8. and 1. Cor. cited before Epiph. Haer. 67. addes hereunto auctorities which make the case most cleere especially for the Infants of the faithfull as that in Psal 145.9 His tender mercies are over all his workes and Matth. 21.16 Out of the mouth of Babes and Sucklings hast thou perfected thy prayse Matt. 19.14 Of such is the Kingdome of Heaven and argues that although the Children of Bethlehem had not knowledge of Him for whom they suffered yet can it not bee but that they should bee partakers of glory for His sake for whom they suffered Hereto you may take that in Matth. 18.14 It is not the will of your Father which is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish 3. But the Doctors square most about them that lived both to know and to doe both good and ill For some thinke that all such must come into judgement for all their workes their words and thoughts But others say that neither the Infidells because hee that beleeveth not is condemned already Iohn 3.18 nor among the beleevers they that are perfect shall come into judgement because there is nothing in them for which they should be condemned But if the infidells never heard how could they beleeve Rom. 10.17 and is there any among the beleevers that can say his heart is cleane Therefore the great businesse in the judgement will be as they suppose about them that knew God and loved in His Religion whose workes good and bad being examined and compared together if the good be moe and over-ballance the bad the doers shall be justified unto eternall life but if the ill deeds exceed they shall be condemned to punishment This seemes to bee the judgement of Lactantius lib. 7. cap. 20. to whom as syding with him Iohn Voss De extr Iud. Pte 1. Thess 4. writes Ierom August Greg. the Greate and Isidore of Sivil But Lactantius hath many things concerning the worlds restoring and the last judgement which to many of this age would seeme strange which perhaps wee may see hereafter Ierom and Augustine are by and by brought by him into the number of them that thinke that all sinnes indifferently shall be brought into judgement though not by way of enquirie or examination yet of condemnation as Ierom speakes impios negatores non judicabit sed arguet condemnatos And thus you see how the Saints already have judged the world But let us see how farre it is fit to approve or reprove their judgment § 2. Sect. 2 First concerning the faithfull in Christ because they as I said before § 3. num 5. at the houre of their death are admitted into a degree of everlasting happinesse and are put in the full assurance of the perfection thereof at the resurrection of their bodies their sinnes are assuredly pardoned and the pardon by those graces is sealed unto them And after their sinnes fully pardoned to bring them againe into remembrance at the generall judgement seemes too inconvenient Therefore they shall be partakers of that blessing which is Iohn 5.24 never to come into judgement And Psal 32. verse 1.2 that their sinnes shall be forgiven fullie covered and no way imputed untothem and in this respect are they equall unto the Angels because their sinnes shall be forgotten as cast into the botome of the Sea but the good deeds which God hath wrought in them and by them shall be remembred that they may be rewarded and thus far wee follow the Doctors But because their judgements are otherwayes contrary to the rule which is 1. Cor. 4.5 Iudge nothing before the time untill the Lord come who will both bring to light the hidden things of darknesse and will make manifest the Counsells of the hearts Let us first see what the Scripture faith of the infidells whom they so cast away as that they hold them not fit to be judged then let us looke on that which they speake concerning the comparison of good and ill workes together for eternall life or eternall punishment 1 For the first it is manifest by Saint Paul that the workes of the Gentiles whom they call infidells shall come into judgement where hee saith Rom. 2. verse 14 15 16. That the Gentiles doing by nature the things contained in the Law shew the worke of the Law written in their hearts their conscience bearing witnesse and their thoughts accusing or excusing them in the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Iesus Christ Now this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 this written word of the Law is the knowledge of sinne Rom. 3.20 And seeing every man whether Christian Iew or Gentile hath the knowledge of sinne in himselfe therefore is every mouth stopped thereby and all the world is become guilty before God and consequently subject to judgement as Saint Iude saith verse 14. and 15. Behold the Lord commeth to execute judgement upon all and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deedes and of all their hardspeeches 2. Moreover seeing wee doe not put all sinnes to be equall as the Stoicks but doe beleeve and know that the Iudge of all the world will doe right and that the greater sinnes shall have the sorer punishment if all the Gentiles or insidells bee not equally sinners it is necessary that the award of their punishment and so the execution thereof be also different and unequal as it is said That every one shall receive the things done in his body according to that hee hath done whether it bee good or ill Vpon which ground wee may safely conclude against them of the contrary opinion that every mans deeds of what Nation or sect soever hee bee except before excepted and especially the deeds of the reprobate shall bee particularly examined that the cause of their condemnation may appeare to be most just 3. Thus our Lord speaks of the Queene of the South and the men of Ninive that shall rise in judgement and condemne that hard-hearted generation thus of Tyre and Sidon that should more favourably be dealt with then those wicked Cities where his glorious miracles being wrought had no power to turne them unto God But no such condemnation of the one by the other can be but by comparison of their workes Therefore the workes of the Infidels must come into iudgement That which they bring for proofe that the Heathen shall not be judged in His sight hath no sure ground as that in Psalm 1. The wicked shall not rise againe in the judgement as the greeks translated 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Lo Yakyma 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which had beene better 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Kom here signifies not onely to arise but to stand firme and sure as they that are risen and stand upright So the meaning is They shall not stand or be established that is not justified in the judgement So they bring that in the third of Iohn verse 18. He that beleeveth not
of the ordinary means which in the Church is the Word read and preached and the Sacraments by which all men are called to repentance and faith in Christ which if they refuse their condemnation is just Also out of the visible Church nature calls in a softer voyce upon all nations and people of the world and upon every one in particular to feare God and to give Him glory which made the heaven and the earth and all therein And moreover the light of every mans conscience accusing or excusing him for those things which he doth contrary or according thereto is the witnesse of God in every mans heart to excuse or condemne him And in respect of these meanes God may be said to will that all men should be saved in that he doth offer his mercy to all and call upon them to turne unto Him that they might be saved if they want not grace to accept it Object 4. The want of that is not imputed to any man which is onely in the power of another to give and seeing that without repentance faith hope and perseverance in vertue no man can attaine to happinesse which vertues of repentance c. are onely in God to give as the Prophet saith Lam. 3.21 Turne Thou us unto thee ô Lord and so shall wee bee turned it may seeme that the want of these things ought not to be imputed to any man Answere If any man refuse a good thing when it is offered the want of that shall be imputed to himselfe as to the wicked that saith to God Depart from us for wee desire not the knowledge of thy wayes Iob 21.14 and these are they whom God is said to harden because they have hardened their owne hearts through the custome of sinne that they cannot repent Therefore though the predestinate that the mercy of God may appeare are conuerted by the inward and effectuall calling their hearts being renewed by repentance to follow him that calleth yet that the order of Iustice may be observed they that forsake their owne mercy are still left to the punishment of their sinne both originall and actuall because they neglect the outward calling and wilfully shut their eyes against the light of their naturall knowledge and conscience See Rom. 9.21 c. And according to this sence is it that in Scripture the hardning of man in sinne and the preseruing man from sinne seemes to be attributed to God both wayes as where he is said to harden Pharaohs heart and to Abimelech a Gen. 20.6 I have kept thee from sinning against me § 2. Sect. 2 And thus it being manifest what this holy Church is and of what persons it doth consist it followes first to proove that there is such a Catholike Church as wee say wee doe beleeve to bee then to see the differences which are betweene this Catholike Church and other particular Churches and Congregations 1 If there were not a number of holy people which God hath chosen unto eternall life then the end of Christs sufferings for us were all in vaine and the whole race of mankind should have beene created onely to destruction So the mercy of God toward His creature that had sinned should be without effect Neither should His glory be magnified in saving that which was lost So the devill the enemy of mankind might magnifie himselfe against God in that he had destroyed His creature irrecoverably But all these things are impossible Therefore there is a holy Church chosen of God unto eternall life And if this holy Church in the parts or members thereof had not continued in all ages since God made His promise of a Savior to Adam then faith had fail'd from among men and the promises of God being either not beleeved or forgotten the sons of God begotten by the immortall seed had failed So the throne of Christ when there was no faithfull heart wherein He reigned should not have beene established for ever contrary to the promise Psalm 89. ver 4 29 36. and Luke 1. ver 33. So the seed of the enemy onely had flourished in the earth contrary to the disposition of that wise husbandman Matth 13.30 Let both grow together untill the haruest But these things are impossible Therefore the holy Church is also Catholike or continuing from the beginning to the end of the world For your better understanding you may take these arguments apart 2. If the goodnesse of God being essentially one with His infinity were not diffusive or spreading it selfe upon the creature for the succour and aid thereof in the greatest misery then should it be exceeded by the malice and wickednes of the devill which though it be the greatest that may be yet must it needs be finite as having the originall from a finite creature But it is impossible that God should be exceeded by the malice of the devill therefore there is a restoring of man to that blessednesse and glory from which he fell by his sinne as you have seene it prooved before in the 18. Chapter and from all the reasons there brought to that conclusion you may bring reasons for the proofe of this Article 3. If man were created according to the will of God innocent and without sinne then that present estate of sinne and death the punishment thereof wherein he now is must needs have beene brought upon him since his creation contrary to the revealed will of God wherein though for the declaration of the justice of God against sinne some be suffered to continue yet because sinne is contrary to the will of God and death contrary to the end of His creation of mankind it is necessary that there be a redemption or freeing of some appointed thereunto from the thraldome both of sin and death But it hath beene prooved Chap. 15. that man was created innocent Therefore there is a Church or a number knowne unto God of them that are so redeemed 4. There is a God who hath made His promises of everlasting life There is faith hope and repentance and other vertues both Christian and morall whereby the promises of God are apprehended and obedience performed to His Commandements Therefore there is a holy Catholike Church For it is impossible either that the promises of God should faile of their performance or that faith and other vertues should be without their reward For so the Spirit of grace which wrought these vertues in man should worke in vaine But this is impossible 5. This holy Catholike Church is declared in sundry places of the holy Scripture and in special according to all the causes thereof in the Epistle to the Ephes 4. chap. 1. from vers 2. to 15. And although Saint Paul in that place write to a particular Church yet is the Catholike Church no other than such as is there described no more then the Brittish or Spanish Seas are different from the great Ocean either in substance or qualities For there is but one body and one Spirit one Lord one faith
truenesse of his Religion because he finds no familiar reason to perswade but onely the racke of authorities to constraine him to acknowledge it may perhaps bee hereby satisfied and finde comfort and that they who are already strong may by this overplus triumph in the goodnesse of God who requires them to beleeve no more then they may by that understanding which hee hath given them bee perswaded of I have for their sakes who may reape benefit thereby neglected all froward Censurers not guilty unto my selfe of any offence which I can commit in making it publike Such as it is accept kinde Sir as a parcell of that assertion which may hereafter follow of every Article of our Christian faith if God shall vouchsafe me understanding leisure and maintenance thereto I therefore offer it unto you both because I know you are diligent in reading of bookes of good argument and because I have none other meanes whereby to shew my selfe thankefull for your manifold kindnesses and your love London this 20. of April 1601. Your loving and assured friend A. G. THE TREATISE THough many things discouraged mee to write unto you of this Argument in such sort as I intend considering that neither your daily reading of the Scripture neither the perswasion of learned Divines can moove you to accord unto the truth though by manifest testimony of Scripture they conuince your heresie and most of all that God hath left you to beleeve that lying spirit of Antichrist who denyeth that Iesus is that Christ Yet neverthelesse having some hope that God of His goodnesse will at last pull you as a brand out of the fire and quench you with the dew of His grace that you may grow in the knowledge of His Sonne I will as briefly as I can lay downe some few reasons of that faith which every one that will be saved must hold Whereby if I perswade you nothing yet shall I obtain thus much that you who neither beleeved His word nor yet opened your eyes to see the light of reasonable understanding shall at last confesse that His word and judgments are holy and true But before I come to the point let me first perswade you that although the knowledge of the holy Trinity be one of the most high mysteries which can be knowne or beleeved and that it is the only worke of the Holy-Ghost to worke this faith and knowledge in the heart of man yet neverthelesse God hath not left us destitute of meanes whereby to come to this faith and knowledge but hath also with His word given us a reasonable soule and understanding whereby to grow in the knowledge of Himselfe and His will For when Adam was created he had given unto him all perfect knowledge meete for him Now God who created the world for no other purpose then the manifestation of His owne glory might not leave that creature without understanding of the Godhead who being by nature and creation the most excellent in this visible world was made for that purpose especially above all other to set foorth His praise and to call on Him Now how could he doe this if he knew Him not But I thinke that seeing it is said that man was created in the jmage of God you will not deny that man before his fall had much more perfect understanding of the Godhead then it is possible for him to have till he come to know even as he is known but that by sin you may say this knowledge was lost not lost but corrupted only even as mans will For then it should follow that we were inferior to bruit beasts who have in them a sensible knowledge meete for that end whereto they were created Furthermore it is not possible that mans sinne should frustrate the end which God intended in His creation but it is manifest that man was created to know and honour the Creator Againe seeing in Christ all things consist he being ordained of the Father before all worlds in whom the world should be both created and restored It is plaine that this light of our understanding both proceedeth from Him and is restored in Him as it is said Iohn 1. He is that light that lightneth euery man that cometh into the world not onely His chosen with knowledge of His saving trueth but even generally every man with reasonable understanding whereby we may know whatsoever is to bee knowne of God and how even by the workes of God as it is plainely concluded Rom. 1 19 20. Therefore are they not to bee heard who hold any thing without the compasse of Faith which is without the compasse of Knowledge For Faith ought so to be grounded on Knowledge as Hope is grounded upon Faith So that as Faith Hebr. 11.1 is said to bee 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an eviction or proofe of things hoped for though they be not seene so may I say that Knowledge is the proofe of things which are beleeved For Faith is nothing else but the Conclusion of a particular Syllogisme drawne from the Conclusion of an universall which the knowledge of God had concluded as it is manifest Iam. 2.19 and Hebr. 11.3 By conference of which two places it appeareth that this knowledge of which I speake this Historicall Faith as to beleeve that there is one God which made all things of nought is onely such a knowledge as the devils and wicked men have but to beleeve and have confidence in this God is that particular conclusion and that faith which causeth us to have hope in His promises Therefore said Christ Have Faith in God that is strive to know God that knowing you may have faith and beleeve in Him And wee see that in these things where a bare faith without knowledge might seeme to be most required because as a man would thinke there were no reason to be given of them namely concerning the maintenance of this life and the resurrection to the life to come both Christ and His Apostles use no other reasons but such as every reasonable man may easily bee perswaded by though authorities of Scripture were not wanting to both purposes as it is manifest Matth. 6. and 1. Cor. 15. Yea Paul at Athens or wheresoever hee perswaded the worship of the true God among the Gentiles hee perswaded not by authoritie of Scripture which amongst them had beene very weake but by such arguments as they knew to bee sufficient even in themselues If these things were not so how then could the Gentiles which knew not the Scriptures be without excuse for their ignorance of God Therefore I conclude that there is nothing which is beleeved but it may also be knowen Now knowledge we know is ingendered by such principles as have trueth in them the which is evident of it selfe So that by plaine and reasonable understanding a man may know whatsoever he beleeveth You will say To what purpose then serue the Scriptures I answere That God infinite in goodnesse hath together with this
sacrae et ratter is Psal 87.1 Foundations as that it only is able only worthy to binde the conscience of a reasonable man whereas all other religions or rather false worships although examined in themselves onely by their owne principles are found to be false and against common sense what triumph is this of a Christian over all Heathens and misbeleevers that will they nill they if they will bee men and stand to reason they must confesse that the Christian religion is onely true And seeing the world hath beene called to the marriage of the Kings Son Luc. 14.16 c. First by the voyce of nature declaring the wisdome and power of God in the creature and that they that were so called would not come because their mindes were set on earthly things Secondly by the Law but the Iew who sought righteousnesse by the Law would try what his five yoke of oxen that is his keeping of the Ceremoniall Law contained in the five bookes of Moses could doe and so would be excused Thirdly by the Gospell but the carnall Gospeller and false Christian could not come because he is marryed to pleasure and worldly lusts what remaines but that they who are yet strangers and walke in the broad wayes of sinne and the by-paths of their owne inventions should by reason that servant of God bee compelled to come in And seeing the time cannot bee farre off that all the nations of the earth are to bee called to the knowledge of Christ For great shall his name be from the rising of the Sunne to the going downe of the same Psal 103.3 What hinders that the truth of Christ bee taught according to common reason whereto every man doth listen For it cannot bee but that all Idolatry and false worship all heresies and dissentions about Religion must then cease when the truth is taught in the evidence of that Spirit whereby every man is guided For as God made man reasonable so doth hee command nothing to bee done which in true reason is not the best nor require any thing to bee beleeved which in true reason is not most true You will say is there no difference then betweene faith and reason yes very great For Reason is busied in the proofe of some generall conclusion which is to bee held for a truth and so received of every man but faith is the application of that conclusion to a mans owne selfe As if it be concluded that because Christ being so conceived and so borne had no sin and therefore he suffered not death for himselfe but to save them that should beleeve on him faith applies this generall conclusion thus but I doe beleeve and therefore I shall be saved Now this application is not made by reason but by the speciall instruction of the Spirit of God in the heart of the beleever although it were inferred upon such a conclusion as was proved by reason I have not endevoured herein to heap up arguments by numbers but by weight and therfore have Ilet passe all reasons from forrein autority and all that were but likely onely and of small importance neither have I brought any one but such as seemed to mee sufficient of it selfe to confirme the question The reasons here used are for the most part from the goodnesse power wisdome and other dignities of God because the questions are concerning the things of God and no arguments can be of greater force and more immediate then such as are drawne from the verie being or immediate properties of the things in question they are handled by necessities and impossibilities to shew that all things that are and are not stand for the truth of the promises of God to us that by all meanes wee might have strong hope and comfort in Christ And though I sometimes bring one argument for divers conclusions yet it is not therefore of lesse force no more than a good toole is of lesse worth because it serves for divers uses I have studied for plainenes as much as I may and therfore have I sometimes handled the same reason both affirmatively and negatively that he that cannot take it with one hand might hold it with the other for that purpose also are divers reasons brought though all satisfying as I thinke yet perhaps all of every one not equally understood but he that understands all may upon these grounds or the like bring many other to the same purpose and give glorie to that infinite mercy which hath so fortified this glorious truth which hee hath bound us to beleeve with such walles bulwarkes ravelings and counterscarpes of reason that all the power of hell all the batterye of Atheists Turkes Iewes and other adversaries shall never bee able to overcome it And because a little light is soone lost if dispersed as in the Starres called Nebulosae and those of endlesse number and distance in the milkie way I have proposed the reasons together in as short and few words as I can that the light of the reason may more easilie appeare For oftentimes while men desire to enlarge themselves the reason vanishes into words The autorities of the sacred Text I bring as need is that the Christian may see whence the Article of faith in question is taken and whereon it is grounded and that in the proofe thereof I bring no other doctrine than the holy Scripture doth reach Let no man carrie my words or meaning awry for although in this search of causes and reasons other conclusions offered themselves yet I held it not meet to propose any other things than the holy Church of old thought fit to be held as sufficient for the saving faith of Christians conteined in the Creed which is called the Apostles as being gathered from their writings and that according to that order as it is therein delivered yet with such prefaces and notes as the necessitie of the things did drive me unto leaving those other things to the higher speculation of them whom God shall vouchsafe to enlighten for their further progresse from faith to faith from knowledge to knowledge till all the holie Church come to bee partakers of those things new and old that are kept for her in store when she shall come unto the fulnesse of the measure of the age of Christ that is the perfect knowledge of all those things which our Lord in his time taught his Disciples who were not able then to beare them till they had received the light of the holy Spirit from above If any man learned bee pleased to read in this booke let him forgive me the harshnesse of my speech being to teach the unlearned in English a language not taught that nicetie of words whereby to expresse the difference of things which I easilie hope he will doe because hee knowes that the infinite differences of things do much exceed the sharpnesse of our understanding and yet the subtiltie of mans understanding doth goe farre beyond the rudenesse and scarcitie of all words
devills also shall be saved at last But because it is not fit in this grammar of Christian Religion to trouble the vulgar eares with paradoxes you may perhaps find this question handled in that booke which is intituled Arithmetica sacra In the meane time he shall further me much therein that shall truely teach me the true and uttermost meaning of the Iubile ARTICLE VIII ⧠I beleeve in the Holy-Ghost CHAP. XXXIII § 1. THe word Ghost in English our true speech is as much as athem or breath in our new Latine language a Spirit The metaphoricall use of it as it signifies a qualitie as wee say the Spirit of meeknesse of jealousie of pride or that spirit of 7. devills which troubles and overturnes the state of the world which God doth hate above all other Psal 10.3 I meane the spirit of covetousnesse hath no place here nor yet the word spirit as it may meane any being elementall as we speake of the winde or any subtile steame raised from a moist body nor yet as it signifies those created ethereall spirits which wee call Angels but onely as our Lord speakes Iohn 4.24 God is a Spirit which as it is spoken of the God-head essentially so heere wee confesse that wee beleeve in the Holy-Ghost or Spirit that third Person in the glorious Trinity our God our Sanctifier our Comforter eternally one with the Father and the Sonne unto whose faith and service onely wee are baptized as our Saviour commanded Matth. 28.19 Goe teach all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father the Sonne and of the Holy-Ghost As fast as our heavy-footed reason can follow our faith I have in the 10 11 and 12. Chapter and Notes thereon already shewed the distinct substances of the three Person in the unity of their essence so that it seemes there is nothing in this place needfull to that point but onely to bring those Scriptures which doe directly prove the God-head of the Holy-Ghost and that Hee doth proceede from the Father and the Sonne For the first you may take these Texts 1. Iohn 5.7 There are three that beare witnesse in heaven the Father the Word and the Holy Spirit and these three are one Actes 5.3.4 Why hath Satan fill'd thy heart that thou shouldest lie unto the Holy-Ghost Thou hast not lyed unto men but unto God Mark 3.29 He that shall blaspheme against the Holy-Ghost hath never forgivenesse but is in danger of eternall damnation Therefore the Holy-Ghost is God Take hereto texts brought Chap. 11. § 3. num 9. By all which Scriptures it is manifest that the Holy-Ghost is God coessentiall with the Father and the Sonne and therefore to be worshipped and glorified with the same glory with them And that He doth proceed from the Father and the Sonne these texts doe make it plaine Iohn 15.26 When the Comforter is come whom I will send unto you from the Father even the Spirit of trueth which proceedeth from the Father Hee will testifie of mee And Iohn 16.7 If I depart I will send the Comforter unto you Rom. 8.9 He is called the Spirit of God and the Spirit of Christ. Gal. 4.6 Because yee are sonnes God hath sent the Spirit of His Sonne into your hearts crying Abba Father See Rev. 5.6 and Iohn 20.22 Hee breathed on them and said Receive ye the Holy-Ghost By which it is manifest that the Holy-Ghost proceedeth from Him And this is that Holy Spirit that dwelleth in us and that not onely by His graces and gifts in us nor onely as God every where present that worketh all in all but also as in those Temples which He hath sanctified for His perpetuall dwelling as it is said 1. Cor. 6.19 Know yee not that your bodie is the temple of the Holy-Ghost which is in you Neither doth the Holy-Ghost onely dwell with them whom He hath sanctified unto Himselfe but together with Him both the Father and the Son as it is said Iohn 14.16 I will pray the Father and Hee shall give you another comforter even the Spirit of trueth that Hee may abide with you for ever And againe verse 23. If a man love mee hee will keepe my wordes and my Father will love him and wee will come unto him and make our abode with him And thus is the Tabernacle of God with men and thus doth He dwell among them Therefore let us remember that precept Eph. 4.30 Not to grieve that Holy Spirit by our willfull sinnes whereby wee are sealed to the day of redemption For if any man defile the Temple of God him will God destroy 1. Cor. 3.17 This is the seale and pledge of our eternall hope For if the spirit of Him that raised up Iesus from the dead doth dwell in us He shall also quicken our mortall bodies by His Spirit that dwelleth in us as I shewed more fully Chap. 17. § 4. num 2. Neither indeed were it any assurance of hope or comfort to know and beleeve that God the Father created all things by Iesus Christ and that Christ the Sonne of God died for the sinnes of men for so much the devills acknowledge except wee did also know and beleeve that the fruite and effect of that redemption did belong to every beleever in particular and that in the eternall purpose of God wee were created unto this hope And this faith and knowledge is wrought in us only by the Holy-Ghost as you may read Iohn 16.13.14 and Eph. 1. from verse 17. to the end Neither yet could wee have sure consolation in this witnesse of the Holy-Ghost unto our hearts except wee did certainely know that this Holy-Ghost which witnesseth these things unto us were God who cannot lie Whereof wee have full proofe by those graces which Hee worketh in us as first the knowledge of the trueth then faith to beleeve it then as living water doth he wash our consciences from sinne then as another Evangelist speaketh doth Hee as fire inflame our hearts with the love of God a hatred of sinne and a desire to walke in newnesse of life and although wee be daily assaulted by the world and the devill to whom wee are often betrayed by our owne wicked imagination ye doth He not forsake us for ever but when wee see our selves to have no strength of our selues to stand in the least temptation and so have learned not to trust in our selves but in the living God and to desire His helpe then doth He returne and comfort us in all the troubles of our mind and even in death it selfe makes us more than conquerors Oh what is man that thou shouldest take such tender care of Him or the sonne of sinfull flesh that thou shouldest so visit him Now it is impossible that any created Spirit at one time in all places of the world and that ever since God created man upon the earth even unto the last man that shall be borne should worke these different effects in the hearts of all Gods children
concludes Rom. 8.18 That the afflictions which are of this present life are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall bee revealed For those things which God hath prepared for them that love Him are such as neither eye hath seene nor eare hath heard neither have they entred into the heart of man to conceive 1 Cor. 2.9 And concerning the assurance of this joy let the same mind be in us which was in Saint Paul Rom. 8.38 39. I am perswaded that neither death nor life nor Angels nor principalities nor powers nor things present nor things to come nor height nor depth nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Iesus our Lord. For it is just with God to give unto His Sonne having fully satisfied His justice for the sinne of man to give to His Sonne I say according to the merit of His desert that glory and honour and immortall joy which is due to Him therefore which joy for the infinite merit of His Person being both God and man must likewise be infinite And because Himselfe is God blessed for evermore and hath eternall glory and happinesse and a Name which is above every name that is named in this world or in the world to come therefore hath Hee not any need of this purchased glory which is due for His sufferings but that glory is reserved for them that are called of His grace to be partakers thereof And because a finite creature cannot be capable of infinite glory at once intensivè that is according to the infinite measure thereof therefore is it bestowed extensivè that is in the externity or continuance thereof wherein man is carryed from glory to glory by the Spirit of the Lord 2 Cor. 3.18 Neither is it for any man to thinke that this glory which Christ hath purchased by His obedience should be setled on that humane nature which He assumed in the Incarnation For that hereditary or native glory which He had as being one with the Father was abundantly sufficient to glorifie that tabernacle wheresoever He was pleased to dwell as He saith Ioh. 17.5 And now ô Father glorifie thou Me with thine owne selfe with that glory which I had with thee before this world was So it appearing both by reason and authority of the holy Scripture that this happinesse which we doe beleeve in eternall life is to be eternall as the life is that first doubt which was first * In the entrance before Chapter 1. proposed in the entrance is fully satisfied The other two questions concerning the soule you shall heare by and by § 2. The heresies that have been concerning this Article though they be divers yet two especially are needfull to be examined One of the Chiliasts which thought that after the resurrection the kingdome of Christ was to flourish 1000. yeeres in this world taking that Scripture which is in Revel 20. for proofe thereof The other is that which they lay to St. Origen That all the reasonable creature even the most wicked among men yea the very devills themselves after their sins by long torments have been purged out shall be restored to joy and happines in the kingdome of heaven and againe after a long time shall fall to their former sins againe and so returne to their ancient punishment and this say they shall be the revolution of all the reasonable creature both good and bad for ever 1. But this is contrary to the trueth of the holy Scripture For no creature either man or Angel can approach to God or come to heavenly happines but onely such as God doth love and whom He loves He loves unto the end Iohn 13.1 because in Him is neither variablenesse nor shadow of change Iam. 1.17 2. Moreover as none can be partaker of heavenly joyes but such as are interested therein by Christ seeing no man commeth to the Father but by Him Ioh. 14.6 if there should be any falling from joy it would seeme to argue an insufficiency of the merit of Christ which cannot stand with the infinity thereof 3. Besides if God willed this eternall revolution of the creature from extreame joy to paine and from paine to joy then were we not taken into the state of sonnes and heirs of glory yea coheirs with Iesus Christ. Ro. 8.17 but to the state of bondmen which should have so much happines as we were able to purchase by our indurance of afflictions and torments 4. So the justice of God should not be infinite if it might be satisfied by a finite creature 5. And if any satisfaction to God could have bin made beside that which was by the death of Christ then that of Christ had beene needlesse and in vaine But all these thins are impossibilities Therefore there is no such revolution from one state to another as this opinion fained to Origen after his death when hee could not answer for himselfe would bring in But though Origen were a Saint yet was he a man and so might have his errours CHAP. XL. Amen ⧠The third supply Concerning the questions incident 1. Whether the soule of man be immortall § 1. 2. Whether there be one common soule of all men § 2. 3. That the holy Religion of the Christians is onely true and none other beside it § 3. 4. How faith is said to justifie § 4. Whether the soule of man be immortall § 1. IT is not the doubt that any Christian can make whether the soule of man be immortall or no. For when God hath come downe from heaven and hath taken upon Himselfe the being of man when He hath beene borne and died to make satisfaction for the sinne of man can any one that beleeves this make a doubt whether hee have an immortall soule or whether immortall life doe belong to him both in soule and body Therefore is not this question proposed for the Christians sake but by way of defiance against the Atheist and such godlesse people as say in their hearts There is no God no soule no life to come And although by all the arguments of the two last Chapters and many before the question may receive an easie solution yet to give full satisfaction is this which followes in particular But to brand both the questions and the movers thereof with their due infamy it must ever be remembred that the errour of the mortality of the soule doth take away the foundation of all religion and common honesty For how can he make due reckoning of honesty that cares onely for himselfe to shift and sharke for a present maintenance in worldly plenty and supposed joy and thinkes that all is ended with him in this life Or what reverence can he have of God or His seruice who is not perswaded that there is a God or if that must needs be put yet is he perswaded that with this life ended his foule also comes to nothing And if there be no reward
that in which he was created Thus out of the eater comes meat and out of the strong comes sweethes Iud. 14.14 Thus the head of Leviathan is broken in pieces and given to be meat to us in the wildernesse of this world Psal 74.14 Therefore seeing it was the good will and pleasure of Almighty God to mankinde to make him partaker of these unspeakable mercies which his goodnesse hath wrought unto us out of the ill of our sin and because he that wills the end wills also those meanes that leade unto the end we may with reverence to his wisdome and truth affirme that although God by his revealed will forbad the tree of knowledge unto Adam and so made his eating sin yet in his secret counsell he did foresee that sin in Adam not as an enforcing or a working cause but leaving him to himselfe But here a doubt must be answered first if we be indeed redeemed from the thraldome of sin why doth God suffer sin still to remaine in us yea so far forth as that we cannot cease to sin yea so farre forth as that it makes our best actions even our prayers abhominable while our tongue utters one thing and our heart wanders after another Answer It was possible and easie to God so to have renewed the heart of man so as that he should not sin but yet God would let sin to dwell in us for divers advantages to us but especially for two first that at the fight of our sin we might cast down our selves before him and utterly renouncing our owne worthinesse we might seek that righteousnes which is of him and in him alone the second that by the perpetuall remembrance of our sin the punishment due unto us for the same we might be thankfull unto our most mercifull Redeemer by faith the anker of our souls holding out our hope that although we fal we shal not be cast away and hereupon depends our repentance our patience and our endeavour to the masterdome of our owne wickednes Thus as the wise Physician for long continuing and deepe rooted maladies gives strong purging medicines of Seamony or Colocynthis and after applies his cordialls so our most gracious Healer to let us know what we are of ourselves lest through pride the sinne of the rebellious Angels we should be lost for ever doth not only suffer us to taste the bitter fruits of our owne corruption but suffers sinne also as the flesh of the venomons tyre to be still in us that by it the vertues of the precious spices of his graces may be conveyed to our hearts to preserve us from eternall death that balefull infection of the devill unto everlasting life b Necessary truth in actuall being R. 3 Necessary truth is not here meant that truth which depends upon the necessary being of the thing in respect of the cause thereof but that necessity which bindes the understanding or words to be agreeable to the present being And thus this proposition Peter sits is as necessarily true while he doth sit as to say Peter is a man CHAP. VI. That God is Almightie MIght or power is of divers kindes as you may reade log appendix of Sect. 3. introduct I will not stand repeating nor in this question make any mention of that power which they call passive because it meanes a power onely to suffer in things that are weake and imperfect The might which I meane here is absolute perfect infinite which belongs to God and to him alone as it appeares by these reasons 1. What power soever it is which is equally powerfull over all being either in acte or in possibilitie of being must needs bee infinite or almightie but such is the power of God therefore God is Almightie It was manifest before Chap. 2. that God was everlasting and so not by any other but that all things either being or possible to be are from him above as it will further appeare Chap. 13. and upon this consequence it will further follow necessarily that God is Almighty a in respect of the creature 2. b If God bee not Almightie then either that which is or that which is not must bee able to resist him but neither that which is nor that which is not is able to withstand him therefore God is Almightie The proposition is plaine that hee may doe what he will doe who can finde no hinderance or let in his doing The assumption also is as true for the things that are are all from him as the fountaine of all being as it is confessed by the voice of heaven Reve. Cap. 4.11 Thou art worthie O Lord to receive glory and honour and power for thou hast created all things and for thy wills sake they are and have beene created And that the things that are not should be able to withstand him is utterly impossible for so not being should be more powerfull than being and being more powerfull must of necessitie be and so should both be and not be which is an absolute contradition and utterlie impossible Therefore the first that God is Almightie is true of necessitie 3. If God be not Almighty so that his power may be answerable to his other dignities in infinitie then either his power must bee accidentall to him or else his being must differ essentiallie from it selfe but both these things are impossible for in him is no accident nor shadow of change Ia. 1.17 as it shall appeare more at large Chap. 9. And for the second consequence it is as plaine for that which is infinite and that which is finite must needs differ essentially so that if his goodnesse his eternitie wisdome c. being essentially himselfe as is shewed Chap. 8. be infinite and his power likewise essentiall to him and yet finite then his being must needs differ essentially from his being Therefore it is necessarie that God be Almighty 4. Nothing can either be or worke but by that power which it hath both to be that which it is and to doe that which it doth so that if the power of God were not infinite or almightie neither could his being be everlasting by his eternitie neither could his inward action in himselfe be infinite and eternall neither could his goodnesse his greatnesse his truth glory c. be that which they are neither by his wisdome could he know himselfe infinite and eternall nor yet able to doe any thing answerable to his goodnesse truth and glory Reade Psal 111. Neither could he delight himselfe and be so happy infinitely in his owne goodnesse greatnesse and glory and so he should not be God But all these things are impossible therefore God is Almighty And this the holy Scripture every where proclaimeth first by the voice of God himselfe Gen. 17.1 35.11 I am God Almighty and Exod. 6.3 I appeared unto Abraham Isaac and Iacob by the name of the Almighty God Then by his Prophets Iob 27.3 This is the portion of Tyrants from the Almightie This
in denying of himselfe in all his ungodlie and sinnefull lusts that he may become a holy and a meet Temple for God to dwell in And so hee may assure himselfe that God will give him experience of himselfe as hee hath promised Ioh. 14.23 That hee will come and make his abode with him This is that wise merchant who for this pretious pearle sels all that hee hath to buy it This is hee that eates of the hidden Manna Ioh. 6.50.51 Rev. 2.17 that receives that white stone and a new name written which none knowes saving hee that receiveth it This is hee that in the face of Iesus Christ as in a mirrour beholds the glory of the Lord so that hee is changed into the same Image from Glory to Glory as by the spirit of the Lord. Notes a GOd is not matier Anaximenes said the aire was God that he was therfore unmeasureable but had a beginning was always in motion Diagoras of Apollonia for he of Melos was the Atheist consented unto him as concerning the matier The opinion of Cleanthes I told you before which one while held God to bee matier in this sensible world in the uppermost ayre and in the Statres Parmenides imagined a mighty wide circle which encompast the world like a Crowne or garland therefore called by him Stephane to be God Xenophon and with him Plato where hee speakes in iest saith the word was God which we call Mammon and yeelds there were more such but where he speakes in earnest as in his Epistles hee speakes of one God the Author of all things as we doe Aristotle could not tell how to gaine-say his master with his owne credit and so followed his judgement Heraclides of Pontus somewhiles said the Starres were Gods then heaven and earth So Theophrastus and sometime Zeno was for the Starres Chrisippus that was accounted most subtile amongst the schollers of Zeno was most wavering in his opinions sometime he thought the world was God sometime the uttermost or burning aire then water now earth after this ayre below and by and by the Sunne and the Moone and the Starres at last all together was but one God yet men canonized for their vertues must needs bee Gods apart and then much more the vertues for which they were immortall And thus they that would seeme wise while they cared to know more than the truth of God became idle in their imaginations and there foolish heart was full of darkenesse The parts which were before separate 2.1 b All parts are understood apart as things differing And therefore although divers formes are brought out of the power of the matier or propagate with the matier yet that affords no objection to weaken this argument But is destinate unto another totall 2.2 c If you looke on the question you shall finde it onely to be about such formes as these For it is not said that God is utterly no forme For forme is the most simple or pure being which wee can conceive but he is none of those formes which are allyed to matier The Angels are accounted formes but separate But I runne not with that opinion The Ideas are conceived to bee formes altogether separate not destinate unto matier much lesse is that most simple forme of formes the originall of all formes God is not the forme of any other Being 2.2 d The opinion of Democritus is contrary to this conclusion in that he makes mans soule to be God Straton thought that God was only a certaine divine power in Nature so said Chrisippus otherwhile and so Cleanthes where hee affirmed that God was the life of the world His opinion that reason was God was an errour against this conclusion also if by reason hee meant that reasonable soule the former of mans body Heraclides supposed God to change his shape at his pleasure Zeno said that reason in every thing was God or that he was that living law that gave life to everything Wavering Chrisippus sometime held the life of the world to be God somewhile he cal'd him destinie Therefore God is no compound 3.1 e Among the matiers reckoned up before note a. some you see are compounded and they belong properly to this place as earth water and our ayre below of which none are simple elements but mixt one with another for generation sake and fitted to the inhabitants that dwell therein of which none could live in elements that are pure being themselves compounded Therefore God is not a body 4.1 f The schoole of Epicurus taught that God was in shape like a man and that he was also bodily For they thought that if hee were without a body as Plato taught he could neither have sence nor wisdome and so could no way be partaker of any pleasure or happines But concerning the pleasure which God enjoyes Plato teaches Epist ad Dionys that it is not in outward or bodily things which hinder the happinesse of the minde The weaknes of Epicurus argument is shewed by Cotta a follower of Plato Cic. de Nat. D. l. 1 the opinion it selfe confuted by the arguments here brought especially against the Audean hereticks that were called Anthropomorphites whoupheld the opinion of the Epicurean Philosophers because the holy Scripture teaching men by their senses speakes of Gods powerfull right hand and treading down his enemies that hee was sorry in heart and specially where it is said Gen. 1. Let us make man in our owne likenesse They here understood the likenesse of the body not of the minde in holinesse and knowledge which we have lost must endeavour our selves to recover as we are exhorted Eph. 4.24 Put on the new man which is created according to God in righteousnesse and holinesse of the truth and againe Put on the new man which is renued in you unto knowledge according to the Image of Him that created him Therefore in God is no accident 5.1 Zeno g sometime affirmed that the yeare and the seasons thereof the spring the harvest the moneths also were God Chrisippus said the truth of things was God And if you account truth an accident you may referre his opinion hither You have now heard the difference of opinions among the Philosophers But how much wiser was Simonides that learned Poet who being demanded by Hiero king of Siracuse what God was He desired a day to thinke of his answer being the next day asked againe he desired two dayes And thus being often asked still doubled his time Being demaunded the reason he answered that the longer he thought thereon the more hard and darke the thing seemed unto him What thanks therefore can we give unto God who by his holy word hath so fully revealed himselfe unto us that the holy Angels themselues with wonder desire to pry into those mysteries which hee hath made manifest unto his Church by Christ 1 Pet. 1.12 1. Therefore his being is most simple 6.1 Against this conclusion a doubt or two may be raised 1. being without addition is
manner of being is when any thing is changed from any estate either proper thereto or else appropriate to an estate or condition that is or seemes to be lower or worse Thus our Lord was said to descend or come downe from heaven when He clouded His Deitie in our humanitie as I have shewed heretofore Thus also He and all man-kind may be said to descend to be abased or brought low when the soule is parted from the body For seeing both the parts are for the perfection of the whole the whole must needs be more excellent than either of the parts so that the whole being dissolved both the parts doe suffer hurt or losse thereby especially the soule which sees the losse and findes it selfe in a state of being beside the end of the creation of it selfe which was to give life unto the body and this is the cause why the soule would not bee unclothed but rather that this mortalitie might bee swallowed up of life And this is the lowest state of humiliation whereto the soule of our Lord could come naturally and by this state some will interpret the descent into hell as I shewed in the beginning Nu. 2. But if this humiliation must meane also the separation of the soule from the body while the body was laid in the dust it reaches no further than to his death For a man is not said to bee dead till his soule be departed from his body But if this state of humiliation be taken in that sence as some doe very fitly interpret it by that phrase used often in the Scripture of a mans being gathered unto his people or cōming unto that congregation of the saints which had died in the faith of Him that was to come then taking also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or hell according to the interpretation of the word Vnseen it will easily be admitted of all that when our Saviour was dead His body was buryed and his soule went unto the assembly of them that were unseene And because this is true safe and unquestionable it may on all parts be agreed unto as I said before and yet the word of descending or going downe reserved to the right meaning by the abatement or losse of that estate which the soule had with the body in the being of the whole and perfect man So also the question about the place of hell and Paradise which hath moved most doubt herein by this interpretation is avoyded But because all this will reach no further than to be perfectly dead and because the Latine interpretation Descendit ad inferos rendered by our Church Hee went downe into hell suffers us not to stay here and because the most voices amongst the Fathers have swayed the meaning to a locall descent and that as it seemes in the third sence spoken of before and most of all because the holy Scripture binds us thereto let us follow our best and surest guides and confesse with the Prophets and Apostles that the soule of our Lord after His death on the Crosse went downe into hell or the place of the dead and there continued three dayes and three nights in the heart of the earth as it was prophesied in the signe of Ionas the Prophet Matth. 12.40 And let us beleeve that the flesh of Christ did therefore rest in hope because His soule was not left in hell nor His body was suffered to see corruption Psal 16.9 10. Actes 2.31 Objection 1. Obiect 1 They object that the soule may signifie the whole man as in Gen. 46.27 All the soules of the house of Iacob were 70. But how doth that helpe to prove that this Article must bee interpreted onely of the torments of Christs soule while Hee was yet alive For it is manifest that Saint Peter bringing that text to prove His resurrection speakes not of Christs soule while it was yet in his body when He was not subject to a state of resurrection but of His soule after His death But if they will hope by that text of Gen. or the like to interpret it as Al. Hume loc cit Thou shalt not leave mee in the grave let them answere mee what they meane by this word Mee whether the body or the soule or both together If they say the soule it was not in the graue they will bee ashamed to say both together for so they should make Him not yet to be dead as the word Mee doth truely signifie the whole Person yet alive jf they say the body let them see what an unfit tautologie it will make with that which followeth Nor suffer thy Holy one that is the body of Thy Holy one to see corruption But in this place the soule and the body are made direct disparates so hell and the place of corruption so that we may argue the body was in the place of corruption Ergo not in hell the soule was in hell Ergo not in the grave or place of corruption Object 2. Obiect 2 The purpose of Saint Peter was to prove the resurrection of Christ and that belonged to the body which had died not to the soule which died not Answere If this be given what will you conclude thereon But I say the resurrection is of the whole man returned againe to life after the parting of the soule and the body So it is neither of the body onely nor of the soule onely but of the whole man which Saint Peter prooves heere to have beene done in Christ because His soule was not left in hell where it was but was againe joyned to the body to cause it to live that it might not see corruption And because all the glorious doings and sufferings of our Saviour were for our uttermost benefit and comfort therefore is this going downe of His into hell also to give us assurance of our full and perfect deliverance from all the powers of death and hell and restoring of all His beleevers unto an immortall life and glory And because the doctrine of our Church into which I was baptized bindes me to beleeve that our Lord Iesus after His death went downe into hell-locally and that by the authorities of the Scripture and because I have before shewed that the soule of Christ did not ascend to heaven before His resurrection and have denied also that I thinke with them that say that He went downe to suffer for our sinne And having as I thinke said enough to all contrary opinions the trueth by the Holy Scripture and the reasons grounded thereon must be made to appeare But first of all it is plaine that the meaning of our Church is such for in the 8. Article it is said that the Creed of Athanasius ought thorowly to bee received and beleeved and that because it may be prooved by most certaine warrants of Holy Scripture And in the 7. Article the Church of Ireland agreeth hereto in these words All and every the Articles conteined in the Nicene Creed the Creed of Athanasius and that which
understanding and light of Nature given us withall His Word as a greater light whereby our lesser lights might become more shining That He hath given unto us not onely an inward Word to wit our naturall understanding but also an outward word as a most illustrious Commentary both of declaration and amplification of that text whereby we may the better understand whatsoever wee ought to understand without it But how then cometh it to passe that all men have not Faith And how is Faith said to bee the gift of God The first answered Rom. 1.21 and Ephe. 4.18 For hardnesse of their heart who when they knew God did not glorifie him as they ought therefore their imaginations became vaine and their foolish heart was full of darknesse And for this cause is Faith also said to bee the gift of God First in respect of that knowledge whence it doth proceed which knowledge is His gift Secondly because it is the onely worke of God to make that knowledge to become fruitfull by laying it so unto mans heart that the hardnesse thereof may be removed that when wee know God to bee good and just wee also beleeve and worship Him as wee ought Thirdly and most especially because that God oftentimes pardoning the ignorance which men have of Himselfe and the creature doth so enlighten the heart with His Holy Spirit that it is suddenly framed without any previant knowledge to faith and obedience The trueth whereof neverthelesse doth not any whit impugne that which I say That God hath given unto every man so much understanding as to know what he ought to beleeve and to be satisfied for the reasons of his Faith if he could open his eyes to see in the middest of what wondrous light he were placed This point is manifest both by many Scripture-authorities and by many reasons which I omitt But taking this as either granted or sufficiently prooved that God hath given us light of understanding whereby to yeeld a reason of the Hope that is in us a reason I say even of every Article of our Faith let us with holy reverence come unto the thing in question and see what reason wee have for our defence I will therefore a while forbeare to use the authoritie of holy Scripture not that I esteeme the waight or evidence of any reason comparable thereto but onely perceiving by that talk I had with you that you had read the Scripture as one of those whom Peter noteth 2. Epist 3.16 Not intending to wrangle about your wrested interpretations I will first propose the evidence of reasonable proofe and afterwards bring in the assent of holy Scripture that you may perceive in what wondrous cleare light you strive to bee blinde And because I know not what your opinion is concerning God for he that denieth the God-head of Christ may as well denie the God-head absolutely that being one step toward the question I will proceed orderly and give you also a reason of our faith concerning that matier taking this onely as granted which is rife in every mans knowledge that both the termes of Contradiction cannot bee affirmed of the same subject that is that one and the same thing cannot be both affirmed and denied of the same subject at one time and in the same respect But first by the name of God know that I meane an Eternall Being infinite in goodnesse in power in wisedome in glorie in vertue and onely worthy of endlesse love and honour My reason is thus If there be not a Being which had no beginning then of necessitie that which was first existent or begun must be a beginning unto it selfe by causing of it selfe to be when it was not But this is impossible that any thing should be a cause and not be for so should it both be and not be therefore there is an eternall Being which is the beginning middle and end of all things and Himselfe without beginning and this eternall Being wee call God My reason is plaine to bee understood and remember what I have said that I may goe on Whatsoever is without beginning is also without ending because it hath no Superiour which might bring it to nothing therefore God is eternall Againe whatsoever comes to nothing is corrupted by his contrarie but nothing can be opposite to God therefore He is Eternall Or else I might thus reason 2. Being and Not-being are such contraries as one of them cannot spring out of another for every thing for the preservations sake of it selfe doth represse and corrupt the contrarie Seeing then that there is Being which could not possibly raise it selfe out of Not-Being it followes that Being had a primacy or priority before Not-Being and therefore of necessitie must be eternall for otherwise there was a time wherein it might be said that Being is not Being and so Not-Being should have beene first and contradictories might have stood together but both these are impossible therefore there is an eternall Being and this eternall Being wee call God Furthermore wee know that the greatest excellency or perfection of every thing is in the nearenesse or likenesse thereof unto the first cause But every thing is more excellent in the Being therof then in the Not-Being Therefore Being was before Not-Being and for that cause Eternall Now Eternitie is an infinite Continuance Therfore whatsoever is Eternall must of necessitie be Infinite and this Infinite being we call God Moreover whatsoever hath Infinite continuance hath Infinite Power to continue infinitely and this omnipotent or endlesse power we call God I might reason likewise of His Goodnesse of His Wisedome Truth Glory c. But one shall serue in stead of the rest and I will take His Wisedome for my example and prove unto you that likewise to be Infinite and that not onely in existence but in action also And first that hee is wise God is most worthy to be such as He is but if He were not wise He were not worthy to bee God Ergo he is wise Now marke how these depend one on another In God is Wisedome which by reason of His Infinitie is also Infinite and by His Eternitie is also Eternall so that there is no time wherein it may be said that this infinite Wisedome is not infinitely exercised for then were it not eternally infinite Therefore His wisedome is infinite not in existence onely but also in action Againe the Wisedome of God is such as hath no defect or imbecillitie therein But if it were not infinite both in action and in existence a man might finde defect therein and imagine a more Infinite wisdome then that is but this is impossible So might I conclude of all the other dignities of God But I haste to the purpose and I thinke that you will not unwillingly grant what I have said but understand the rest All the Dignities of God being actuated or brought into working require of necessitie an Infinite Object whereon they work because they themselues are