and all things els were lost in him they might be found again Consectaries The consectarie doctrine is that whereas all things are but one in the individuall and have but one root or beginning which is God therefore we should not part his honour among others but give it wholly to himself and among our selves we should not break the bond of unitie by discord because there is but one heaven to which we tend there to meet with the one beginning and to come to this there is but one mean which is the will of this holy One written and sealed in his holy word By departing from Gods unitie truth and goodnesse men and angels were destroyed Division breaks unities bond by reuniting man is restored Gods Truth and Intellect The second attribute is his Truth which is the second in the three principall passions Unum Verum Bonum Unum noteth the first person from whom is the unitie of essence Verum the second which is the Fathers intellect and wisdome and Bonum the third person who is the Father and Sonnes goodnesse Now Gods truth is his perfect intellect in all things for truth according to our capacitie cometh from right and right from the light of intellect but because there is no composition in God as in the creature therefore in him there is no descent from thing to thing but his truth light and intellect is all one which we call his knowledge From hence proceedeth the rectitude which is to be found in his creatures for what in them is right is true and what is true is right Agreeing to this the Psalme hath O Lord how manifold are thy works in wisdome thou hast made them all the earth is full of thy riches They are true made because they are made by the light of Gods wisdome From which God is called Jam. 1. 17. the Father of lights and he is so called because as all the childrens goods descend from the father so the rectitudes and excellencies of all creatures are from God derived and are to him to be referred as to their fountain Every good and perfect gift saith he cometh down from the Father of lights with whom is no variablenesse nor shadow of turning Here God is compared to the sunne and moon the two great lights in the firmament to confound their light For the moons light as we know is variable because it is borrowed from the sunne by divers positures and therefore is not alwayes light-alike and the sunnes light leaveth a shadow behinde it by his turning from one horizon to another but Almightie God hath no variablenesse because his light is his own and he leaveth no shadow by turning because he is alwayes in the midst of his horizon which is every where And from hence is this comfortable saying of God to his people Malach. 3. 6. Because I the Lord am not changed therefore ye sonnes of Jacob are not consumed And in God is the truest knowledge because by how much any thing is remote from matter by so much the more it is intelligent for that it is not straitned by its matter to which it is united for the book of Wisdome hath The corruptible bodie presseth down the soul and the earthly tabernacle weigheth down the minde that museth upon many things And from hence it is that the angelical nature is more intelligent then the humane soul for that it is more immateriall and therein cometh nearest to God for God hath no matter but is purus actus without potentialitie and therefore his knowledge must needs be perfect And as I said before his intellect is not by discourse or successe because this implieth difficultie contrarie to omnipotencie but God seeth all his effects in himself as in the cause at once for that all things are to him alwayes present in regard of his eternitie and for this cause reason is none of his attributes but vision in place of it because reason hath discourse but vision hath none but is onely a direct aspect And after this manner mans reason in the next life shal be advanced when it shall behold God not any more by reason but by vision Now we see through a glasse darkly but then shall we see face to face now I know in part but then shall I know even as I am known Lastly the height of Gods knowledge is observed in beholding himself by which from eternitie he begat his Sonne who in holy Writ is called his truth wisdome image And this is illustrated by the looking-glasse as one demonstrateth For as when a man looketh in a glasse he produceth an image of himself so like as no difference can be found not onely in shape but also in motion for when the man moveth the image moveth too and this image is not long in making nor by instruments nor by labour but in a moment by one look in like manner Almighty God beholding himself in the glasse of his divinitie with the eie of his understanding doth beget and produce an image most like unto himself And because God hath given to this image all his own substance and being which we cannot do in beholding our selves in a glasse that image is the true Sonne of God though our images which we see in glasses are not our sonnes And for that God the Father hath alwaies and doth alwaies behold himself therefore his Sonne is not younger but full as ancient as his Father he alwaies begotten and his Father alwaies begetting according to that of S. Augustine Semper gignit Pater semper nascitur Filius And by this perfect image God the Father made all things created and daily upholdeth and governeth all and therefore all must needs be perfectly madè and governed according to this testimonie of S. Paul In these last daies he hath spoken to us by his Sonne whom he hath made heir of all things by whom also he made the worlds And again Bearing up all things by his mighty woâ—d Consectaries The consectarie doctrine is that whereas all the treasures of knowledge wisdome and truth are in Jesus Christ the Sonne of God treasured up and for that our chief happinesse consisteth in knowing and seeing of Christ who is the way the truth and the life therefore all other knowledge should seem base unto us in respect of this and we should desire this theorie above all things else Gods Goodnesse Gods third attribute is his Goodnesse and this is splendent in two respects First in that he is the cause efficient of things and next the cause appetible for good and appetible are convertibles what is good is to be desired and what is to be desired is good Therefore Aristotle saith Omnia bonum appetunt Thus we distinguish between the substance of things and their goods for substances are but emptie vessels without their goods adjected and these goods are certain similitudes or conveniences in which things rejoyce for like desireth like From whence
may assoon be abused as well used Therefore the managing of it is not for all men but onely for such as are of a stayed head long understanding and good life It is for men of age who are able to digest strong meat and through long custome have their wits exercised to discern both good and evil The more dangerous an instrument is the more carefull we should be into whose hands we put it Now the word of God Heb. 4. 12. is compared to a two-edged sword which if it be put into many mens hands some will do as much hurt with it as some do good Experience of former times and exclamation of our dayes prove this The second Antecedent And that man of sinne be revealed the sonne of perdition Having spoken of the first antecedent which is the falling away it followeth to treat of the second which is the unmasking of the man of sinne and is imminent to the worlds end This man of sinne by generall consent is the great Antichrist expressed by his description in opposing himself against all that is called God or that is worshipped but Christ is not onely called God but is the true God and worshipped and therefore the man that opposeth himself to him totally must be the Antichrist But here we must take heed what manner of Antichrist we mean because there are many Antichrists as S. John teacheth in his 1. epist. 2. chap. vers 18. Little children it is the last time and as ye have heard that Antichrist shall come even now are there many Antichrists These Antichrists were the hereticks of S. Johns time to whose number we are to refer all the rest which have followed as also all the persecuting Emperours from Nero to the Turkish Emperour Achmeth sending defiance to the renowned Christian king Sigismund of Poland in the yeare 1612. Christ is two wayes opposed by heresie and tyrannie the one fighting against the body the other against the soul of Christ in his members These Antichrists are the lesser Antichrists which in certain parts modo quodam oppose themselves to Christ but the man of sinne of whom S. Paul speaketh is the great Antichrist who is an universall opponent both in heresie and tyrannie to Christ and his whole kingdome Antichrist one man Next we must enquire whether this Antichrist is to be taken for one man or for a state or kingdome as some would have the reigne of Popes some the reigne of Turks to be the Antichrist and some would make Antichrist a twin like the image of Janus which hath two faces and looks contrarie waies affirming the Turk to be the elder brother of Antichrist and the Pope the younger But to such conceits I cannot yeeld First by reason of the denomination which is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is a contrary Christ and not a contrary kingdome Christ was but one person therefore his great and direct opposite must be but one person too Secondly because my text calleth him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that man of sinne that sonne of perdition which Beza translateth homo ille sceleratus filius ille perditionis which signifieth that wicked man that sonne of perdition and not those wicked men those sonnes of perdition And therefore Antichrist as he is here described quoad literam must be but one person in the singular number Thirdly this is further confirmed by conference of Scripture Joh. 5. 43. where our Saviour prophesying of Antichrists coming speaks in the singular number and in the particular I am come in my Fathers name and ye receive me not if another shall come in his own name him will ye receive Our Redeemer here makes no feigned supposition but a true one which shall come to passe because he is no trifler but the God of prophesie and truth And that here he intendeth Antichrist it appeareth because the Jews to this day look for their Messias and therefore their Messias must be the Antichrist-Messias for that there can be but one true Messias Fourthly this appeareth because Antichrist shall come in his own name and not in the name of any God for that it is said Who opposeth himself against all that is called God or that is worshipped And thus it is prophesied of him Dan. 11. 36. He shall not regard the God of his fathers nor regard any God for he shall magnifie himself above all Fifthly from hence also it appeareth that Antichrist shall be but one person because our Saviour here opposeth to himself another man in the singular number and so he opposeth person to person and not kingdome to kingdome or sect to sect As Christ therefore was one man so that man of sinne which is the great Antichrist must be but one man too and it is evident that the Jews expect but one Christ and not many Christs Sixthly S. John in his first epistle and second chapter distinguisheth the great Antichrist from the multitude of Antichrists by the singular number Little children it is the last time and as ye have heard that Antichrist shall come even now there are many Antichrists whereby we know that it is the last time that is to say the last time is now entring Where ye see a manifest distinction between 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 between them that were present and him that was to come If we should make the Antichrist a state of men or a reigne of men then we should confound S. Johns distinction between the Antichrist and the multitude of Antichrists which are the forerunners of the main Antichrist And then we should feigne a huge and Chimerick Antichrist who with his hands should apprehend the Apostles time fasten his feet in the end of the world Then again we should make S. Paul and S. John to jarre if the one should affirm him already to be come and the day of Christ to be instant and the other at the same time to adjure the Thessalonians that by no means they should admit this but expect the falling away first and the removing of the Romane empire And to reconcile S. John with S. Paul about the last time and Christs coming we say that S. John intended by the last time the last age of the world which then was in inchoation to stirre them up to preparation and not the last time precisely because we know there have been a thousand and six hundred yeares since Seventhly this is proved from Antichrists figure in the 11 and 12 of Daniel upon which Calvine affirmeth Daniel to speak of Antiochus Epiphanes according to the letter and allegorically of Antichrist whose person Antiochus did present and so commonly the ancient Fathers understand But this Antiochus in the seventh chapter of that book is not called a kingdome or reigne but one little horn besides the ten horns of the fourth beast as appeareth in the 8 verse and one king besides those
his bountifulnesse and patience and long sufferance not knowing that the goodnesse of God leadeth thee to repentance Having spoken of Gods will as it is antecedent and of signe now it followeth to speak of it as it is of good pleasure and of consequent The will of Gods good pleasure is expressed in the 135 Psalme vers 6. Whatsoever the Lord pleased that did he in heaven and in earth in the seas and in all deep places This is Gods proper and essentiall will first because it is of the nature of the will to do of pleasure and next because it is most generall and not restrained to any place or person His will of signe is not alwaies done because it is his will for men and not for himself respectively Therefore his precepts are broken his prohibitions slighted his counsels not regarded but his will of good pleasure is above the law of the Medes and Persians this cannot be put by because it is divina 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Lastly after that God hath shewed man all his favours by his will of signe and word revealed to which he addeth the effects of his grace expressed by S. Prosper in these seven particulars perswading by exhortations admonishing by examples terrifying by dangers inciting by miracles giving understanding inspiring counsel and lightning the heart with faiths affections When all these are despised and rejected then God proceedeth with his will consequent which is the will of his justice First he would have all men to be saved by his will antecedent but because all men will not consent to this therefore to maintain mans free-will God will not save all in effect but the same will turneth from mercie to justice which before turned from justice to mercie and saith Depart from me ye cursed into everlasting fire which is prepared for the devil and his angels Neither is Gods will altered nor broken because it turneth from mercie to judgement for that it still retaineth its former mercie and man his former resistance to receive it How often saith our Saviour would I have gathered thy children together even as a hen gathereth her chickens but ye would not If God hath not bound man to one object but given him free-will to turn from object to object according to reasons rule then should God be bound and man free The will of God is wider then all wills all his divine attributes may rest in it his truth his wisdome his justice his mercie his power his pleasure and displeasure yea all the contraries that are in the world are within it and lie under it as life and death sicknesse and health good and evil salvation and damnation and without this there could be no world Notwithstanding though Gods will be never so wide and comprehensive yet it imposeth no necessitie upon mans will because all will by Gods creation is free and if it were not free it were no will Necessitie and will are incompatibilia they cannot stand together Nature and things without will are of a strait disposition therefore for them God hath ordained necessitie and determined them to one thing but mans will because it is the image of Gods will is wide and capacious and therefore he hath provided for it the ocean of contingencie He hath set fire and water before thee saith Ecclesiasticus stretch out thy hand unto which thou wilt Before man is life and death good and evil and whether him liketh shall be given him Now no man can justly complain while all things are set before him and he hath free choice to all Election expelleth necessitie and necessitie thrusteth out election If mans will were not free from necessitie then there could neither be merit nor demerit that is neither reward nor punishment and then the two great streams of Gods bountie and justice should be dried up but now he hath given to man free-will and to maintain this he hath ordained contingencie and added his grace to aid his will that there might be no defect on his part for freedome naturall to good Theologicall is not freedome but stubbornnesse without grace And this grace and goodnesse of God as it ordereth and aideth things naturall to their naturall ends so it ordereth and aideth man to his supernaturall end which is to live with his God in heaven And this goodnesse of grace is like to the vertuous magnet the most remarkable of all stones the guide of the diall and the direction for sea-travell for as the pin and needle of the diall being toucht with it the needle will stand no way but north and south so the heart of man being toucht with Gods grace in his regeneration will stand no way but to heaven-ward And this touch is that which Divines call the habit of charitie alwaies enclining and bending to heaven and heavenly things through all the rubs of the world Though the toucht needle for a while is shaken and justled from its former due station yet as soon as the shaking is over it returneth instantly to the same point right so though the heart be for a time justled either by the lust of the flesh or the lust of the eyes or the pride of life from its right standing yet as soon as the force is over presently it returneth to its former station to heaven-ward And the onely reason is the touch of Gods goodnesse in the regenerate soul to which above all things mans heart is beholding And this goodnesse proceedeth from the holy Ghost as truth proceedeth from the Sonne of God for as the Sonne is the Fathers essentiall truth so the holy Ghost is the Fathers and the Sonnes essentiall goodnesse And as the holy Ghost is the increate goodnesse of God in himself so love and charitie is the create goodnesse of the holy Ghost in man And untill this be wrought in us by the holy Spirit we may be men and true men but we cannot be good men nor for the kingdome of heaven Therefore S. Augustine saith Sola charitas dividit inter filios regni filios aeternae damnationis So excellent is charitie that God is called by it 1 John 4. 8. God is charitie And so good is it that Divines call it grace per Antonomasiam because it is the principall grace And S. Paul calleth it the greatest The greatest of these is charitie Yea so great is it that no good can be done without it because it is the cause impulsive of every good action You may beleeve without it but then your belief is not good because it wanteth his right end which must proceed from charities election and direction Therefore in this sense S. Paul gives faiths action to charitie It beleeveth all things it hopeth all things c. Why because it enliveneth faith and all other vertues by giving spirit unto them Faith is the candle to charitie and sheweth her light how to work according to Gods word but charitie being the impulse of the
world that we will stand up in the defence of it according to that of S. Paul Stand fast in the faith play the men and be strong The man that standeth is alwayes readie to resist his enemie but he that sitteth or lieth is a vantage to him according to the verse made of the devil Est leo si sedeat si stet quasi muscarecedit If man doth sit the devil will Lion be But if he stand the devil a Lion's he Standing therefore is the fittest and comeliest of all gestures for the professing of our faith and putting us in minde of being constant in it For as we stand in the faith so without the faith we cannot stand therefore the Apostle saith By faith ye stand Take away from man his faith and presently he falls Faith is a mans rock and as long as he stands upon it fall he cannot For this cause our Saviour called Simon Peter quasi Petra because his faith was his rock and against this he told him the gates of hell should not prevail Wherefore seeing our faith is so pleasing to God and so profitable to us we ought often to offer it to him in profession Next we shall do more reverently to stand up at the reading of the Psalmes before after and between the holy lessons and at Gloria Patri because in these we speak unto God and it is not good manners in a publick assembly to speak unto God sitting as if we were his fellows Lastly we are to stand up at the reading of the Gospel in regard of the authour of the speech which is our Lord Christ As also because they do alwaies historically declare something that our Saviour either spake did or suffered in his own person for us most miserable and wretched sinners Whereupon in token of greater reverence to our ever-blessed Redeemer it hath been the custome of Christian men and women to stand up and at the rehearsall of the Gospel to utter certain words of acclamation as Glorie be to thee O Lord and at the end thereof to say Thanks be to God for his glorious Gospel or the like But you will say You teach us to bowe to kneel and to stand up yet these are but outward ceremonies and humane civilities fitter for men then for Gods high holinesse of which you treat I answer that ceremonies and civilities to men when they are applied to God change their nature and become holinesse The reason whereof is because all actions are specified ab objecto fine as the School teacheth but in these acts of religion the object is God and his glorie their highest end next to which consequently follows mans reward Therefore it cannot be that these actions of the bodie accompanying those of the minde should from their end be otherwise then spirituall duties As S. Thomas of Aquine hath it Adoratio corporalis in spiritu fit in quantum à spirituali devotione procedit ad eam ordinatur quia per sensum Deum attingere non possumus per sensibilia tamen signa mens nostra provocatur in Deum ut tendat Bodily worship is performed in spirit inasmuch as it proceeds from spirituall devotion and is ordered to it And because by our sense we cannot attain unto God yet by sensible signes our minde is incited to tend towards him Thus you see these expressions be not onely outward but inward too For what makes thee to bowe to God in his Sanctuarie doth not thy soul set thy knee on work and what sets thy soul on work is it not faith and charitie the two principall graces of Gods Spirit How then should not this be holinesse which proceedeth from such holy roots The sixth office of holinesse is To come to the Sacrament with due preparation First in reconciling our selves to our neighbours where is cause of offence Secondly by coming in right faith with true understanding of the thing in discerning the Lords bodie Thirdly by coming in charitie because charitie is the life of our souls and the thing to be fed Fourthly to come fasting where men are able because S. Augustine saith Placet Spiritui sancto ut in honorem tanti Sacramenti priùs intret in os Christiani corpus Dominicum It pleaseth the holy Ghost that in honour of so great a Sacrament the Lords body should first enter into the mouth of a Christian. And S. Paul faulteth this among the Corinthians For every man when they should eat taketh his supper before and one is hungry and another is drunken He that was hungry was in good case but he that was drunken was not fit for the place Fifthly to receive it kneeling because to receive it sitting is to receive it as we receive our bodies supper yet is there a great difference between the one and the other the one being the food of our souls and received in the sanctuary and the other being the food of our bodies and eaten in private houses The 7 office of holinesse is To keep all the holy feasts of the Church and they which neglect this cut off a great part of Gods worship and lose all the holy lives and examples of the saints and divers mysteries of our salvation besides The lives of the saints are our looking glasses and the reason why we come so short of them in good life is because we do not see our sinnes in their lives and partake not of their holinesse For he which honoureth God with the saint is partaker of the saints holinesse So likewise they which come to Gods house upon the day of Christs nativity coming in faith and love as they ought are partakers of Christs birth they which come upon the day of his circumcision are with him circumcised from the dominion of the flesh they which come upon the day of purification are presented with him to his Father they which come upon Goodfriday are partakers of his precious death they which come upon Easter day are partakers of his glorious resurrection they which come upon Ascension day ascend with him in holy desires in present and hereafter shall ascend in person they which come upon Whitsunday shall partake of those white gifts that God bestowed upon his Church upon that day and they which come upon Trinity sunday shall enjoy the blessed Trinity of Father Sonne and holy Ghost So again they which come upon S. Stephens day are in affection partakers of his martyrdome and prepared for holy suffering they which come upon S. Johns day partake of S. Johns love and charity they which come upon Innocents day partake with them in their deaths for Christs cause they which come upon S. Michaels day shall enjoy the blessed Angels in their administration and they which come upon the day of All Saints shall be of that blessed number to stand with them on Christs right hand in the day of judgement and so of all the rest Thus in observing saints daies and in
reade of a sabbath of yeares that so there might be a moneth of yeares too and then am I confined Otherwise they make rules out of their own brain and adde unto Gods word The third prophesie of the durance of Antichrists reigne is by dayes Revel 11. which dayes are there expressed to be 1260. and these dayes they turn into so many yeares to serve their own turn Here again I require their rule They offer Gods direction to Ezekiel I have appointed thee each day for a yeare I reply God did not appoint Ezekiel this rule to be a generall rule to number by but to lie and sleep upon his left side and upon his right For because it had been too long for him to lie and sleep openly for a signe to the Israelites three hundred and ninety yeares on his left side and again to lie fourtie yeares on his right to signifie so many yeares of punishment according to the yeares of their sleeping in sinne because I say this had been too long a time if not impossible for the Prophet to make this signe therefore God for his ease appointed him a day for a yeare And because these dayes were not given to Ezekiel to number by but to signifie by therefore both Tremellius and Junius and our Geneva translatours upon the 8 of Daniel and 14 vers do not take dayes for yeares as Moulin others would have us but for naturall dayes where when the question was asked how long the vision of taking away of the daily sacrifice and the desolation and treading down should continue it was answered Unto the evening and morning two thousand and three hundred that is unto two thousand and three hundred dayes as it is in the Church-bible agreeing to that Gen. 1. 5 And the morning and the evening were the first day Now if these two thousand and three hundred evenings and mornings which make two thousand and three hundred dayes should be taken for two thousand and three hundred yeares as these men would have it the Universitie of Divines would cry shame upon it because it is palpably known that Antiochus by whom this abomination of desolation was set up and the holy citie troden under foot did not live the tenth part of these yeares Therefore our Geneva note upon this text saith honestly and truly that is untill so many naturall dayes be past which make six yeares three moneths and an half and with this Tremellius and Junius do for the most part agree expounding thus annos sex tres menses dies ferme octodecim Again in the last chapter of Daniel where is prophesied not of the whole time of treading down of the holy people as before but onely of the taking away of the daily sacrifice and setting up of the abomination of desolation which was the statue of Jupiter Olympius as we reade in 2. Mac. 6. 2. there is put down in the text a thousand two hundred and ninety dayes this Tremellius and Junius interpret anni tres menses septem dies quasi tredecim that is three yeares seven moneths and as it were thirteen dayes But if you shall number the thousand two hundred and ninetie dayes for a thousand two hundred and ninetie yeares then nothing will fit and then you must extend the abomination and desolation many hundred yeares after the death of Antiochus the text in the next verse being against it saying Blessed is he which waiteth and cometh to the thousand three hundred and thirty five dayes that is to say to fourty five dayes after as Tremellius and Junius interpret because Antiochus Epiphanes should then be dead and then Antiochus Eupator his sonne granted to the Jews full peace and free libertie of their religion as you may reade in 2. Mac. 11. 22. Which thing was done the same yeare that his father died in From these two examples out of Daniel the numbring of dayes for yeares to crosse the Fathers and to serve their private desires is found to be very false and that Ezekiels rule was peculiar to himself And from the last prophesie to the comfort of Christs people I observe that when Antichrist shall come his time shall not be long as is before declared by S. Augustine because under Antiochus the temple was profaned but 1290 dayes and in the Apocalyps it is prophesied that under Antichrist the court of the temple and the holy citie should be troden under foot but 42 moneths which are 30 dayes fewer And here it is worth the observing how neare Antiochus time over the Synagogue Christs time over the Church and Antichrists time in the end of the world do conspire in one all being about three yeares and a half as Scriptures have expressed and the learned computed But against this computation it is objected that if it be admitted to stand so neare to Christs coming to destroy Antichrist as in 2. Thess. 2. 8. is expressed then the day of Christs coming to judgement may be known which in Matth. 24. 36. is denied I answer This consequent is not good First because we have no warrant in Gods word when this account of yeares moneths and dayes is to begin wherefore the beginning being but conjecturall the end can be but conjecturall too and so nothing certain Secondly no Scripture hath revealed that the day of Christs coming shall be tangent to these three yeares and half as if it were to follow the next day after because the Gospel hath interjected certain signes and prodigies between Antichrists persecution and the end of the world saying And immediately after the tribulation of those dayes the sunne shall be darkened and the moon shall not give her light and the starres shall fall from heaven and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken And then shall appeare the signe of the Sonne of man To return to the demonstration of Antichrist one man this is further proved from the name Antichrist which signifieth an opposite to Christ. Now a sect or kingdome is not so proper an opposite to Christ as one person is opposite to another Should the opposition be in a kingdome or sect then the Mahometicall kingdome and the sect of Arius should be the Antichrist because these principally oppose Christ in denying him to be God But the Fathers understand Antichrist of one man opposite to Christ in person and qualities in whom shall inhabit the devils malice and nature corporally as in Christ doth inhabit the Godhead corporally Thus properly shall person be opposite to person one Christ one Antichrist The description of Antichrist Vers. 3. And that man of sinne be revealed that sonne of perdition who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God or that is worshipped so that he doth sit as God in the temple of God shewing himself that he is God These words are the description of Antichrist in which as in a table ye may see his stature complexion and portraiture
solus habebat enim secum quam habebat in semetipso rationem suam By reason he meaneth his intellect And further he had not onely with him then his intellect or understanding but he had also with him his will so in all there were three the Father Sonne and holy Ghost to which three the world and all things that now are were then present in their idea's But to return to Gods eternitie this must be a life because it is life that maketh things to last Therefore Boëtius thus defineth it Aeternitas est vitae interminabilis tota simul perfecta possessio Eternitie is the possession of an unterminable life whole together This life must have no term for if it should then God could not be God because then either the previver or the surviver would carrie it away If any thing had been before God then that previver had been God or if any thing should be after him then the surviver would inherit Wherefore it follows that that which is alwayes must be God and so his life subject to no term And this eternitie of God is expressed unto us in holy Scripture two wayes privatively and positively Privatively in Melchizedech Christs figure who in Heb. 7. 3. is said to have neither beginning of dayes nor end of life but is likened to the Sonne of God and continueth a priest for ever This is thus said of him not simpliciter absoluté but respectivé because he was but a figure and not the substance of eternitie And it is said of him so for that neither the beginning of his dayes nor the end of his life is in holy Scripture discovered but this is absolutely and simply true in the Sonne of God because he was before the day was he was before the creation when there was no distinction of time and he shall be after the worlds dissolution when there shall be no more time according to that of the angel in Apocalyps 10. 6. who sware by him that liveth for ever that time should be no more for then time shall be turned into eternitie Therefore he which was before the day and before time and shall be after the day and after time he which hath neither beginning nor ending must needs be eternall Positively he is in Apocalyps called Alpha and Omega the beginning and the ending the first and the last If he be the first then nothing was before him and if he be the last then nothing shall be after him And from hence it followeth because it is absolutely spoken that he is Principium sine principio Finis sine fine as the School speaketh But in 1. Thess. 5. 10. it is said that we also shall live together with him therefore we also shall be eternall It is answered that our life is not eternall absoluté but participativé because if we should not live with Christ we should not live eternally Again mans eternitie is but half an eternitie because it is not vita interminabilis For though mans life shall have no end by enjoying Christ yet it had a beginning at its first being Lastly where Boëtius saith that eternall life is simul tota the whole together this sheweth that it hath no partition nor passion neither of youth nor age And the image of this eternitie is the sphere of the heavens which hath no fracture in beginning or ending but is all whole within it self so that you cannot say Here it begins or here it ends from whence ariseth the axiom in Schools Spherica figura est perfectissima Gods eternitie is not like our lower world for it hath neither orient nor occident spring nor autumne youth nor age but his life is all of one vigour his life and durance is simul tota he hath neither praeteritum nor futurum but his ever-present esse From hence is this comfortable consectarie that though it be an impossibilitie for any creature to adequate God in his eternitie yet he hath ordained all his sonnes in Christ to partake of it by living with him eternally This is the Christians summum bonum their last rest their verum delectabile Aeterno omnipotenti Deo laus gloria in secula seculorum AMEN A TREATISE Shewing the Antichrist not to be yet come Out of the 2. Chapter of the second Epistle to the Thessalonians 1. Now we beseech you brethren by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and by our gathering together unto him 2. That ye be not soon shaken in minde or be troubled neither by spirit nor by word nor by letter as from us as that the day of Christ were at hand WHen S. Paul that blessed Apostle had in his former epistle taught the Thessalonians the doctrine of the resurrection the foundation of our faith and hope in Christ it may seem some busie spirits stirred up by the enemie of mankinde had gone about to weaken this strong foundation to the future and finall subversion thereof by adding false doctrine unto it Whereas he had taught them the certaintie of our resurrection they would confine it to a short time The devil their schoolmaster made this project that if the Thessalonians might be perswaded of the soon coming of Christ then when they should be frustrate of their expectation they might make doubt of their faith from doubt fall to despair and so their foundation should by degrees be shaken and in the end turn to nothing And from hence are to spring the mockers in S. Peters second epistle and third chapter saying Where is the promise of his coming for since the fathers died all things continue alike from the beginning of the creation Now whereas this project of Satan was so fatall to the subversion of our faith the blessed Apostle as in cases of weightiest importance compoundeth a prayer mixt with an adjuration to binde the Thessalonians from this wrong conceit First he prayeth them We beseech you brethren next he adjureth them by the coming of our Lord and by our gathering together unto him The first is the period of our expectation the second the consummation of our happinesse by both these he beseecheth and adjureth them that they would not hastily look for the day of Christ nor designe to themselves the time of his coming because this was not expedient for them as he insinuateth in the fifth chapter of his first epistle And to the end they might flee this main inconvenience first he exhorteth them to constancie that they would not be shaken in minde nor troubled that is that they would make no doubt of this doctrine because he that doubteth shaketh in faith and after shaking comes ruine and falling and after perturbation of minde follows confusion of minde which is the subversion of all the senses Next he forewarns them of three kindes of imposture or cozenage that is by spirit by word by writing By spirit men cozen when they father false doctrine upon the spirit by word when they
feoffe it upon true doctrine and by writing when they forge a letter and put another mans name unto it Now denying the proceeding of impostours by these three he utterly barres the Thessalonians from admitting this false doctrine that Christs coming was then at hand And therefore he adjoyneth this generall to these particulars Let no man deceive you by any means Though they prophesie in the spirit though they preach out of the pulpit though they shew a letter signed as it were with mine own hand yet beleeve it not according to the like monition Gal. 1. 8. Though we or an angel from heaven preach unto you otherwise then that which we have preached unto you let him be accursed The two antecedents of Christs coming For that day shall not come except there come a falling away first and that man of sinne be revealed the sonne of perdition The Apostle having bound the Thessalonians from the hasty expectation of Christs coming now he gives them two infallible antecedents which must go before so that till these be come Christ may not come and when both these are come then the time which we look for must be at hand so saying our Saviour When ye see all these things know that the kingdome of God is neare even at the doores The first antecedent is the falling away the second and last is the uncovering of the man of sinne These two by reason of congruitie must go before for before these two parts be acted how should Christ come to judgement Cuique sua est tempestas saith Ecclesiastes Every thing must have his time Before Christ can judge the deficient they must have a time to fall away in before Christ can crown the constant they must have a time to be tried in before Christ can fight with his adversarie his adversarie must first shew himself and come into the field so there must be a world before there can be an end of the world besides in generation there is privation ever before form therefore in the breeding of Antichrist before the end defection must precede The falling away Whereas the first antecedent is a falling away we must enquire what is meant by this 'T is not a falling away from the Romane empire as some have imagined for what hath Christ empire to do with the Romane empire but it is a falling away from the faith of the Gospell it is the greatest defection that can be because it is a falling from Christ to the breeding of Antichrist Thus S. Paul expoundeth himself in 1. Tim. 4. 1. Now the Spirit speaketh evidently that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith He saith some because all shall not But that this some shall be the greatest some our Saviour sheweth in the Gospel by an interrogation But when the Sonne of man cometh shall he finde faith on the earth Defection spirituall is like a river the further it runneth the greater it groweth therefore the fittest time for the great Antichrist is the last time Where the falling away is Next the question is where this apostasie is to be found in what part of the world whether in the east church or in the west church Let us search the new Testament and see if we can finde any thing for it there First the Gospel was preached to the Jews many embraced it at the first as we reade in the Gospel but now they be all gone from it looking for a new Messias Where is the Church of the Corinthians the Church of the Galatians the Church of the Ephesians the Church of the Philippians the Church of the Colossians the Church of the Thessalonians to all which S. Paul wrote what is become of the twelve tribes to which Saint James wrote and whither are gone the seven great Churches of Asia to whom S. John wrote All these East Churches founded by the scripture are fallen from Christ and become Mahometans and Nestorians Their falling away was prophesied by S. John in the 2 of the Revelation The Church of the Ephesians was challenged for leaving their first love and were threatned with the removing of their candlestick if they did not repent The Church of Pergamos was challenged for maintaining the doctrine of Balaam the doctrine of the Nicolaitans and was threatned to be fought against with the sword of Christs mouth The Church of Thyatira was charged for suffering of Jezebel to deceive the people and was threatned to be cast into a bed of affliction The Church of Sardis was challenged for being then dead or at least a dying and was threatned to be come upon as a thief comes unexpectedly The Church of the Laodiceans was challenged for that they were neither hot nor cold but luke-warm and were threatned to be spewed out of Christs mouth All these with all the Churches of Africa as lamentable experience proveth a long time ago are gone in denying Christ totally and in receiving of circumcision the mark of the beast Therefore here that is in these Churches of the east which at this day are all under the great Turk this apostasie of which S. Paul speaketh of necessitie must be understood Thus the Church which rose in the east like the moon in the firmament is going down in the west expecting Christs coming Then from this great defection let us acquit Christendome whether they be Papists Protestants or Lutherans because though there be some differences amongst us in ceremonies and expositions which destroy not yet still our head Christ by Baptisme standeth upon our bodie and the substance of the Gospel is entire and whole amongst us by retaining the articles of the faith the volume of the new Testament and the practise thereof by faith and good life But where Baptisme is removed there is perfect apostasie because there the head is cut off from the body And this is contrarie to the commission of our Saviour Matth. 28. 19. The authours of the falling away To proceed in this point next it is expedient to know the authours of this defection how long it hath continued and who is the upholder of it For the first we finde that the first authour was the arch-heretick Arius who as we reade in S. Austine held the Sonne of God to be a creature and the holy Ghost to be the creature of a creature Hence he is called of S. Hilarius Principium Antichristi the beginning of Antichrist and in the Councell of Sardis he is named 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a fighter with Christ. The second authour was the heretick Nestorius who affirmed Christ to be onely man And he was termed Ecclesiae incendium the firebrand of the Church as we reade in Socrates and officina blasphemiarum the shop-house of blasphemies as we reade in Euagrius The third and last authour was the false prophet Mahomet who by the help of Sergius the Nestorian Monk forged his Alcoran in which as in the sink of heresies is contained