mercy rightly Saint Augustine against those words of Cain Genes 4. Mine iniquity is greater then that it may be forgiven After this manner saith he Thou lyest Cain for the goodness of God is greater then the iniquity of all men and elsewhere he hath written That greater is the mercy of God then the misery of all men Verily it is a most excellent speech of his unto God in his meditations Although O Lord I have committed that for which thou mayest condemn me yet thou hast not lost that whereby thou mayest save me It is most true for if a sinner do repent the Lord will not remember his iniquities Let the wicked forsake his way and turn again unto the Lord and the Lord will have mercy on him Isai 55.7 In God there is omnipotent mercy and merciful omnipotency such is the benignity of his omnipotency and the omnipotency of his benignity that there is nothing that he will not or cannot forgive a beleeving soul yea oftentimes beyond remission God bestows most abounding grace What cannot repentance do Who in the secular state sinned more enormously then Paul Who in the religious more out of measure then Peter Yet they by repentance did not onely attain to the ministery but also the magistery of holiness But to explain this Article more fully We must know that God is the principal efficient cause of remission He alone can forgive sins primarily or by chief authority But the Priests or Ministers of the Church are onely administring causes as they are messengers of the Divine forgiveness God onely of himself forgiveth sins because he cleanseth the soul from the inward blemish or stain and releaseth it from the debt of eternal death but he hath not granted this to the Priest to them notwithstanding he hath given the power of loosing and binding that is by shewing them they are loosed and bound 4 Sent. Dist 18. as Lombard writes Some may say Object that it is not agreeable with the justice of God to forgive sin and not to punish it This is true Answ if he punish it neither in the sinner nor in another to wit the surety But God hath punished sin in Christ Some may object again that it is an unjust thing to punish the innocent for the offender We answer It is not if the innocent party offer himself spontaneously to punishment if he can go through it and get out of it and if this tend to the glory of God and the salvation of men all which conditions do meet very well in Christ It may be further objected that this remission of God is not freely bestowed because satisfaction was required to the forgiveness of sin But we say the satisfaction required was not made by us but by another If we be urged still that he who on such condition forgiveth doth not forgive freely It may be answered It is true unless the party that requires it doth also give the satisfaction But God the Father hath given his Son that he might satisfie for us Hitherto Of the remission of sins the resurrection of the body or flesh followeth Credo resurrectionem carnis I beleeve the resurrection of the body or flesh It is a very difficult thing to understand by the sense or perception of corrupt reason how or in what manner the same body should rise again after so many transmutations and be reunited to the same soul And therefore many in the Areopagus derided Paul when they heard of the resurrection of the dead yet by the light of faith it is most clearly manifest that there shall be such a resurrection It will not be difficult to them to beleeve this who do beleeve that with God there is nothing difficult the restitution of the body or flesh is by far easier then its first constitution or forming It is of lesser concernment by much to restore that which hath been then to make that which never had any being He which could make all things out of nothing can easily raise again our bodies out of something to wit restore them out of the dust of the earth and why should we admire that that could be born again which hath had a being when as we behold that to have a being which never had any before Holy Job in the Old Testament an Evangelical man before the Gospel doubted not of this thing I know saith he that my Redeemer liveth and after that worms shall consume this body of mine yet in my flesh I shall see God whom I shall see for my self and not another Job 19.25 Thy dead men shall live saith Isaiah to the Lord together with my dead body shall they arise chap. 26. verse 19. And in the New Testament the Lord Jesus John 5.28 doth most apparently attest the