think that these things appeared unto him visible in very deed and were not onely represented to the contemplation of his minde Damas lib. 2. orth fid cap. 6. Again Damascene lib. 2. orthodoxae fidei cap. 6. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Coelum est ambitus visibilium invisibilium creaturarum Heaven is the compasse or circuit both of visible and invisible Creatures Keckermannus lib. 2. Kecker lib. 2. Syst Phys cap 1. Systematis Physici cap 1 Spiritus non potest corpora ambire concludere A Spirit cannot compasse about or shut up bodies within it This is that which the Philosophers call Coelum Empyraeum which is suprema excellentissima illa Coelorum series Thronus gloriae divinae domicilium electorum Angelorum atque hominum as the same Author lib. 2. cap. 5. de partibus Coeli Idem Auth. lib. quo supra cap. 5. This is the highest and most excellent order of the Heavens or rank of them the Throne of Gods glorie and the abiding place of the elect Angels and men And presently after he calls it partem corporis coelestis part of the bodie of Heaven See the like from Augustine lib. 22. de Civitate Dei cap. 4. Aug. lib 22. de civit Dei cap. 4 shewing Coelum beatorum esse corporeum the heaven of the blessed to be corporeall This is called coelum coelorum the Heaven of Heavens Deut. 10.14 Deut. 10.14 and is farre above all other Heavens Ephes 4.10 that is above all the sphaericalls This is immobile ac incorruptibile immoveable as seated above the primum mobile and is the place of ease and rest of Gods Elect. Incorruptible as having no privation to concomitate that most pure pleasant and exquisite matter of it or no contrarietie of qualities to make opposition or corruption in it full of light also and therefore is called of the Graecians 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ob plurimum splendorem aut plurimam lucem because of the abundance of light that is there farre above that of fire Some do think that Aristotle had a glympse of this Arist lib. 1. de coelo cap. 9. because 1 lib. de Coelo cap. 9. he mentions quaedam entia collocata supra mundum ac Coelum eaquè immutabilia et impatibilia beatissimam vitam sempiterno aevo degentia c. certain beings placed above the visible Heaven and visible world being immutable and impassible living there for ever a most blessed and contenting life yea and some also do think that the ancient Poets had learned somewhat concerning it when they so often speak of the Mansions of their gods 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that they had such shining and glorious Mansions full of light But of this no more save only that we may conceive that it is the most ample of the Heavens and yet cannot contain its Maker 1 Kings 8.27 The Heaven nor heaven of Heavens cannot contain him I now come to the latter point how righteousnesse can be said to dwell in the new Heavens that he shall make and the new Earth For this passage hath matter worth inquiry in it Some interpreters do with such places as travellers do with deeps or boggs in high-wayes when they come at them they wisely passe by them or say little to the openings of them to give the reader satisfaction Others that note some-what yet come not home to the mark Others perceiving this have taken up more resolution and I much doubt if they have not over shott the marke To let passe those of the first ranke For the second I will mention Musculus Musc in loc in the which nullum peccatum nulla injustitia locum habebit no sinne no unrighteousnesse shall have any dwelling in them which is true but the text seemes to aime at some what more as not onely negatively not to dwell but positively for righteousnesse to dwell in them Bullin in loc Bullinger thinks per 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or alterationem that justitia is put for justi righteousnesse for righteous men this we grant for two Reasons First because righteousnesse as inherent is a quality and therefore cannot be supposed without some subject Secondly because the new Heavens and Earth are subjecta insensibilia insensible subjects and therefore not inherently capable of such qualities therefore some other subject and what but just men but how these can be said to dwell in the new Heavens which are sydereall and in the new Earth is more difficult to conceive Dr. Willet qu. 34. Dr. Willet qu. 24. in 8. ad Rom. in Oct. ad Rom. is bold to affirme that though the Heavens onely are now the seat of the blessed soules yet both the new Heavens and the new Earth shall be then the habitation of the righteous and so righteousnesse may be said to dwell in them for which opinion he quotes Bucan loc 39. qu. 17. Bucan loc 39. qu. 17. by which Author he is much ledd in this point as also Origen in Matth. 5.5 the meeke shall inherit the Earth not this visible Earth but the other which eye hath not seen his reason is because he there speaks of a blessednesse which is not to be found in this Earth Psa 114.16 he might also have alledged Psal 114.16 the Heaven even the Heavens are the Lords but the Earth hath he given to the children of men But to this last Bellarmine answers truely and herein agrees with our Orthodox Divines lib. 6. de amissione gratiae cap. 3. he gave the Earth to the children of men Bellarm lib. 6. de Amist grat cap. 3. dum mortales sunt et egent Aere ad respirationem et fructibus terrae ad alimentum whilst they were mortall and stood in need of Aire to breath in and nourishment from the earth to live upon For the other that the meeke shall inherit the Earth we know it may befall them in this life as a temporall blessing though not without some intermixture of disturbance this place seemes to me to have bin taken from Psal 37.11 the spirit of God being pleased to make use of it again by the Evangilist But the meeke shall inherite the Earth and delight themselves in the abundance of peace And verse 9. Evill doers shall be cut off but those that waite upon the Lord they shall inherite the Earth whereupon Calvin notes the Antithesis between the two members Calv. in loc the wicked that shall be cut off and the Godly that waite upon God to be delivered from under the Crosse he assignes the haereditary right of the earth so to them that intellgit sic victuros ut Dei benedictio ad mortem eos usque prosequatur he understands they shall so live that the blessing of God shall follow them even unto their death this then he understands of a temporall inheritance when they are mortall And though they be often driven from place to place in the Earth in hac
a signe of Circumcision to confirm it gave a law to his posterity to guide them and in all these the Gentiles excluded from the Church as without God in the world and without hope of Salvation Ephes 2.12 13 2 Ephes 2.12 13 14. 14. at that time namely when you were in your carnall estate of Gentilisme ye were without Christ namely as a mediatour for you being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the Covenants of promise having no hope and without God in the world As if he had said Ye had nothing to do with the Laws and immunities which belonged to Israel nothing to do with the promises made to them Psa 147.19 20. Ps 147.19 20. He sheweth his word unto Iacob his Statutes and judgements unto Israel he hath not dealt so with any Nation as for his judgements they have not known them But now in Christ Jesus saith Paul ye that were farre off sometimes are made nigh by the blood of Christ for he is our peace who hath made both one and hath broken down the partition wall or the middle wall of partition between us And that Christ should be the Head to both being both God and man that so few of the Jewes should be called to imbrace Christ and such abundance of these Gentiles who were without such Covenants such promises as they had without Law without Circumcision without any good works c. and yet by the voice of the Gospell these should be called by faith in Christ that faith freely given from God these should be saved and be made fellow-Citizens with the Saints and one body with the faithfull in Israel this was such a point of Gods wisedome and so admirable and such a way of collecting a Church and out of so many severall Languages that the Apostle cries out Rom. 9.30 31. O altitudo divitiarum sapientiae c. Rom. 9.30 31. The Gentiles which followed not after righteousnesse have attained to righteousnesse even the righteousnesse which is of Faith But Israel which followed after the Law of righteousnesse hath not attained to the Law of righteousnesse c. This is that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that multiformis as Beza with the vulgar or multivaria that manifold wisdome of God which is now made known by the Church to the Angels for they see aliquid novum tanquam in speculo priùs sibi incognitum some new thing as in a glasse which formerly was unknown to them And they may be said to know this per Ecclesiam by the Church non instrumentaliter subjectivè docentem sed objectivè indicantem the Angels seeing such a Church now gathered Yea 1 Pet. 1.12 1 Pet. 1.12 this is such an admirable thing namely that the greatest part of the world that so many Gentiles that for so many years had lived in darknesse and in the way to death should now be called to make up one Christian Church with the Jewes and be under one Head with them that desiderant Angli introspicere the Angels desire to behold it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Greek to bow down so as to peepe into any thing Now the Angels in Heaven injoy unspeakable comforts as you have heard and yet they desire to peepe into or to looke into the manifold wisedome of God showne here upon Earth in calling the great varieties of Gentiles to make up one Church of Saints with the Jewes why then may not the Elect in Heaven with the Angels sometimes desire to contemplate the wonderfull wisdome or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 multifariam sapientiam the manifold wisedome of God in the great varieties of the renewed species of the Creatures that are below them But Thirdly it may be objected that it will be ultrà sphaeram activitatis oculi ullius corporei beyond the ability of any bodily eye to behold from the seat of the blessed at any time any Creatures here upon the Earth To this I would answer thus Acts 7.56 Acts 7.56 that if Stephen here in a mortall body could from Earth behold Christ standing at the right hand of God when the Heavens were opened why cannot the Saints in immortall bodies see from Heaven down unto the Earth for God can as well make way thorow the medium from Heaven to Earth as he did from Earth to Heaven Calvin in loc Calvin in locum data Stephano nova aâ—ies quae per obstacula omnia usquè ad invisibilem regni caelâ—stis glo iam penetraret a new sight was given to Stephen at that time by which his eye was strengthened beyond the ordinary ability of nature so that he could pearce through obstacles even to the invisible glory of that heavenly Kingdome otherwise though the Heavens were wide open yet the ordinary ability of mans fight or the naturall strength of it were not of sufficient power to behold an object at such a distance It s needlesse therefore to dispute much de visu naturali of naturall sight cum facillimum Deo fuit Stephani oculos insolita acie donare Gualt Hom. 55. in Apost Act. as Gualter saith Hom. 55. in Acta Apostolorum when as it was an easie thing to God to give unto the eyes of Stephen a sight above ordinary such shall the sight of glorified bodies be farre more excellent then that we now have in these frail and mortall bodies And this shall serve for the fourth point I now come to the fift and last namely the glorious liberty of the sonnes of God or the children of God into which the Creature is to be reduced 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. in libertatem gloriae into the liberty of the glory of the sonnes of God What we are to understand by the sonnes of God we may easily perceive by that which we have heard already the Elect people of God predestinated to life called justified and glorified But what we are to understand by the liberty of their glory that must be inquired into Theodoret. Theodoret referrs it to the time in which the Children of God shall come to this liberty and no doubt but the deliverance shall then be when they come to theirs For as Estius observes from Verse 20 Estius in loc they were made subject under hope under what hope sub spe liberationis in illud tempus quando filii Dei quibus subservit suam libertatem consequentur under the hope of deliverance at that time when the sonnes of God to whom they have bin subject and done service shall obtain their liberty the object of their hope was this deliverance into the glorious liberty of the children of God The time may be granted and yet this glorious liberty not fully explained for that is but the circumstance not the thing it selfe Chrysost Chrysostom by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Greek would understand 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for in libertatem propter libertatem that as they were
tamen inquietudine non eripitur ista terrae possessio cujus meminit David quià et certò sciunt se legitimos esse mundi haeredes unde fit ut tranquilla conscientia pane suo vescantur et quamvis inopia laborent Deus tamen ipsorum necessitatibus in tempore succurrit c. Yet in this their unquietnesse that possession of the Earth which David mentions is not taken from them because they know assuredly that they are the lawfull Heires of the world viz. in a spirituall right whereupon it comes to passe that they eate their bread in quietnesse of conscience and though they be sometimes in want yet God in good time sends supply to their necessities So then these grounds in the judgement not onely of the aforenamed Authors but of divers others will not clearly bear out his opinion to hold the new Earth for an habitation of the righteous as well as the Heavens seeing it is verified of a temporall inheritance here and therefore onely and necessarily cannot involve that sense he would put upon it by Origens astipulation Yet this I will say that if the new Heavens be to be an habitation for the righteous this would in my judgement be a better Argument against the motion of the Heavens that they should no more move after the day of judgement then any he hath yet produced Secondly I will say that if by the Creature to be delivered we were sure that onely Heaven and Earth were to be understood c. then may these be said to be delivered into the glorious liberty of the Children of God when they shall have liberty to live in these both in the new Heavens and in the Earth and then need not the most accurate and pearcing Interpreters so much perplex themselves about the understanding of this place But this is to be delivered into the liberty of their glory passivè passively to be injoyed of them not activè actively for the Creatures to injoy it He urgeth also Revelations 14.4 they shall follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth shall visite the Earth also and shall go and come as it pleaseth God I answer that though they follow the Lamb whithersoevever he goeth yet except it can be proved that he goeth on to the earth as well as in Heaven the quotation will not help him and Verse the 5. these are said to be without fault before the Throne of God absolved by divine judicature these followed the Lamb in this life in persecutions troubles afflictions yea many of them unto death it self hunc eundem sequuntur in vitam aeternam quò prior ipse abiit as Aretius in loc this same Lambe they follow also into aeternall life whither he himselfe is first gone before them Aretius upon the place in Peter thus Aret. in loc Nova habitatio novos requirit incolas these Heavens being made a new habitation they require the Inhabitants also to be new And a little after Nova terra mansio erit justorum the new Earth shall be a dwelling place for the righteous And Bullinger in 1 Pet. 3.13 Bullin in 1 Pet. 3.13 Novi enim Coeli parantur justis justitiae ergò studendum est iis qui novi Coeli velint esse incolae the Heavens are prepared for the righteous therefore it behoves them to study righteousnesse which would be the inhabitants of these new Heavens these men seeme to me to be of this judgement that when the sphaericall Heavens shall be made new they shall also be for the righteous as well as the highest Heaven is now and that their glorious habitation shall then extend as low as the face of the Earth but whether the new Heavens and the new Earth which God shall make after these be burnt up shall have eundem situm the same situation or place that they have now is questioned by some Dionysius Carthusianus in 5. Dionys Carth. in Matth. 5.18 Matthaei verse 18. thinkes that they shall be changed not onely quoad qualitatem but also quoad situm c. not onely in their qualities but also in their situation yet alledgeth no reason for it But this I would observe by the way that if they shall go and come from Earth to Heaven and from Heaven to Earth again as God shall please as saith Dr. Willet loco quo suprà Dr. Willet loc quo supra then may the Creatures upon the Earth serve for some use of contemplation for the which he would find no use before Now this I say that if God shall enlarge the seat of the blessed and shall make the new Heavens a like glorious to the highest Heaven to contain all the bodies of his Elect as well as the soules though its very probable that the highest Heaven is more spacious for those then Hell for the innumerable number of the bodies of the damned though there shall want no compasse for either but both shall have such confines as God in his wisedome shall appoint the one for joy the other for pain and misery then may the spacious liberty of the saints glory extend to the earth as to the one term of their continent as the top of the highest Heaven is the other and so righteous meÌ„ may be said to dwell in both as living within the scituation of both as theÌ„ in part of their glorious liberty D. Willet concludes thus Dr. Willet loc quo supra But here we must not be too bold to wade without ground how the Saints shall be disposed off whether some to heaven some to earth whether the same shall be sometime in heaven sometime in earth or how else as it pleaseth God we leave these as great mysteries not revealed yet thus he adds But that the Saints shall then be upon the earth we are certain out of Scripture as hath been shewed But I should rather conceive it within the Continent of these as parts of their libertie if inlargement of their glory be granted then upon the Earth as upon the subject matter if the site of it remain where now it is and to the places he grounds upon I have answered and will adde to them one more Apoc. 5.10 Apoc. 5.10 And hast made us unto our God Kings and Priests and we shall reign upon the earth not corporeally with the Geneva note Nota Genesis Others of our modern Divines conceive it of the spirituall reign in this mortall life over sinne Sathan persecuters opposers and the like Rom. 6.6 Rom. 6.6 Our old man is crucified with him that the bodie of sinne might be destroyed And Vers 12 Vers 12. let not sinn reign therefore in your mortall bodie that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof No but reigne you over it upon the earth and not it over you Aretiê° in loc Aretius upon the place thus Commemoratis Christi beneficiis pollicentur gratitudinis ergò constantiam in confessione intelligo enim haec ab eis dici
in persona militantis ecclesiae quae regnat super terram praestando Deo constantiam sub cruce mortificando carnem suam opprimendo peccati concupiscentiam praescindendo peccandi occasiones c. having rehearsed the benefits of Christ in token of thankfullnesse they promise constancy in their confession For I conceive these things to be spoken of them in the person of the militant Church which Church reignes upon the Earth in performing constancy to God under the crosse by mortifying their flesh by oppressing the concupiscence of sinne by cuting off the occasions of sinning c. Thus saith he they reign 1 Thess 4.17 That passage in 1 Thess 4.17 hath holden many off from falling in so fully with the Doctors resolve as to set it down for a certainty And therefore Aquinas upon the place in Peter Aquin. in 2 Pet. 3. with some of the School-Divines considering this of Paul to the Thessalonians will by no meanes fall in with his resolve nor such as pitch upon it Non quòd justi habitaturi sunt in mundo inferiori post judicium sicut nunc not that the just shall dwell in this inferiour world after the day of judgement as they do now but it shall be pars habitationis saith he a part of their habitation sicut Rex non manet in coquina tamen dicitur pars habitationis suae even as a King abideth not in his Kitchin and yet notwithstanding it s called a part of his habitation To which I say thus that though his resolve may have some ground of reason yet his instance doth not well quadrate to the matter in hand For if a King should build a Pallace and have a Kitchin in it and then it be said in quibus it would conclude both Others therefore thus In which dwells righteousnesse that is Jesus Christ say they who is called our righteousnesse Ier. 23.6 Ierem. 23.6 and this is his name by which he shall be called Dominus justitia nostra the Lord our righteousnesse but to this I say that where he is there shall his elect be also Iohn 14.2.3 I goe to prepare a place for you And if I goe and prepare a place for you I will come again and receive you unto my selfe that where I am there ye may be also as if he had said if I goe I mean not to reign alone but I will also receive you that have suffered with me that ye may also reign with me 2 Tim. 2.12 2 Tim. 2.12 Christus non discessit a nobis ut nos desereret sed potius ut nos secum in Coelos tandem attolleret as Iunius Iun in suis Annot. Christ did not depart from his to that end that he might forsake them but rather that at length he might take us up into Heaven together with him quae doctrina ad totam ecclâ—siam pertinet as Beza Beza in loc which doctrine belongs to the whole Church Hic de extremo judicii die loquitur quo tandem veniet ad suos colligendos as Calvin here saith he he speakes of the last day of judgement in the which at length he shall come to gather up all his c. and then shall they all be both in body and soule where he himself is And Apoc. 3.21 To him that overcometh will I grant to sitt with me in my Throne even as I also overcame and am set down with my Father on his Throne Sedere cum Christo est regni illius esse consortem saith one to fitt down with Christ on his Throne is to be partaker of his kingdome with him so that if he dwell in the new Heavens we shall also dwell there with him as in the inlargement of glory or the place of his glorious presence Beza in 2 Pet. 3.13 Lastly Beza resolves thus upon the words Neverthelesse we according to his promise looke for new Heavens and a new Earth wherein dwells righteousnesse Having mentioned other expositions he concludes thus vel deniquè supplendum est 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nos ut ita convertas sed Coelos novos et terram novam expectamus nos in quibus habitat justitia nimirum Christi ut explicat Paulus Phil. 3.9 Phil. 3.9 or else finally saith he we must supply the sense with this word we that thou mayst thus read But we look for new Heavens and a new Earth in which we righteousnesse dwells even the righteousnesse of God by faith Phil. 3.9 as Paul hath it and Ephes 3.17 that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith 1 Thes 4.17 1 Thes 4.17 Paul speaking of the resurrection and the order of it saith verse 16. The dead in Christ shall rise first then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the Clouds to meet the Lord in the Air and so shall we ever be with the Lord In aeterna beatitudinis gloria Hemingius in loc as Hemingius hath it in eternall glory and blessednesse Aquinas long before him gave the same sense ostendit beatitudinem sanctorum Aquin. in loc quià semper erunt cum Domino eofruentes here he shows the blessednesse of the Saints because they shall alwayes be with the Lord injoying of him Theophylact to the same sense Theophylact. in loc perpetuò sunt apud hunc mansuri they shall continually abide with Christ whom they shall meete in the Air. Estius to the same sense Estius in loc speaking of meeting Christ in the Air he saith indè in Coelum cum eo subvecti perpetua praesentia fruituri sumus semper cum eo regnaturi from thence we shall be carried with him into Heaven where we shall injoy his perpetuall presence and reign with him for ever To which I will adde that not the Earth but the Heavens are the place where our inheritance is described to be and that by him that purchased it and best knew the scituation of it 1 Pet. 1.18 1 Pet. 1.18 c As ye were not redeemed with corruptible things neither were ye born of corruptible seed verse 23. so neither is there provided for you a corruptible inheritance 1 Pet. 1.4 1 Pet. 1.4 God having begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead he adds to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that fadeth not away reserved in Heaven for us that fadeth not away like flowers or garlands so that we shall never be weary of the joyes of Heaven though they indure for eternity but they shall be as fresh and new and Ephes 2.6 Ephes 2.6 he hath raised us up together and made us sitt together 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in caelestibus as the Vulgar in heavenly places in Christ Jesus we have the like word Eph. 1.3 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ephes 1.3 in coelestibus in Christo in Coelis Beza in loc as Beza hath it in both places But to the former And made us sitt together in coelestibus id est lâ—cis as Beza in Heavenly places yet our selves as yet actually sitt not in those places in person but in our Head Cujus spiritu coepimus peccato mori vivere Deo donec in nobis opus suum perficiat idem qui inchoavit by the power of whose Spirit we have begun in this life to die unto sinne and live unto God whilst the same that hath begun the worke perfect it in us we sitt with him now in spe afterwards in re he being our head he will draw up all the members to him But in none of these places is any mention made of the Earth Zanchiê° in loc as for the Saints to have any inheritance on it Though vertually we be risen are in heavenly places in our head Christ Jesus yet in us these benefitts of resuscitation together with him and this sitting in heavenly places suum habebunt complementum cum nostra corpora resumptis animabus excitabuntur à mortuis ac resurgent ad vitam immortalem vitaque fruentur sempiterna shall have their full accomplishment when our bodies resuming their souls shall be raised up again from the dead then shall the whole man sitt together with Christ in Heavenly places such places shall be their aeternall inheritance not upon the Earth Neither would the Patrons of that opinion a constant dwelling upon it but at sometimes But if we respect these new Heavens and Earth for the place where the righteous shall dwell as a part of their inlarged inheritance yet I conceive that the Earth is more fitly put here for the terminus or boundary of their liberty than the subject upon which they shall trample a live And to me that place in Peter is very considerable 1 Pet. 1.4 where the inheritance is set out by many excellent Epithites and the place of it described to be Heaven and not any part or portion of it mentioned to be upon the Earth Thus have I expressed my thoughts upon this point also according to that small Talent God hath given me and have also made answer to such places where the Earth is mentioned in which it will appear that they are not so clear for the opinion for which they have been quoted as the quoters of them have opined I will therefore at length wind up all with that saying of Bellarmines lib. de amissione gratiae cap. 3. Non est de rebus quae pendent à divina voluntate al quid esserendum nisi Deus ipse in Scripturis sanctis tale aliquid revelaverit we may not affirme any thing in those matters that depend upon Gods divine will except God himselfe have revealed some such thing unto us in the holy Scriptures so farre as they have given me light I have gone and as farre as I could wade upon the firme bottom of reason I have adventured 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Finis
able to stand 2 Pâ—t 3.3 4. By gracelesly mocking at it as 2 Pet. 3 3 4. There shall come in the last dayes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 irrisores mockers or scoffers such as David mentions Psal 1.1 Psal 1.1 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 such as walk after their own lusts who are called their own because they are a natura insitae Dei donis adventitiis oppositae because they are inbred in their corrupt nature and are opposite to the adventitiall graces of God and these say Where is the promise of his comming for since the Fathers fell asleep all things continue as they were from the beginning of the Creation Thus with a sacrilegious boldnesse impudencie and contempt they speak of the last day As if they had said We neither see his promise of the Day of Judgement fulfilled nor any likelihood or sign of it now more than was since the Creation for there is a continuation of the species of all Creatures by renewing themselves in multiplication of their severall individualls and so may do for ever Thus they would seem to be wickedly wittie To which cavill the Apostle answers at large in the following Verses from the sixt to the eleventh Verse And these as in their hearts they wish never to see that day so likewise they are a verse from ever seeing the day of death because the conscience suggests unto them it will be a bitter and a comfortlesse day And these I conceive the many reasons why * Calvin Beza Melanch Martyr Paraeus Willet and many more Also before them Theophilact the School Divines and divers more ancient Modernitie dissents from Aug. herein 3. The good Angels cannot here be meant by the Creature because they cannot be said to be delivered from the bondage of corruption for under that bondage properly so called they never were but the Creature here meant hath been under it and shall be delivered from it Verse 21. 4. and lastly not the Devills or bad Angels as may appear by these two Reasons First they are not neither ever were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 congemiscentes groaning together with us or una suspirantes sighing together with us but the Creature here meant doth See Vers 22. Secondly they come not within the compasse of those Creatures that are made subject 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 under hope but they are locked up under the Hatches of despair without any hope of deliverance for ever therefore the superfluity of Origens charitie may be said to have moved out of the sphaere of verity Error Origen when he judged that even the devils themselves in time should be saved which grosse errour many learned men have sufficiently confuted Aug. Tom. 6. lib. ad Oros cap. 5. See Aug. lib. ad Oros tom 6. cap. 5. though there was another Origen besides that famous and great Clerk yet both of them herein erroneous the latter being misled by the former of Alexandria But here will arise a question how groaning earnest expectation for deliverance and the like can be attributed to or praedicated of irrationall and insensible Creatures for we must needs say with Augustine in expositione propositionum ex Epistola ad Romanos Aug in expos propos ex ep ad Rom. Sensum gemendi dolendi non opinemur esse in arboribus oleribus lapidibus hujusmodi creaturis c. hic enim erat Mantehaeorum error Not that we may think that there is any sense of groaning or sorrowing in Trees Herbs Stones or such like Creatures for this was an errour of the Manichees Therefore I answer that the Apostle here speaks of theÌ„ by a Prosopopeia 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 attributing such things to them as belong to the reasonable Creature as is usuall in divers other places in sacred Writ Mans groaning and waiting Verse 23. is proper and not of the same kinde with theirs Thus much for the Creature spoken of in this place Now for the second namely in what sense the Creature is made subject to vanitie For the Creature was made subject to vanity The word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Greek which is rightly rendred vanitati to vanitie You have it again Ephes 4.17 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the vanity of their mindes The word may also signifie frustrationi to frustration for nature propagating successively one individuum from another may seem to aym at and desire an immortalitie of the species as not onely some old Philosophers but some others have dreamed but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 frustra in vain the Creature is made subject to frustration in this point So then take it subject to vanity and the Holy Ghost that cannot erre in Exposition tells us that to be subject to vanitie is to be subject to corruption or the bondage of corruption Verse 21. where its said It shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption that was the vanitie it was made subject to for the sinne of man it remaines not in that quiet constant entire sound and firme estate of nature in the which at the first it was created but is now subject fluxae turbidae evanidae conditioni to a flowing troublous fleeting vaine and mutable condition And Salomon well perceiving this Eccles 1.2 said Eccles 1.2 Vanitas vanitatum omnia vanitas Vanity of vanities all is vanitie subject to change and and frailtie If any man object that the heavens are not of a corruptible nature I answer and of which point God willing more hereafter that though by the Aristotelians they be not of such corruptible nature or subject to such vicissitude of change as compound and mixt Elementary bodies be yet are they subject to obscuration and doing of service to prophane and wicked enemies of God and to dissolution by their Maker as well as inferiour bodies are For suppose the Heavens be incorruptible corruptione naturali by naturall corruption yet are they corruptible and dissoluble Potentia supernaturali by the supernaturall Power of God upon whom both the Esse and Esse tales doth depend both their Beeing and their Beeing in such estate as they have continued in since their Creation Again doubtlesse Nulla natura naturata respectu potentiae Dei absolutae dici potest indissolubilis vel si liceat verbum cudere inanihibalis quamvis comparative respectu-constitutionis vel naturae spiritualis respectu potentiae Dei ordinatae vel respectu sublunarium dici potest No created nature if we respect Gods absolute power can be said to be indissoluble or inanihilable if we may be permitted by the leave of men Learned to coyn a word for our expression although comparatively in respect of its nature or spirituall Beeing or in respect of God having so determined it or having so ordered it and in respect of sublunary bodies some Creatures may be said to be incorruptible or not to be corrupted by any ordinary Physicall corruption To illustrate this subjection of the
as the Originall Donec transeat coelum terra as the Vulgar Vsquedum praeterierit coelum terra as Beza Quod donec transeant coelum terra as the Syriack Version by Tremelius Here we have some diversitie in words but all to one and the same sense and some conceive the words not simply but cōparatively spoken as thus that the truth of the Law is so firm that even such things as seem most durable shall perish before any jott of it perish yea Heaven and Earth are not so stable as the truth of it in all the parts of it Yea so strictly doth Piscator urge this place Piscator in in verba that as he hence observes the Law to have been written of old with pricks in the Hebr. Tongue so likewise he notes that God will have such a speciall care in preserving of the Scriptures that not so much as the least Vowell or prick of it shall perish in the Hebrew tongue nor the least iota or least letter with which its written in the Greek Tongue the least Letter or the least truth of the Law of God shall not perish or be changed so wisely was it given Calvin Musc Bucer in verba Psal 102.27 To the which sense Calvin Musculus and Bucer agree Beza parallels the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Beza with the Hebrew word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Psal 102. Iahhaloph 27. signifies sic praeterire ut etiam mutetur so to passe away as also to be changed in the passage In Luke its positively set down as likewise in the Hebrewes before cited heaven and earth shall passe or they shall perish yet it will not hence follow that they shall passe or perish totally or by the whole destruction of the substance but in regard of this their present state and condition or in regard of their qualities or outward forme The same words are also positively used Mat 24.35 caduca eorum conditio their fraile and brittle estate and condition shall passe away but that will not conclude that therefore their essence and substance shall totally and finally be abolished but that they shall not remaine in the state and condition that they are now in for ever as the Philosophers that followed Aristotle dreamed holding the heavens aeternall and inalterable but shall perish or be changed Now Ipsi peribunt they shall perish or passe away will not conclude a totall abolition of substance as I have said but alteration of their present state quality and condition no more then justus perit Esa 57.1 Esa 57.1 The righteous perisheth and no man layes it to heart now the righteous perish not so as to suffer a totall abolition of their substance but the mortall and naturall man suffers so and perisheth so as to have his naturall and mortall estate changed his present estate condition and qualities but shall arise again in the same bodies for substance 1 Cor. 15. 1. Cor 15.53 53. Oportet enim hoc corruptioni obnoxium induere incorruptam naturam For this corruptible that is this corruptible body not another for substance shall put on incorruption Verse 44. Verse 44. Seritur corpus animale excitatur corpus spirituale it is sown a naturall body it is raised a spirituall body so that though the state qualities and condition be more excellent when it is raised then when it was cast into the grave yet the substance shall be the same Apoc. 1.1 To the third Apoc 21.1 for the first heaven and the first earth was passed away and there was no more sea 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 abiit as the vulgar or abierat was passed away Saint Mat and S. Luke say 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 shall passe away Iohn here in a vision saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the first Heaven and the first Earth were passed away already this he spake prophetically and as foreseeing what should befall them in the end of the world but for the manner how they shall passe away we answer as before for I conceive that the same answer for substance will solve the objection and therefore we will produce Aretius assenting to the same judgment quoting also Rev 20.11 Aretius in loc from whose face the Earth and the Heaven fled away and there was found no place for them which might seem to argue indeed a totall abolition of them but saith he they fled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from the state or condition of corruption to incorruption and they fled from their former estate from before Gods face as ashamed of that estate For you have heard how usuall it is in Scripture to attribute to senselesse or irrationall creatures that which belongs to rationall And whereas mention is made of Iohns seeing a new Heaven and a new Earth Apoc. 21.1 Apoc 21.1 revera eadem sunt solum deposita corruptibilitate In very deed they are but the same having put off their corruptible estate and condition so that you see for substance the Heaven and Earth remains yet because their qualities present state and condition are changed they are called new and such you see S. Iohn saw them thus Aretius We may in some degree illustrate it thus 2 Cor. 5.17 2 Cor. 5.17 If any man be in Christ saith the Apostle he is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nova creatura a new Creature Now he is not new for substance either in body or soul for he hath the same for substance which he had before God wrought any change but not for state qualitie and condition for in regard of new qualities infused into his heart and minde from God he is called a new Creature or a new man veteri illa conditione abolita as Beza Beza in loc his old condition being abolished Ephes 4.22.23.24 Thus Ephes 4.22 23 24. mention is made of putting off the old man and putting on the new man This old man is said to be corrupt according to the deceitfull lusts That is he is denominated an old man from vicious qualities and that corrupt state of nature in which he was born Ephes 2.3 Ephes 2.3 By nature we are children of wrath But the new man is denominated from new and supernaturall qualities in regard of our lapsed estate This new man after God is Created in righteousnesse and true holinesse that is which after or according to Gods Image is renewed and changed by instauration of such qualities in some good measure and degree which we lost in Adam The Scholies Schol Graec from the Greeks have it thus sensed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Veterem hominem non nomina vit ipsam naturam sed operationem peccati veterem vocavit in peccatis c. he calls not nature it self the old man but the corruption of nature for our nature was of old corrupted by the filthinesse of sinne According to which Zanchie upon the place Zanchie in loc Vetus homo est vetus
see him as he is Moses in this life saw but his back parts the Fathers under the Law saw him but in symbolis in certain outward signes of his presence as in the fire in the Cloud in the smoak or the like but we shall see him clearly as he is 2 Cor. 5.6 7. 2 Cor. 5.6 7. We know that whilest we are at home in the Body we are absent from the Lord for we walk by faith and not by sight but then we shall see what we have beleeved yea him in whom we have beleeved which whilest we have but mortall eyes of flesh and bodies subject to sinne and infirmitie you have heard vve cannot do And vvhereas it is said the Sunne shall be no more thy light by day c. but the Lord shall be thine everlasting light which farre exceeds the light of the Sunne yet vve cannot hence conclude infallibly that those Planets and naturall Lights of Heaven shall totally cease and perish but comparatively they may be said to shine no more in regard of that unspeakable splendor which God shall give in glory in the presence of all his Elect so that the Sunne shall be no more necessary to them in that manner it was whilest they vvere upon the earth But in that God shall make a new Heaven it is not probable that this new Heaven shall be lesse adorned than the old one or lesse glorious The Starres are integrall parts of Heaven they are densiores partes Orbis the thicker or more compact parts of their Orbes for if the Corpus stellarum or body of the Stars were aequae 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or tralucidum equally translucent to the rest of their Orbes then would they neither receive keep or give any more light than the rest of the Orbes do Aristotle lib. 2. Arist lib. 2. de Coelo cap. 7. de Coelo cap. 7. shewes that they have eandem essentiam naturam cum Coelo the same Essence and nature vvith the Heavens eadem materiâ forma constant cienturque eodem motu they consist of the same matter and forme and are also moved with the same motion therefore if the Heavens be made new and more glorious than they are now shall not these as parts of them be so too Matth. 24.29 and if so then not totally abolished Yea but Matth. 24.29 the Starres shall fall from Heaven Apoc. 6.13 and Apoc. 6.13 the Starres of Heaven fell unto the Earth as a Figg-tree casteth her untimely Figgs vvhen she is shaken of a mightie vvinde And Heaven departed away as a Scroll vvhen it is rolled and every Mountain and Island vvere moved out of their places c. This latter allegation seems to me to have been taken from Isaiah Isa 34.4 All the Host of Heaven shall be dissolved and the Heavens shall be rolled together as a Scroll and all their Host shall fall down as the Leaf falleth off from the Vine and as a falling Figg from the Figtree And if so then these integrall parts shall be abolished for vvhen God shall shake both Heaven and earth as Heb. 12.26 Yet once more and I shake not the earth onely but also the Heaven c. and you may alledge that God by his power is as able to shake the Stars out of the Orbs of Heaven as the winde the Figgs from the Figtree or Leaves from the Vine To these allegations I would give satisfaction in order concerning the Starres and Planets of Heaven for as for the bodie of Heaven we have answered already First then to the allegation Matth. 24.29 The Starres shall fall from Heaven The Ancient Divines have differed upon the sense of these vvords so also have the Modern And how the Sunne and Moon shall be darkned we may more easily conceive then how the Starres shall fall for they may become so either by great and fearfull Ecclipses or nubium obtectione or innatae lucis privatione or majoris luminis obscuratione by being deprived of their innate light or by being obscured by some greater light as by the glorious coming of Christ Chrysost exposit 1. 2. But by whether of these two later Chrysostome is not at one with himself as may appear in Expositione prima secunda Yet Astrologers say that Sol Luna simul Ecclipsim naturalem pati non possunt Secondly its observable that in the Prophets vvhen any great fearfull day of the Lord by executing of his terrible judgements upon any people or Nation vvas at hand they expressed it by these termes all which judgements vvere specimina quaedam extremi judicii certain examples and patterns of the last and great judgement as upon those of Tyrus of Babylon of Aegypt of the Jews Idumaeans or the like For Tyrus and Zidon and the Coasts of Palestine vvhen God threatens recompence to them for what they had done to his Church which he takes as done to himself If ye recompence me c. he saith Ioel 3.15 Ioel. 3.15 The Sunne and the Moon shall be darkned and the Starres shall vvithdraw their shining which shall be signes of Gods wrath and anger so that the Creatures Lamps of light should be suspended from yeelding that comfortable light and Service unto sinners vvhich formerly they did For Babylon Isaiah 13.10 Isai 13.10 The Starres of Heaven and the Constellations thereof shall not give their light The Sunne shall be darkned in his going forth and the Moon shall not cause her light to shine For Aegypt Ezekiel 32.7 8. Ezek. 32.7 8. And vvhen I shall put thee out I will cover the Heaven and make the Starres thereof dark I vvill cover the Sunne vvith a Cloud and the Moon shall not give her light All the bright Lights of Heaven will I make dark over thee and set darknesse upon thy Land saith the Lord God Ioel 2.10 For the Jews Ioel 2.10 The Sunne and the Moon shall be dark and the Starres shall withdraw their shining Esa 34.4 5. For Idumaea Isa 34.4 5. amongst the rest of the Enemies of the Church of God they were to be punished and then saith he all the Hoast of Heaven shal be dissolved and the Heavens shall be rolled together as a Scroll and all their Host shall fall down as a Leaf falleth from the Vine c. Musc in loc Thirdly concerning the Starres falling from Heaven Musculus is of opinion that they shall fall indeed quid opus est disputare de modo quo ventura sunt haec signa to what end should we despute of the manner how these signes should come to passe saith he Of the same judgement is Bucer and some others Bucer in verba Yet judicious Calvin Calvin in loc and many other learned Divines are not of this judgement that the Starres shall really be separated from their Orbs. Stellas non reipsa casuras intelligit sed secundùm hominum sensum ideò apud Lucam tantùm praedicit
fore signa in Soli Luna Stellis sensus ergò est tantam fore machinae coeli concussionem ut Stellae ipsae cadere putentur c. his meaning is not that the Starres shall fall indeed but they shall seem to fall in mans apprehension and the reason he renders is in Luke 21.25 where he onely foretels that there shall be signes in the Sunne the Moon and the Starres the meaning therefore is that there shall be so great a concussinn or jumbling or shaking of the Fabrick of Heaven that the Stars themselves may be thought to fall Some of the Rabbins think that men shall be so perplexed that they shall verily think that the Starres are a falling from Heaven and take no comfort from any light of those golden Firebals as I may terme them Others think that the fierie Meteors shall fall in such abundance at that time that the Starres of Heaven shall be thought indeed to fall which yet shall but be Stellae cadentes such fierie meteors as we call falling-Starres The School Divines that are Aristotelians for their Philosophie are much bent against the reall falling of the Stars from their Orbs which though they must needs grant with the Text that they shall fall yet they dispute the modus or manner how and will not be brought off naturall reason in the contemplation of a miraculous and supernaturall work to grant that the Starres shall fall à fitu from their scituation in their Orbs any more then the Orbs themselves seeing that they are parts of them and therefore have distinguished about the manner of their falling as God willing we shall hear True it is if we respect Gods absolute power and miraculous and supernaturall way of working he can pull the knots out of the Timber and yet the rest of the substance remain Thus God can cause the Starres to fall from their Orbs and yet the Orbs remain And as you have heard he can more easily do this then the violent winde can cause the Figges to fall from the Figtree And if with Musculus Bucer and some others we should go this way I cannot conceive the consequence in Divinitie to be of any great danger Now if we go a Philosophicall and rationall way to work as do the School Divines then we must rather incline to their non separation à situ as keeping us within he sphaer of naturall reason above which Divinity often goes For first if they should fall then must their fall of necessitie be towards the earth and if so then shall their motus be deorsum downward which is contrary to their naturall motion which we know is motus circularis a circular motion as the motion of the Heavens is from which the Philosopher proves that Coelum est corpus simplex Arist lib. 1. de Coelo text 8. because it hath motum simplicem a simple motion and that circular keeping an equall distance from its Center Not rectus a straight motion such as have the Elements nor compositus a compound motion such as mixt bodies and Elementary have For from the motion the Philosopher would conclude that the matter of the Heavens is quinta quaedam essentia a certain quintessence and not ejusdem materiae cum inferioribus of the same matter with these inferiour bodies Indeed many of the ancient Philosophers before Aristotles time were of opinion that the Heavens were of Elementary nature he was the first that made this opinion famous in the Schools that the Heavens were of a quintessence differing from the nature of the Elementary bodies And divers Divines there are that opine the heavens to be of the same matter with sublunary bodies as well as did many of the Ancient Philosophers Averroes lib. 1. de coelo text 7. Averroes lib. 1 de coelo text 7. would needs be so subtile that he would allow no matter at all to be in the Heavens but this opinion is so grosse that its contrary to common experience and sense The greatest argument by which the Philosopher would prove his quintessence is this quaecunque materiâ communicant Arist de gen corruptione lib. 1. cap. 1. text 1. ea ad invicem transmutantur At coelum inferiora ad invicem non transmutantur Ergò And quae non sic transmutantur dissimili constant materia Those bodies that commumunicate in the same matter may be changed one into another as Elementary bodies we see are which are in a capacitie of the successive receiving of more forms than one But the Heavens not so but their matter is in potentia tantum ad formam suam primo à Deo inditam Onely to their first forme which God first gave them and this was never changed since the first Creation as the forms of other sublunary Bodies have been and thus he thought it should still continue that the Heavens should be eternall and immortall and never be dissolved Again it was conceived that if the matter should be the same both of the Heavens and the Element of Fire contiguous to it or next unto the sphear of the Moon that then the Element of Fire might kindle in the sphear of the Moon and so Heaven might suffer from the fire and the fire from it c. Scalig exer 61. To which Scaliger makes answer Exercitat 61. Coeli verò forma non agit in haec inferiora per univocas qualitates cum his inferioribus qualitatibus The forme of Heaven works not upon these inferiour bodies by such qualities as are univocall with these inferiour qualities And the naturc of the Elemenrary fire is so pure that it burns not nor consumes any part of Heaven nor is hurt by any part of Heaven but is rather conserved and nourished by the circular motion of it therefore need not the contiguitie to the sphaere or concavo Lunae be feared Scalig exer 9. Scaliger exercit 9. Non enim Coelo inimicus est cui obesse profectò nequit ulla vi it s no Enemy to Heaven which in very deed it cannot hurt by any force it hath And he adds in Coelo nulla est affectio ejusdem generis cum iis affectionibus quae in igne insunt in Heaven there is no disposition of the same kinde with those dispositions that are in the Element of fire Non erit item effectio contrariorum therefore there is not the effect of contraries Contraria namque sub eodem genere sunt Nemo igitur qui sit bonus metaphysicus dixit materiam coeli ab ignis qualitatibus destrui posse c. Contraries are under the same genus true say the Logicians either proximo or remoto therefore none saith he that are expert in Metaphysicks will say that the matter of the Heavens can be destroyed by the qualities of fire The reason the Peripatetiques urge is because they are not of the same common matter but that he sleights but with no great strength of Argument as farre as
species shall be renewed Gasper Olevianus in cap. octavum ad Rom. having made the questionâ— what that earnest expectation and hope of the Creature here spoken of should be Answers certum est non esse nihil alioqui spiritus sanctus tot et tam significantibus verbis non esset usus it is certain that it is not nothing otherwise the spirit of God would not have used so many significant words as it hath but seeing that the Creatures some of them want sense others reason they caÌ„not properly be said to expect or to hope as we do as you have heard before but these are metaphoricall speeches borrowed from the reasonable Creature ad exprimendum occultum illum instinctum a Deo inditum quò feruntur ardenti veluti quodam desiderio ad sui instaurationem qui tamen instinctus cum Dei opus sit non minus firmus est et constans quam si claros gemitus ducerent adeò ut Creaturae quae tacent clament saith he to expresse that secret instinct that is put into them from God by which they are carried as with a certain ardent desire to their restauration which instinct seeing it is the work of God is no lesse firm and constant then if they plainly groaned so that the Creature that is silent may be said to crie out or utter a sound And even as the point of a Needle in a Dyall being touched with a Loadstone hath a constant and continuall inclination towards the North yea though a man be farre remote from it that carryeth it and in the darkest and lowest Cavern of the earth and himself knows not which is the North point yet will the point of the Needle thus touched still incline that way by the secret operation of nature though it have no reason Thus the Creature being touched by an instinct of nature or naturall appetite of liberation put into it from God it hath a metaphoricall hope of attaining it which works constantly in it and in which it remains with vehement desire and expectation though it want reason yea though like the Needle touched with the Loadstone it want sense Divers others I might easily produce who concurre with the same judgement And as D. Willet hath rightly observed as you have heard before it is the most generally received opinion And howsoever Estius argue the point to and fro yet he saith Estiê° in cap. 8. ad Rom. Nota est Theologorum doctrina in resurrectione hominum futuram renovationem totius creaturae c. that doctrine or opinion of Divines saith he is known that when man shall rise again there shall be a renovation of the whole Creature Aquin. in supp ad 3. part sum qu. 74. art 7. in corp Aquinas in suppl ad 3. part summ qu. 74. art 7. in corp Tota creatura suo modò renovabitur The whole Creature in its way or manner shall be renewed And quotes for the ground of his opinion Rom. 8. D. Willet qu. 27. expos 6. ad Rom. 8. yet D. Willet declines this in his 27. qu. upon the Romanes expos 6. and rather falls in with the last rank of the Creatures before mentioned his words are these Therefore it remains that we understand by the Creature onely inanimata insensata things without life and sense as the Heavens the Elements and the earth with the things therein Oecum in loc Oecumenius sensu carentem creaturam The Creature that wanteth sense Beza in loc Beza as you have heard before in the Creatures subjugation by the Creature understands Coelestem machinam et elementarem regionem but not animantia not ejus incolas the fabrick of Heaven and the elementary regions those indeed are insensible and inanimate or without life and soul but he would not have the living Creatures or the indwellers of the world included To the same purpose he quotes Bucan loco 37. qu. 8. Bucan loc 37. qu. 8. with some others yet affirming that the things attributed to the Creature in the context agree to these he seeth something in Verse 22. that may breed some scruple in this his 6. exposition to which he most inclines for there mention is made of the whole Creation or every Creature yea and Verse 20. these only are not the Creatures made subject to vanity therefore he tells us he will give reason or shew why every Creature is there named and yet but these forenamed be partakers of the liberation in qu. 32. D â— 32. but he that reads that will find no great satisfaction from it for having quoted Ambrose Origen Augustine Ambros Origen Augustine from which he dissents in this point and I conceive upon rationall grounds properly and strictly considered and taken he confesseth Peter Martyr and Calvin are both against his sense Martyr Calvin in exposit 6. as indeed they are whose words I have formerly produced These as you have heard with many more are for the sense which he confesseth is most generally received and himself is not very confident of this his sixt Exposition to which he most inclines and though P. Martyr be not clear yet is he rather byassed with the generall opinion and so he conceives of him We will modestly examine his Arguments and Reasons that move his dissent from the most generally received opinion The first is this the Brute Creatures which now onely serve for our necessary use shall not be partakers of the glory of the sonnes of God whence thus those Creatures which are delivered from the bondage of corruption shall be partakers of the glory of the Sonnes of God But Brutes shall not be partakers of the glory of the sonnes of God Ergo. The major is denyed Wherein judicious Calvin might have given satisfaction whose words he also quotes Porro saith Calvin non intelligit consortes ejusdem gloriae fore creaturas cum filiis Dei sed suo modo melioris status fore socios quia Deus simul cum humano genere orbem nunc collapsum in integrum restituet Having considered how the Creature shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the Sonns of God he adds Certainly he doth not mean that the Creatures shall be partakers of the same glory with the Sonnes or Children of God but that in their kinde after such a manner as is sutable to them they shall be partakers of a better estate because God together with mankinde will restore the whole collapsed world to its integrity or to that state God Created it in and in which it stood before man sinned or into a more excellent estate Aquin. paul supra And you heard out of Aquinas a little before in suppl ad tertiam part summ qu. 74. art 7. in corp that tota Creatura suo modo renovabitur the whole creature every creature or the whole Creation shall be renewed after its manner or in such a way as is sutable to the nature of it
he may bestow it upon other parts of the world then onely those which that Doctor names And howsoever many Individuals of every species have and shall perish so likewise have parts of the Elements perished though not the tota so the species of severall Creatures shall continue as long as the Elements that now are shall and why then by the gift of immortalitie may not these species continue of which many Individualls have perished as well as the Elements from whom parts have so much and so often perished His fifth Those Creatures that shall be delivered shall be glorified and immediately passe from their corruptible estate into the glorious libertie of the sonnes of God but the unreasonable Creature not thus Ergo. I answer To be glorified properly is incident to the rationall Creature he onely shall enter into the glory of God in the third Heaven and have the Image of God perfectly renewed in him Secondly the Creature may come into the glorious libertie of the Sons of God and yet be not thus glorified but sutable to its nature immortalized dono gratuito as we have heard and have an Analogie to glorified bodies Again where he saith they fall into corruption and their life and spirit is extinguished with them c. true to all that shall not be renewed this shall come to passe but whether God shall not renew the species of them is adhuc sub judice and to affirm he shall not is but to begge the question and to conclude that for a certaintie which is in controversie And whereas he renders this reason why the Heavens and earth shall rather be restored then the rest of the Creatures namely because they have been from the beginning to the ending subject to vanitie after man had sinned but other Creatures that succeed by generation but a while I answer this had been some reason against the Individuals of the species but against the species none for the species of the Creatures have been as long subject to vanity as they though not their successive individualls His sixth If any such Creatures restored then either the same that were before or some other of the same kinde newly created But neither of these Ergo. I answer this will fall to be handled in the fourth and last ranke of Creatures but in all probabilty not those that are already perished in individualls Secondly we say they shall have a renovation or restauration not a new Creation for substance but shall be renewed in their qualities state and condition as we have heard before His seventh and last Argument produced against the most generally received opinion is this Nulla promissio facta est there is no promise made for the restitution of any such Creatures as there is for Heaven and Earth Ergò they shall not be restored To this I answer that there is a promise as I conceive in generall though not so particularly as for Heaven and Earth For this I conceive a promise as also do many others in that the Scripture saith the Creature shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption Rom. 8.21 into the glorious liberty of the sonnes of God and before the Creature was made subject to vanity But Heaven Earth and man were not all the Creatures that were made subject to vanity Peter Martyr to the same purpose in 8. P. Martyr in Rom. 8. ad Rom. quamvis enim Scriptura harum Creaturarum mentionem seorsim expresse non fecerit satis tamen est quod in genere Creaturas restaurandas significaverit nequè unquà m quicquà m exceperit saith he Although the Scripture make no mention of the Creatures severally and expressely as it doth of Heaven and Earth yet its sufficient that it hath signified that the Creatures shall be restored in generall or indefinitly neither any where hath it made any exception Thus have you seen the Arguments and reasons of that laborious and learned Divine answered upon which reasons and Arguments he dissented as much following Bucan from the most generally received opinion Let us now come to the fourth and last ranke of the Creatures the Heavens the Earth and Mankinde this last ranke many of the School-Divines fall upon which Peter Martyr also mentions in oct ad Rom. thus P. Mart. in 8. ad Rom. Scholastici saith he putant homine qui praecipua est pars Orbis terrarum renovato etiam Creaturas esse restituendas quae sententia verissima est colligitur enim ex dictis Pauli quòd autem ad partes attinet tantum Coelum Elementa hominum corpora putant esse relinquenda The Schoole-men saith he do suppose that man who is the chiefe part of the world being renewed the rest of the Creatures also shall be restored which sentence is most true for it s gathered from the sayings of Saint Paul but concerning what Creatures they think that Heaven the Elements and the bodies of men shall be restored for they thinke that not the Earth onely but also the rest of the Elements shall remain Beda indeed saith glossa in 2. Beda in gloss in 2 Pet. ult Pet. last quòdignis duo ex toto consumet duo verò in meliorem restituet faciem c. that the fire shall totally consume two of the Elements and renue or purifie other two Others thinke quod manebunt omnia quoad substantiam sed mutabuntur quoad imperfectionem sed duo retinebunt propriam formam substantialem scilicet Aer Terra sed in igne aqua non remanebit forma substantialis sed ad formam Coeli commutabuntur sic tria Elementa Ignis Aer Aqua dicentur Coelum quamvis Aer retineat eandem formam substantialem quam nunc etiam habet quia et nunc etiam Coelum dicitur c. That all the Elements shall remaine for substance but shall be changed from their imperfection but yet two of them that is to say the Aire and Earth shall retain their own substantiall forme but in the fire and water that substantiall forme shall not remaine but shall be changed into the forme of Heaven and so three of the Elements Fire Aire and Water shall be called Heaven although one of these that is to say the Aire may retaine the same substantiall forme which now it hath and because now the Aire is called Heaven And this they would collect from Apoc. 21. Apoc. 21.1 1. because mention is made onely of Heaven and earth but others reject this opinion because say they repugnat Philosophiae quòd corpora inferiora sint in potentia ad formam coeli cum materiam non habent ejusmodi this is repugnant to Philosophie that bodies sublunary should be in capacity to be informed by the forme of Heaven when as they are not of the same matter with the Heavens for so Aristotelians as you have heard It may also resist Theologie in the most generally received opinion for if two of the foure Elements
incorruption as to exempt them from dissolution the fire shall fasten upon them and dissolve them 2 Pet. 3.12 2 Pet. 3.12 The Heavens being on fire shall be dissolved Therefore the nature of the Heavens simply considered makes them not of eternall duration but the gift of immortalitie from God seeing as you have heard immortalitie is merum Dei donum the meer gift of God Again as immortality is liberali ac merum Dei donum the liberall and meere gift of God and not simply from any Principle in nature independently but as such a Principle immortalized as Angells the spirits of men c. which are not defectible in substance from any created nature as naturall or sublunary bodies which are mixt or elementary so God can immortalize any Creature à parte post which he would have to endure forever as well other Creatures as the Heavens For he which made the matter of the Heavens and their forme to satisfie that matter and keepe the matter from privation or appetition of any other forme and thus hath so long continued them without alteration or corruption The same God can as well make the matter and formes of other Creatures immortall sutable to their kinde and by way of Analogie to glorified bodies and the immortall bodies of men as before who are Elevated into a more eminent estate as also before and such an estate as you have heard that irrationalls and insensibles though immortall are not capable of To his second instance in the Elements that have incorruption from their nature in respect of the whole though not in respect of their parts Arist lib. 3. de coelo cap. 3. Arist lib. 3. de coelo cap. 3. handles the nature of them and I conceive of them thus that they are corpora simplicia homogenia ex quibus alia componuntur in quae resolventur The Elements are simple Homogeneall bodies of which all other mixt bodies are compounded and into which again they are resolved these are alterable and corruptible quoad partes but quoad totum he saith they are uncorrupted I answer that though they be quoad totum incorrupta yet are they corruptibilia though as yet they are incorrupted in regard of the whole yet are they corruptible they may be corrupted 2 Pet. 3.12 2 Pet. 3.12 The Elements shall melt with fervent heat 2. I answer that as the Elements are not corrupted quoad totum no more are the species of Brutes Plants or inferiour bodies for though the Individuals and particulars of those severall species be corrupted as parts of the Elements are yet the species themselves shall continue as long as the Elements shall and this aptitude to continue they have from their generall nature given them of God from this therefore it will not follow that they should continue after the day of Judgement any more then the severall species of Creatures besides To the third Man in that he is incorruptible in the one part though not in bodie I answer that corpus etiam hominis ab initio sic factum fuit ut potuit non mori sub conditione gratiae even the body of man was so made in the beginning that it might have continued without a death had a possibilitie of immortalitie and he that made it such in the beginning can make it better in glorifying it at the ending Mart. in loc Secondly I answer with Martyr quôd haec ratio duplici nomine infirma est this position doth vacillate in a double respect First nulla subnixa authoritate verbi Dei à nullis partibus Orbis removet instaurationem it is made out or born up by no authoritie out of the Word of God removing restauration from all the rest of the parts of the world Secondly saith he id quod assumit aequè dubium est atque id quod concluditur that which is assumed is equally as doubtfull as that which is concluded on videlicet ea tantum immortalitate reparanda quae ex institutione ad eum videantur idonea to wit that those Creatures onely are to be repaired by immortality which seem fitted to it from preparation or from the appointing such aptitude to it from nature whereas you have heard that this immortalitie is liberale ac merum dei donum the free and meere gift of God and not from any power of nature created simply considered but God can as well conserve the rest of the parts of the world as he can restore the Elements to immortalitie and by the same power preserve the species and make them immortall or without any more alteration or corruption sutable to their nature as well as the Elements This for dilution of the Arguments and Reasons to establish the fourth rank of the Creatures against the most generally received opinion Estius in 8. ad Rom. For which the most generally received opinion Estius in 8. ad Rom. writes thus Certè Paulus in hac epistola cap. 1. creaturam generaliter accepit semel iterum imò hoc capite generaliter eam intelligit cum dicit Neque creatura alia poterit nos separare à charitate Dei c. truly Paul in this Epistle Rom. 5.25 cap. 1.25 and served the creature more then the Creator hath taken the word creature generally once and again or severall times in severall Chapters Yea and shews how even in this eighth Chapter the word is taken generally as Verse last nor any other Creature shal be able to separate us from the love of God Rom. 8. last Now for the species of the Creatures I would have these things taken into consideration by the judicious Reader First that in the liberation of the Creature not onely the terminus à quò is promised but also the terminus ad quem not onely from what the creature shall be delivered but also into what not onely shall deliverance be from the bondage of corruption for that might be I mean customarie corruption in this life by privation of the beeing of the Creature or by totall abolition but so it should not be delivered as I conceive into the glorious libertie of the Sons of God for this glorious libertie of the Sons of God is the terminus ad quem as well as being freed from the terminus à quo or corruption and misery in this present life which miserie and corruption c. I say was but the terminus à quo If the Scripture had gone no further but onely promised to the Creature that it should be delivered from the bondage of corruption then our argument had not been of so much validitie but it affords more it shall be brought into the glorious libertie of the Sonnes of God but that state it cannot it should not attain to if it had a totall privation of its essence and had no more beeing But being reduced into the glorious libertie of the Sonnes of God it is made immortall in that sense you have heard
that perished lib. 20 de civitate Dei cap. 24. and those were the Aereal Heavens or the regions of it To which I answer that the comparison in Peter is not between the Heavens that then perished and these that now are being indeed for substance still the same but between the world that then was 2 Pet. 3.6 is qui tum erat mundus 2 Pet. 3.6 that is as Beza well hath it Beza in loc aspectabilis ille terrae decor quaecunque animantia in terra degebant iis duntaxat exceptis quae in arca erant inclusa nec enim aquae in coelos redundarunt imò ne ipsa quidam terrae substantia periit sed futurae conflagrationis longe alia erit ratio ideò coelum terram id est rerum universitatem distinctè nominavit in proximo versu that visible comelinesse of the earth and whatsoever living Creatures then was upon it except onely those that were shut up in the Ark neither did the Waters then reach unto the Heavens yea not so much as the very substance of the earth perished But the matter shall be farre otherwise about burning of the world by fire therefore in the next Verse he distinctly named the Heaven and the earth that is the whole world to which the forenamed world was opposed And Beda by the Elements understands all the four Elements Beda in verba yet thinks two onely shall utterly perish that is Fire and Water and other two remain renewed that is the Air and earth called the new Heavens and the new Earth Yet what hath been said against this before shall suffice neither doth this plâ—â—se the Pontificians Others thinke onely three here meant Water Earth Aire because they cannot see how the Element of fire should be consumed by fire To which I would answer with Aquin in suplem ad 3. Aquin in supplem ad 3. part sum qu. 74. art 3. partem summarum qu. 74. art 3. respond ad 1. having shewn that the fire that shall burn the world shal be of the same species with ours he adds non tamen est idem numero notwithstanding it s not the same in all respects with ours And we see saith he that in two fires of the same species one may destroy the other major scilicet minorem the greater the lesse consumendo materiam by consuming the matter of it c. Again loco quo supra Respond ad secundum Loco quo supra Resp ad 2. the fire that shall burn and purge the world shall not have its calefactive power ex principiis essentialibus sed ex divina virâ—ute vel operatione out of its own essentiall Principles as usually it hath but from the Divine power or operation of God in it as his Instrument inabled from him to produce this effect And actio instrumenti magis manifestat virtutem moventis quà m virtutem moti the action of the Instrument rather manifests the power and efficacie of the Mover of it or Worker by it then of it self and the fire which God shall stirre up to purge the world shall have such efficacie in it from him that it shall work beyond the ordinary course of nature and shall be able to melt the Elements and that with fervent heat as S. Peter speaks yet non ad eorum funditus consumptionem sed solum usque ad eorum purgationem not to the totall or utterly abolishing of their substance but to the purging of them from their grosser attracted qualities Neither will that of Gregory hold Greg. magnus who saith in tantum accendet ignis Judicii in quantum ascenderunt aquae diluvii the fire shall burn as high towards heaven as the waters of the Flood ascended but that should be no higher than fifteen Cubits above the high Mountains which would not extend to the melting of all the Elements much lesse to the burning of the Sphaericall Heavens Dr. Willet qu. 29. in 8. Dr Willet qu. 29. in 8. ad Rom. ad Rom. there is not any visible thing that had a beginning but shall also have an ending In which he saith truth and for which the Psalmist will warrant him Psal 102.25 26. Psal 102.25.26 The Heavens are the works of thy hands they shall perish but thou shalt indure they all of them shall wax old like a garment as a vesture shalt thou change them and they shall be changed If any visible thing should escape change these were likest but not these must escape And Heavens are here taken as opposed to the Earth as Gen. 2.1 Gen. 2.1 Thus the Heavens and the earth were finished and all the Host of them Psal 8 3 Psa 8.3 When I consider thy Heavens the work of thy Fingers the Moon and the Starres which thou hast ordained Even these heavens in which are the Moon and the Starres shall perish shall be burned with fire Thus much briefely for the former point that Aethereall Heavens shall burn as well as the Aereall But as we have seen what Heavens shall burn let us a little consider what Heaven shall not burn When I say the Aethereall heavens I mean the Sydereall and all the sphaericalls under the highest or third heaven as the primum mobile and the coelum crystallinum c. but the third heaven I mean not which is the Seat of the Blessed and which was a Creature created the first day Gen. 1.1 Gen. 2.4 Gen. 1.1 and Gen. 2.4 These are the generations of the heavens and the earth Heb. 11.10 when they were created Heb. 11.10 Abraham looked for a Citie which hath Foundations whose Builder and Maker is God This Heaven is corpus supremum immobile incorruptibile amplissimum ac totum lucidum c. First it is a body and a substance though most subtile for that in which bodies are contained its necessarie that that should be corporeall for inter locatum locum inter contentum continens there must be aliqua proportio some proportion between the things contained and the thing containing Now the bodie of Christ is alreadie in the highest heaven and ours shall be howsoever the bodies of Enoch and Eliah now be Secondly quicquid est apertibile est corpus But so was the highest heaven Acts 7.56 Acts 7.56 otherwise Stephen had not seen Christ standing at the right Hand of God if that Heaven had not been opened for howsoever I know that some think there was nulla scissura in coelis no division at all in the Heavens and that miraculum non fuit in coelis sed in Stephani oculis not in the opening of the Heavens but in the eyes of Stephen Others that he saw this in a Vision c. or mentall contemplation not with bodily eyes yet Gual hom 55. in Act. saith Gualter Hom. 55. in Acta Ego haec illi revera visibiliter apparuisse nec mentis duntaxat contemplationi objecta fuisse intelligo I do
should bee taken away Non salvabitur perfectio universi cùm integritate suarum partium The perfection of the universe should not be safe with the integritie of its parts Others therefore by Heaven understands quintum corpus a fift bodie distinct from the Elements and that omnia elementa intelliguntur per te ram all the Elements are understood by the Earth and that all the Elements shall remain both quoad substantiam quoad proprias qualitates both according to their substance and proper qualities or substantiall forms and proper qualities because the proper qualities are effects flowing from their forms it is not like therefore that they should be removed and the forms remaining but that they shall be freed from that infection and impurity cast upon them by reason of the sinne of man and which by mutuall action and passion hath befallen them or from those dispositions by which they were lyable to corruption which is conceived to be the meaning of S. Augustine in the place before quoted Aug. lib. 20. de civit Dei cap. 16. lib. 20. de Civit Dei cap. 16. And for this last rank of Creatures to be renewed not onely Dr. Willet goes this way but many Schoolmen as you have heard some Protestant Divines and some Papists also fall upon this last rank Buc. loc com 37 qu. 8. Rol. Beza as Bucan quoted by him locis communibus loco 37. qu. 8. Roll. locus Scotus in verba Beza to the same purpose with some others of the Protestant Divines For the Pontificians I will onely content my self with Bellarmine which is known to have been a great eminent Schoolman amongst them Bel. Tom. 3. lib. 6. cap. 2. de amiss grat stat pecc Bellarm. tom 3. lib. 6. cap. 2. de amissione gratiae stat pecc tells us that it is the common consent of such as have writ upon the fourth Book of Lombards sentences dist 47. that post diâ—m judicii nullae erunt amplius Plantae nulla animantia nulla corpora mixta hominibus duntaxat exceptis after the day of Judgement there shall be no more any Plants no living Creatures no mixt Bodies except onely men His reason is this Neque enim perpetuò duratura sunt nisi quae vel in toto vel ex parte incorruptionem ab ipsa natura sortita sunt ejusmodi autem sunt primùm corpora coelestia quae secundum totum secundum partes incorruptibilia sunt Deinde elementa quae secundum totum licet non secundum partes à natura incorruptionem habent Denique homines qui secundum partem quae est anima rationalis non secundum totum immortales sunt Caetera corpora sunt omnia tum in toto tum in partibus corruptibilia saith he For there are not any perpetually to endure but onely such as have obtained incorruption from their nature either wholy or in part but such especially are the Caelestiall bodies that are incorruptible both in the whole and in the parts of them Afterwards the Elements that have incorruption from their nature according to the whole though not according to every part of them Finally men which according to that part which is the reasonable soule are incorruptible or immortall though not according to the whole of them All the rest of the Creatures are corruptible saith he both according to the whole and according to the parts of them This was the way I told you that many Schoolmen fell into Comment in 4 Lib. sent Lomb. especially those upon Lombard in librum 4. sen as he also saith loco quo supra To this I need not say much more then what I have said in answer to the Arguments of Willet who hath produced the most if not all the reasons upon which Bellarm. and the rest dissent from the most generally received opinion Concerning immortality or aptitude thereunto by nature See the answer to Dr. Willets 4. Argument And I also answer unto the severall instances brought by Bellarmine first to the Heavens that are simple or a simple Body in which is no contrarietie of qualities I answer with Scaliger de subtilitate exercitat 61. lib. 5. Scalig. de subtil ad cardam exerc 61. l. 5. Omne ens ab alio est per se corruptibile etiam si nullam habet materiam est enim finitum every being from another is corruptible by its self yea though it have no matter in it or be not materiall and therefore shows that the Heavens may be said to be corruptible though they were immateriall Licet enim non habeat contrarium non tamen habet causam à se essendi potest igitur è sua natura non esse et paulò post quod enim actus purus non est compositum aliquo modo est ergò et resolubile Although that Heaven have no contrary in it yet notwithstanding it hath no cause of being from it selfe therefore may it come to a non-being from its own nature And a little after he saith That which is no pure act in some respect may be said to be a compound and by consequence resoluble therefore even the Angels that are not such acts considered in their own nature might faile because they may be said to have potentiam et actum in them which are instar materiae et formae in other Creatures their gift of confirmation in their integrety is from God and that which hath its being depending of the being of another if that beeing upon whom its beeing doth depend substract its assistance then the beeing dependant must needs fail and fall but such are the Beings of all Creatures upon God who onely hath immortalitie dwelling in himself as you have heard The souls of men are immortall but as you have also heard from a better Principle then from themselves they are made immortall from God being Spirits of such an excellent nature there is no Creature that can change their Being so as to annihilate it nay God hath decreed they shall be to eternitie but he never did so concerning these Heavens Yet if we respect potentiam Dei absolutam and not ordinatam then there is not any created Being but he were able to reduce it to a non-entitie but having decreed otherwise it shall not be in such upon which the Decree is past but their nature and substance shall remain for ever upon which he hath passed such a Decree take it for granted that the matter of the Heavens are ex quinta essentia peripatetica and that the Heavens be not corrupted à contrario naturali from any contrarie quality in nature as are the Elements Yet saith Scaligâ—r loco quò suprà Coelum corrumpitur à nutu Divino Scalig. loc quo supra the Heavens shall be corrupted from Gods power command So then these heavens are not immortall but shall be dissolved as well as other bodies their nature is not so freed from