restored And for further illustration of this place that in Esa 60.19 Esa 60.19 may come up to helpe us the Sunn shall be no more thy light by day neither for brightnesse shall the Moon give light unto thee but the Lord shall be unto thee an everlasting light and thy God thy glory Which place must first be conceived as the learned observe of that great light and prosperity that shall be in the Church under the state of the new Testament when both Jews and Gentiles were to have the knowledge of the everliving God and when the knowledge of the true God should be spread over the earth as the waters cover the Sea but then the aeternity and perfection of this excellency was to be compleated when God should make new Heavens and a new Earth in those glorious Mansions where a farre more glorious light then the Sunn of the firmament shall shine and whereas then there shall be dies unus perpetuus nox nulla one perpetuall day and no night at all that light and excellency that shall shine and flow out to the sonns of God in the state of the new Testament both in spirituall knowledge and divine graces is but as a glimpse of their glory and excellency which shal be compleated in the life to come And some Divines I find who call this their excellency under the state of the new Testament whether for time we referre it to the primative or Apostolique Church as some or to the middle times as others or to the latter times as a third or to all these from Christs time to the last in their severall degrees and in times when the Church had her Lucida intervalla her halcion dayes or dayes of free professing of the Gospel not in her times of the storme beating by generall persecutions or darkning by the clouds of affliction as a fourth this their spirituall excellency I say under the state of the new Testament they call typum a type or figure or resemblance of that excellency and glorious estate of the Sonns of God in the life to come wherein the excellency of their estate shall fully appeare so that the Prophets sometimes make a transition from the one to the other and promise to the Church in its compleat estate in regard of sanctity and freedome from sinne those things that shall in their height and perfection be obtained in the state of glory which you have heard in this life may be resembled or shadowed out 1 Cor. 13.9 1 Cor. 13.9 10. For we know in part and prophesie in part but when that which is perfect is come then that which is in part shall be done away And he adds in the 11. and 12. Verses when I was a child I spake as a child I understood as a child I thought as a child but when I became a man I put away childish things for now we see through a glasse darkly but then face to face now I know in part but then shall I know even as also I am known We know in part parum enim ex multo cognoscimus Versio Syriac per Trem. as the Syriacke version by Tremelius for we know but a little of much we know but here after an imperfect manner in comparison of what we shall know there Our knowledge here is but compared to Childhood in regard of a perfect and well instructed man The knowledge of a Child is but small even so small and weake is our knowledge in this life in comparison of what we shall have in the life to come Here we discern Divine truths more darkely there we shall discerne them more clearly and fully And where it is here said that we know in part Non est sensus doctrinam salutis nos tantum ex parte non integram habere proinde revelationibus aut traditionibus aliis opus esse Nequaquam sed est collatio praesentis et futuri status circa cognitionem Dei et rerum divinarum Etenim summa hujus vitae scientia nihil est ad futuram perfectionem collata Paraeus in loc as Paraeus hath it This is not the meaning of the words as though the doctrine of salvation were but had of us in part and not wholly and that therfore we should stand in need of other revelations or traditions to make it out not so but collation or comparing of our estate in this life present with that which is to come cōcerning the knowledge of God and Divine things For the chiefest knowledge that we have in this life is nothing in comparison of that perfection we shall attain unto in the life that is to come We prophesie but in part in comparison of the excellent light clearnesse of judgement in Divine mysteries that we shall attaine unto then for when that which is perfect shall come then that which is imperfect shal be done away not corruptivè or destructivè but absorptivè ac perfectivè not quite abolished corrupted or destroyed but swallowed up into that knowledge which is more excellent and more perfected even as childhood is swallowed up of youth or youth into a perfect man or as Chrysostom gives it Chrysost in verb. Non abolebitur scientia ut nulla sit sed desinet esse imperfecta this knowledge which we now have in part shall not be absolutely abolished that it be none at all but it shall cease to be imperfect Even as that knowledge which a man hath in any liberall Art or Science when he is but Bachellour in Arts and when he knowes them but in part is not totally abolished when he proceeds to be Master in them but swallowed up into greater knowledge and perfected so our knowledge in part or imperfect knowledge of Divine mysteries in this life of that excellent and perfect knowledge in the next life Now vve see but as in a Glasse more darkly then more clearly And as in a Glasse the nudae species rerum apparentium as the naturall Philosophers speak the nudae species or likenesses of things are but to be seen not the things themselves Here we see Gods vvisdome in his Works his power his excellencie here vve know that his Son vvas incarnate that he made all things of nothing and the like but this vve know not perfectly till vve shall see God himself face to face and know as vve are known namely of God himself 1 Iohn 3.2 for 1 Iohn 3.2 We shall see him as he is non comprehendendo totam essentiam sed conspiciendo per modum ineffabilem habendo imaginem Dei perfectè renovatam labemque omnem totaliter deletam ac deperditam not by comprehending his whole Essence for that is beyond the sphaere of the abilitie of any Created and finite nature but by the beholding of him after an ineffable manner having the Image of God perfectly renewed in us and all spott or contagion of sinne totally taken away from us and destroyed for untill then we cannot
they shall then be so changed and freed from their former corruptible estate and so refined and qualified with new qualities with a new estate and condition that in this respect they may be called a new Heaven and a new Earth Esa 65.17 But let us yet drive the naile a little farther Esa 65.17 Ego creaturus sum Coelos novos et Terram novam neque commemorabuntur haec priora neque venient in animum behold I create new Heavens and a new Earth and the former shall not be remembred nor come into minde Creation is ex nihilo therefore if God create new Heavens it may be urged that the former as also the Earth shall be totally abolished and so be no more remembred nor come into his minde To which for answer first take the Geneva note Nota Genevensis I will so alter and change the state of my Church namely in the time of Christ under the state of the new Testament that it shall seem to dwell in a new world So divers conceive this Place meant of the excellent gifts that shall be in great abundance in the time of the new Testament when he shall make such a restauration as if Heaven and Earth were changed or made new Esa 25.6 7 8. this is more fully expressed Esa 25.6.7.8 where by corporall things he sets out spirituall blessings In this mountaine shall the Lord of hosts make unto all people a feast of fat things c. yet this seemes not to be the compleat sense of the place neither shall all those blessings be fully attained and in their highest perfection and degree untill God shall make a new Heaven and a new Earth after the day of judgement and when things shall have their renewing for such a new Heaven and new Earth God shall make as we learne from Saint Peter after the former Heaven and Earth shall be burnt with fire 2 Pet 3.13 and that he promised to make such and what promise finde we so plaine as this in the fore-cited place of Esa 2. if the word creation be urged farther for the new Heavens and Earth which shall be after the destruction of the first I answer Esa last 22. God saith he will make the new Heavens and the new Earth and that they shall remaine before him 2. 2 Cor. 5.17 Cor 5.17 If any any man be in Christ he is nova creatura a new Creature A new Creature not in regard of substance as we have heard but in regard of qualities divine habits or qualities which are infused into him from God they grow not out of the accursed soyl of nature but are spirituall and divine qualities created of God or by him by which man is so changed that he is called a new Creature Creation if we take it properly est motus ex nihilo adesse a making something of nothing thus God made Heaven and Earth as we have heard of nothing Gen 1.1 Gen. 1.1 or ex nihilo tali of nothing by nature apt to have any such thing produced of it as to have the body of Adam framed of earth Aquin. in loc or red earth or Eve of a Ribb taken from Adams Side Aquinas comes home to this sense upon the place having quoted that passage in Gal. 6. Gal. 6.15 15. neither circumcision nor uncircumcision but a new Creature ubi notandum saith he quòd innovatio per gratiam dicitur creatura where it is to be observed that the renewing of us by grace is called a Creature yea this renovation is a spirituall creation And whereas creation properly and strictly taken is a production of a thing out of nothing or of a being out of a non-being and whereas there is a two fold being esse naturae et esse gratiae the being of nature and the being of grace the first being was of old corrupted which was our being in nature which we drew from Adam Oportet ergo esse novam creationem per quâm producerentur inesse gratiae it was needfull there should be a new creation saith he by which they should be produced into the being of grace Answerable to which I cōceive that place Ephes 2.10 For we are his workemanship created in Christ Jesus to good works 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 opus as Beza Beza Versio Vulgar factura as the Vulgar his worke or making created in Christ Jesus to good works and ne putaremus Apostolum loqui de primo opere Dei dequè prima creatione qua scilicet omnes nos creat in uteris maternis adjunxit creati in Christo Jesu c. as Zanchie in locum Zanc. in loc least we should suppose the Apostle to speake of the first work of God and of the first creation to witt of that by which we were all created in our mothers wombe he adjoyns created in Christ Jesus For duplex est creatio hominum saith he Prima et Secunda et utraquè in Christo et per Christum there is a double or twofold Creation of men the first and the Second and both of them in Christ and by Christ The former is the substantiall Creation of our Nature the latter the qualitative Creation of our Grace Aretius in loc to which Aretius also assents and more fully illustrates thus Creatura nihil confert ad suum creatorem sed id opus totum est in manu creatoris positum sic regenerandus ad sui regenerationem nihil confert c. even as the Creature brings nothing to his Creator in its Creation so he that is to be regenerated brings nothing with him that makes for his regeneration both are wholly in the Power and the efficiencie of God Regeneratio est opus regenerantis in actu primo it s also opus regenerati in actu secundo Regeneration is the worke of God in the first act it s also the worke of man in the second act In the first man is meerly Passive in regard of God who renews and heales our corrupt nature and subdues our vicious qualities by the infusion of new qualities into each of our faculties and then acti agimus being wrought upon we worke on together with God in actu secundo in the second act Gods grace is the principium a quò man is the subject on which this grace works and is the principium quod as the Schooles use to speake and then both concurre in the production of every holy action and man thus helped by Gods grace he willingly moves himselfe to what is good and by reason of this concurrance of man with God these operations of grace are properly called mans worke not Gods worke as it is thus done by man so that when a man beleeves though his faith be infused by Gods Spirit yet it is exercised by man voluntarily moving himselfe to that act of beleeving and therefore we say that its man that beleeves not the spirit in man for though this habite be
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
Creation may be said to groan and expect when all the species of the Creatures which God created do so And though every Individuall be afflicted for our sakes of the severall species yet it will not necessarily follow that every particular should be restored but the severall kindes or species in so many Individualls as God shall think in his wisdome fitting for then I say every Creature may be said to be restored Peter Martyr in class 3. Pet. Martyr clas 3. loc com cap. 17. sect 24. Idem etiam in 8. ad Rom. loc commun cap. 17. sect 24. as also in cap. 8. ad Rom. when he said that by all sometimes some parts may be synecdochically meant true but still the question remains whether it may be so taken here or no for the whole Creation or every Creature groaning or is subject to vanitie cannot here be meant synecdochically and if the Creature be as large as for any thing to the contrary in the Text seems to me then that will not serve here for it s not said that some creatures shal be delivered or some of the whole Creatiō but having mentioned the whole Creation he adds for a remedy to this The Creature shal be delivered what Creature that which was made subject to vanitie this shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption not all onely of one species or kinde The instances brought by that famous Divine Iohn 10.8 1 Cor. 6.12 Iohn 10.8 1 Cor. 6.12 All that came before me c. All things are lawfull for me are meant onely of an all in such a kinde all false prophets not all Prophets and all things indifferent not all things in any kind without exception Again saith he when Paul saith the Creature shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption posset generaliter intelligi de mundo quod ille non amplius cogendus sit renovare creaturas per novam generationem non tamen ex eo sequitur omnes creaturas quod singulas species attinet esse renovandas they are his own words It may be generally understood of the world that it shall no more be compelled to renew its Creatures by any more new generation yet notwithstanding it will not follow from that that all Creatures that belongs to every species should be renewed True I grant if no more be intimated by the Creatures liberation than a cessation from generation which is by corruption of some other pre-existent matter for its a commonly received truth amongst Philosophers From Arist lib. 1. Arist lib. 2. de gen cor text 17. de gen cor text 17. that generatio unius est corruptio alterius yet this axiome is not to be understood formaliter but causaliter because these two do tend ad diversos terminos but the Apostle saith that they shall have more then a liberation from generation by way of precedanie corruption for they shall also be delivered into the glorious liberty of the children of God as we have observed before And in the conclusion Peter Martyr will not absolutely determine for the most generally received opinion Neither yet for the last rank of the Creatures as Dr. Willet inclines to with some others but Pii igitur animi esse censeo neutram partem pertinaciter affirmare nihil enim habemus alterutram in partem satis certò definitum I judge it to be the part of a godly minde therefore to affirme neither opinion obstinately his reason is because we have nothing certainly enough defined or determined for either opinion true if he mean expressely and in particular otherwise we might again make use of his owne words in 8. P. Mart. in 8. ad Rom. ad Rom. satis tamen est quòd in genere creaturas instaurandas significaverit neque unquam quicquam exceperit though the Scripture mention not their restauration expressely or in particular yet it s enough notwithstanding that it hath signified the Creatures to be restored in generall neither hath any thing any where excepted And if we demand which of the ranks of the Creatures or out of which this renovation shall be he answers loco quo suprà Hoc tamen ausim dicere exillis creaturis quae interierint tantum homines esse excitandos à mortuis De aliis vero creaturis post diem judicii conservandis à coelo terra quarum Scriptura non meminit nihil dicendum arbitror Notwithstanding this I dare be bold to say that of all those Creatures that are already dead or such as have perished before the day of judgement onely men shall be raised again from death but of other Creatures that shall be conserved after the day of Judgement which Creatures the Scriptures have not mentioned I suppose nothing is to be said In particular and expressely they are not mentioned as you have heard but in generall you have heard himself say and without exception which saith he satis tamen est notwithstanding that other Creatures be not so expressely named as heaven and earth is c. yet it s enough they are promised to be delivered in generall and no exception any where made of other sort of Creatures that they shall not be restored any more than of heaven and of earth But how many Individualls God shall renew of every sort that is left to his wisdom and good pleasure as it was when he preserved the severall species at the time of the Flood Paraeus dubio decimo in 8. ad Rom. Paraeus dub 10. in octavum ad Romanos judgeth quòd sit probabile res corruptibiles plerasque omnes abolendas esse its probable saith he that all corruptible Creatures for the greatest part of them shall be abolished for man as you have heard shall stand in need of no ordinary use of them as formerly but God in his wisdome can preserve so many as may I say continue the severall species amongst which there shall be talis concinnus orde so fine so sweet an order and such a disposall of them that there shall neither be redundancy nor deficiencie Tale fore temperamentum concinnum ordinem ut nihil deforme vel fluxum appareat as you have seen before out of Calvin upon the place Calvin in loc there shall be such a moderation and fine order amongst the Creatures that shall be restored that nothing shall appear either foul or superfluous or ill-favoured or unstable which is enough for us to know in this life Now for the use of the Creatures that shall be restored though it shall not be for any common necessitie as before yet may it be for an use of ineffable excellency wherein the multifarious wisdome of God in regard of the Objects upon which it s shown may appear and remain as upon record in the severall and great variety of the species for ever Vt delectationi visionis intellectualis addatur delectatio visionis sensualis ut Ioan. de combis lib. 7. comp Theol.
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
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
Creature to vanitie a little more in some particulars The Earth we know is cursed for our sakes or for sin in Adam Gen. 3.17 Thorns and Thistles that was to bring out unto us Maledicta sit terra propter te Cursed is the earth for thy sake Thorns and Thistles shall it bring out unto thee It is smitten with barrennesse as the Psalmist speaks A fruitfull land makes he barren for the wickednesse of those that dwell therein It s made also subject to corruption and destruction for howsoever Salomon saith That the earth abides forever Eccles 1.4 Eccles 1.4 his meaning is not that it abides for ever sub statu jam habito in that state and condition it s now in for that is contrary to S. Peter 2 Pet. 3.10 2 Pet. 3.10 Terra et quae in ea sunt opera exurentur The earth with the works therein shall be burnt up Iunius reads it in seculum for a long time which comparatively may be said to be for ever in respect of many other Creatures that are of much lesse continuance And as for the Air See Psa 78.69 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in seculum Iunius Leolâ—m it s often distempered by contagious or filthy vapours extremitie of cold or burning heat darkned by Clouds moistened by Rain and the like The Seas are tumbled and tossed to and and fro with vehement windes and tempests Ovid. lib. 1. Trist eleg 2. Ovid. lib. 1. Trist Eleg. 2. Me miserum quanti montes volvuntur aquarum Iam jam tacturos sidera summa putes I would English it as near as I could out of the words of the Prophet Psal 107.25 Psa 107.25 26 26. For he commandeth and raiseth the stormy winde which lifteth up the Waves thereof they mount up to Heaven Then the Poet addes Iam jam tacturos tartara nigra putes the Prophet thus They go down again to the depth c. The Sunne Moon and Starres are forced to serve the sonnes of Belial and such as are prophane men are subject to extraordinary Ecclipses and darknesses and at the comming of Christ at that great and fearfull day Matth. 24.29 Matth. 24.29 The Sunne shall be darkned and the Moon shall not give her light and the Starres shall fall from Heaven and the Powers of heaven shall be shaken and then the Creature that was made subject to vanitie shall be delivered from it The sublunary both by Land and Sea are subject to corruptions diseases and infirmities death and many changes are taken and destroyed not onely for necessitie and the relief of man but for superfluitie and needlesse pomp and vanitie so that no wonder if the Creature groan and desire to be freed from this slavery under which it was cast by mans disobedience Of which hereafter But seeing that the Air is become troubled the Heavens darkned the Earth barren the Sea incumbred the sensible Creature diseased weakned and often changed in its severall Individualls this should humble man when he considers that for his sinne all this miserie mutability and vanity befell all these Creatures all that God brought to him put him in possession of and made him Lord over for his disobedience to the Creator of both came this misery upon the Creatures yea over those Flocks that he is Owner of His Sheep perish by the rott his greater Cattell by the Murrain and many the like diseases his Fruits are tainted and unserviceable the Springs become cold the Harvests unseasonable the Clouds drie or without water or else weep and wash the face of the Earth and often thus do disadvantage the Inhabitants thereof Secondly see the odiousnesse of sinne in that God did not onely punish man the Creature that offended but such other Creatures also as were made for mans use to refresh his Senses feed his Body be his Servants in obeying that Dominion which God gave him over them and in punishing the Creatures and mans Possession by which he should be relieved he also by consequent punisheth man You have heard how he makes a Land that is fruitfull become barren for the wickednesse of the Owners And I fear with S. Augustine that many grieve for the barrennesse of their Lands more then for the barrennesse of their lives yea and are more sensible of the losse of their Cattell then of the losse of Gods countenance it takes a deeper impression in them they are more stirred and moved at it and indeed many of them may say as Laban did of his Idols Gen. 31.30 Gen. 31.30 their gods are gone or as Iudah said of Iacob Gen. 44.30 Gen. 44.30 anima illius hujus animae devincta est His life is bound up in the Lads life so their mundane life may be said to be bound up in the life and increase of their Goods if these die or decay their life is vexed in them and they crie out bitterly and say they are undone utterly as though the arm of the Lord were shortned and as though it were not easie with the Lord to make a poor man rich again Prov. 10.22 Proverbs 10.22 Benedictio Domini facit divites The blessing of the Lord maketh rich and though they labour to regain or restore what they lost with tears as Esau did his Birth-right Heb. 12.17 Heb. 12.17 yet can they not say to the God of Jacob as Esau did to his father Isaac Gen. 27.38 Gen. 27.38 An benedictio unica tibi est Pater mi Hast thou but one Blessing O my Father So hath but God one way or means to bestow the Blessing of Goods upon men Happy were men if they could considerately say with Iob Iob. 1.21 Iob 1.21 Naked came I out of my Mothers womb and naked shall I return thither the Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away blessed be the Name of the Lord. The Sabeans Chaldeans Fire and Winde had taken away yet they did it but instrumentally God permitted this and had a hand of Providence in it so should man conceive of his losses and crosses he should labour to see Gods hand in them and be humbled and consider that God can do to him as to Ioseph when evill was intended against him God turned it to good Gen. last 20. Genes last 20. And of this odiousnesse of sinne by which Possessions come to be punished as well as Persons and the Owners of them we may see Gen. 7.21 Expiravit itaque omnis caro And all flesh died that moved upon the earth Gen. 6.17 for so the Lord had threatned Genes 6.17 And Exod. 9.3 Exod. 9.3 the hand of the Lord was upon the Cattell of the Aegyptians that were in the field upon the Horses upon the Asses upon the Camels upon the Oxen and upon the Sheep a grievous Murrain light upon them Exod 9.25 And Exodus 9.25 the Hail smote every Herb of the field and brake every Tree of the field And Verse 31. Vers
to be reduced into nothing yet notwithstanding the very alteration of their nature if I may so speak shall consume and take away that which is mortall and corruptible in them that they shall begin to be others yea new Heavens According to some others the words are conceived on conditionally as thus if God so please because they conceive it absurd to think that the Heavens are subject to corruption But this condition rather hinders the sense than otherwise saith he Deinde falso coelis tribuunt immortalem statum quos Paulus non secus ac terram aliasque creaturas gemere parturire dicit usque ad diem redemptionis eo quod subjectae sint corruptioni non sponte vel natura sed quia homo se praecipitans totum mundum in ejusdem ruinae societatem secum traxit Moreover they do untruly attribute to the Heavens a state of immortalitie which Paul saith do groan and desire deliverance no otherwise than the earth and other Creatures unto the day of redemption in so much as they are made subject to vanitie not willingly or by any naturall inclination but because that man casting himselfe headlong from his happie estate in which he was Created drew the whole world to share with him in his ruine to be subject to vanity and corruption as well as he These two things then are to be holden Nunc obnoxios esse Coelos corruptioni propter hominis lapsum ita renovatum iri ut meritò Propheta dicat perituros quia non iidem erunt sed alii The Heavens are now subject to corruption by reason of the sinne of man and are so to be renewed as that the Prophet might justly say they shall perish because they shall not be the same but others others not for substance but for quality As before also you have heard that this was communior sententia the more common opinion He that would see the judgement of particulars Vossius Thesi qua supra let him but read Gerardus Joh. Vossius Thesi qua supra who herein hath saved me much labour in quoteing both the Greek and Latine Divines for this opinion with whom Calvin you hear and most of our sound Modern Divines do agree too many to be particularized in such a Cloud of Witnesses would overspread much clean Paper All of them shall wax old as a Garment as a Vesture shalt thou change them and they shall be changed They shall wax old as a Garment respectu durationis or continuati temporis in regard of duration or continuance of time at least if not respectu imminutionis or defectus virium naturalium if not in respect of any impairing or deficiencie of their naturall strength in this respect a garment may be said to wax old namely in regard that its long since it was made though it be not decayed or much worse for wearing yet we say in this sense that its an old Sute because long since it was made though it appear not old in regard of decay or any deficiency in the Woof but in this sense may be as good as a new one Deut. last 7. Moses was old duratione but not immunitione as we say See Deut. last 7. Moses was an hundred and twenty years old yet naturall strength not abated And as a Vesture shalt thou change them and they shall be changed Now a vesture may be changed two wayes either totaliter abolendo or accidentaliter commutando either by the totall taking of it away as burning of it or casting of it aside c. as of no more use or else by an accidentall change of it as washing of it scouring of it dressing of it or colouring of it anew or the like this is to change a vesture but it is but an accidentall change of it the substance is still the same The like change is cōceived to be had in the Heavens Dyonys Carthsianus in loc Dionysius Carhusianus in verba Nec coelum nec terra peribit substantialiter sed peribunt in fine mundi quantum adesse formae accidentalis quoniam alium statum hebebunt quà m modo c. Neither shall the Heavens nor the earth perish in regard of their substance but they shall be accidentally changed in the end of the world for after the judgement day they shall be put into another state or condition then that in which they now are and not changed as Ioseph changed his garment or vesture when he appeared before Pharaoh Gen. 14.14 Gen. 41.14 Taking new for substance and casting away the old mutatâ veste so changed he his raiment To that in the Hebrews the same answer may be given seeing its but the repetition of the same thing Iob. 14.12 To that in Iob Vsquedum non erunt coeli Till the Heavens be no more So man lyeth down and riseth not till the Heavens be no more I answer some more Philosophically than Theologically conceive of it thus That even as the Heavens by their own nature and Principles are such that they of themselves would never decay but be for ever even so likewise man lying down in the grave by nature or his own strength would not arise again or could so arise till the Heavens were no more or ceased to be and that they conceived would be never because the Heavens would never cease to be Secondly others that are for a totall abolition they would understand it thus that at the last day when the generall resurrection shall be then shall the visible and sphaericall Heavens totally perish and then shall man arise again and till then he shall not Thirdly and lastly most thus Till the heavens be no more not simpliciter but secundùm statum praesentem not of simply or absolutely being no more at all but no more according to that present state and condition in which they now are and to which the sin of man hath made them subject 2. Pet 3.7 2 Pet. 3.7 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Qui vero nunc sunt coeli ac terra The heavens and the earth that now are till they be no more in the same state or condition they are in now but changed for qualitie or condition into better when they shall be refined and purged by burning Even as when we see a lump of Mettall melted be it of Gold Silver Lead Tinne or any other the drosse we know is taken out and the substance is thereby refined but yet the same substance still remains so may we also conceive of the Heavens when they shall be burned and purged And thus much may serve for answer to the first Argument Luke 21.33 To the second Luke 21.33 Coelum terra transibunt Heaven and earth shall passe away Matthew hath it thus Matth. 5. Matth. 5.18 18. Till heaven and earth passe or as the Geneva perish one jot or one tittle shall in no wise passe from the Law till all be fulfilled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
naturae corruptio atque pravitas quam ex Adamo quisque hausit the old man saith he is the old corruption or pravity of nature which we all drew from Adam Et paulò post Quid vero deponere jubetur numquid suam substantiam minime verò sed vetustatem suam pravitatem naturae But what is a man bidden to put off whether or no is he bidden to put off his substance no truly but that old corruption of nature And the putting on the new man is to have new Created qualities in us from God by which we put on Christ and his righteousnesse for Christus habitat in nobis per fidem Ephes 3.17 Christ dwels in the hearts of his Children by faith And thus the heavens and the earth may be called new heavens and new earth or old Heavens or the first Heavens or old earth or the first earth in regard of their severall qualities states and conditions and yet the substance remain the same in them as well as in the old man and new man This may suffice for the words that have been urged But yet there are more words behinde in the forenamed places which seem more strong then the former that have been urged and answered and the answer illustrated Apoc. 20.11 In that it s said there was found no place for them and there was no more Sea Apoc. 20.1 To the former words There was found no place for them that is saith Aretius non apparerent they would not have made any appearance before him that sate upon the great white Throne Nullibi reperirentur ne ad tribunal sisterentur nam quorum locus non reperitur illa latent occulta manent they would have beene found no where least they should have stood before Gods tribunall and they whose places are not found out they still lie hid and remain in secret Yea but I conceive not this sense to agree so well with the Greek Text it accords better with Beza's Version of that place Quorum locus non est inventus whose place was not found Apoc. 12.8 Apoc. 12.8 speaking of the Angels that fell 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 neque locus corum amplius inventus est in Coelo Neither was their place found any more in Heaven that is they had no more any more place there for ever And if the place of the first heaven and earth should be no more found than theirs then should it never be found True it is it is not said The place scilicet where once they had been but their place where locus must be conceived of by way of relation to the locati Heaven was never found any more a place for them The Originall hath it Apocal. 20.11 Apoc. 20.11 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which the vulgar Translation renders verbatim Et locus non est inventus eis and there was not a place found to them or for them Now a place may be said non esse inventus not to be found two wayes either viâ essendi when there is no such place and so that which is not cannot be found by reason of the defect of the thing though there were no defect in the Seeker or viâ detegendi by way of the detection of it though there be such a place yet it cannot be found out Now there is no place in Heaven to the lapsed Angels in the former sense I shall not need to stand upon this point Philosophically to shew how the Angels can be said to have been in loco physically and tanquam corpora naturalia non sunt in loco quia non habent dimensiones non sunt quanti c. but at least definitivè we say they are in loco because being but finitae creaturae finite Creatures they must needs be alicubi some where yet we usually say they are not in loco circumscriptivè because they are immateriales immateriall substances and so Heaven was the locus communis the common place to all the lapsed Angels Locus we say is immobilis per se immoveable by it selfe though the locata be moveable so that the locus or place may receive diversa locata successivè divers things placed in it successively Now though I say there be a place in Heaven and that place which they once had yet it is not now locus corum their place theirs it is not relativè formaliter by way of relation to them and formally but by way of detection Psal 37.10 that place which was theirs may be found is found and is known but other locata are and shall be placed in it Iohn 14.2 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Iohn 14.2 vado parare vobis locum as the vulgar I go to prepare a place for you Againe for the more plenary illustration of the answer as we have considered of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the place and of the finding of it or not finding of it so must we also distinguish of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or of the locata the Heaven and the Earth it is not simply said that there was no place for Heaven and Earth Apoc. 21.1 for the first words of the Verse in Apoc 21.1 are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vidi Coelum novum et terram novam I saw a new Heaven and a new Earth therefore there was some place to be for Heaven and Earth but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but the first Heaven and the first Earth passed away 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 et locus non est inventus eis Apoc. 20.11 Apoc 20.11 and there was no place for them namely for the first Heaven and the first earth for they were made subject to corruption and vanity as we have heard by the sinne of man and no Creatures that are subject to vanity or any corruption shall any more find any place for them after Christ shall sit upon his great white Throne at the day of judgement for when man shall put on incorruption then all the Creatures that shall remaine after that day shall put on by way of analogie incorruption too To which sense Musculus upon the words accords Musc in locum Nam sicut sole adveniente fugantur tenebrae sic Christo apparente in gloria fugabitur omnis infectio elementorum corruptionis noxiae et omnia innovabantur for even as when the Sun ariseth all darknesses or mists do vanish away even so when Christ shall appeare in his glory at the last day all infection or hurtfull corruption of the Elements shall be chased away and all things namely that shall remaine after that day shall be made new or become new so that then the first Heaven and the first Earth shall be changed and become new and there shall be no more place found for them as they were at Christs comming to judgment in that state and condition that they remained in after man had sinned but a better and farre more excellent estate for
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
maximè cupiant conservare â—â—itaque plantae animalia petrae metalla obluctantur resistunt pro se quaeque ne perdantur esse desinant c. Truely we see all things to be so Created of God that they have a speciall to conserve themselves therefore even Plants living Creatures that have sense and motion Rocks Metalls do wrastle and resist striving every one of them for themselves against their destruction And a little after Quumque ea videamus reniti ne perdantur pereant veniat nobis in mentem qualis illis insitus sit appetitus is aurem naturalis est ideò in universum frustrari non potest c. when as we may see how they resist destruction least they perish we may call to minde what an appetite or desire is put into them by nature and in so much as it is naturall it shall not lie frustrate for ever Chrysost Chrysostome saith facta est propter nos corruptibilis propter nos etiam immortalitate donabitur The Creature became corruptible saith he because of us and it shall also be rewarded with immortalitie because of the same And again saith the same Father Si affliguntur nostra causà quum apparebit nostra foelicitas unà etiam instaurabuntur If the Creatures be afflicted for our sakes when our foelicity shall appear they shall be restored together with us Chrysost de reparand laps ad Theod. And lib. de Reparandis lapsis ad Theodorum he shews that post diem judicii omnia sunt renovanda after the day of judgement all things shall be renewed And Apoc. 21.5 Apoc. 21.5 qui insidebat throno dixit ecce nova facio omnia and he that sat upon the Throne said behold I make all things new Some suppose this to be meant of the Kingdome of Christ under the new Testament after the abolishing of the old Ceremonies of of Moses and to be taken from the Prophet Isaiah Isa ult 22. having foretold the calling of the Gentiles and how he would take of them for Priests and Levites he adds For as the new heavens new earth which I will make shall remain before me saith the Lord so shall your seed and your name continue c. but as I have said before this is not the compleate sense of the place though all this do quadrate to the Kingdome of Christ for as God will make new his Church here which is the cheifest part of his Creature next to the Angells so will he also make the rest of the Creatures new at the day of judgement To which Aretius assents upon that place in Apoc. 21.5 Aretius in loc Loquitur autem Dominus de totius Creaturae renovatione in qua principalis habetur ratio Ecclesiae suae Ideò eandem sententiam Apostolus 2 Cor. 5.17 ad novam Creaturam in sanctis applicuit Si quis est in Christo nova est Creatura vetera praeterierunt ecce nova facta sunt omnia The Lord in this place speaks saith he of the renewing of the whole Creature in which principall respect is had to the Church of God therefore the Apostle applies the same saying to the new Creature in his Saints 2 Cor. 5.17 2 Cor. 5.17 If any man be in Christ he is a new Creature old things are passed away behold all things are become new Meyer in verb. Meyerus just to the same purpose having spoken of the forenamed passage in Esay he saith Omnia satis regno Christi per Apostolos propagato verum et hic vterquè vates altius prospexit nempè ad regenerationem futuri seculi quandò plenissimè renovato homine omnia restituentur et in melius commutabuntur All things here spoken by the Prophet Esay do fitly agree to the Kingdome of Christ propagated by the Apostles but yet in this saying both prophets that is both Isaiah and Saint Iohn looked a little higher or a little beyond this to witt to the new birth of the world to come when as man being fully renewed all things shall be restored and changed into a better estate Theophylact. in loc ad Romanos Theophilact in locum ad Romanos haec mundi machina et creata omnia immutabuntur in melius The frame of the world and all things that are created in it shall be changed into a better condition Chrysost Chrysostome sets it out by two similies first thus Nutrix diù laborat alendo infante at cum ille adoleverit et regnum aut principatum nactus fuerit illa quoquè praeclaris honoribus afficietur The Nurse for a long time undergoes great paines in nursing or nourishing a poor Infant but when the Infant is grown hath obtained a Kingdom or Principality then the Nurse also is rewarded with excellent honours so the Creature that hath suffered much slavery under us and for us when we shall be glorified and brought into a better estate they shall be lifted up to a better estate also they shall then be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the Sonns of God The second simile is this Reges enim quo die volunt filios suos inangurari curare solent non solùm ut illi singulari apparatu pompa prodeant verùm etiam ut servi illorum quà m honestissimè culti instructique incedant In the dayes that Kings would have their sonnes inaugurated they take care that not onely they come forth most gallantly apparelled and in pompe but that their servants also that attend upon them be handsomly adorned and provided for even so likewise when Christ which is the King of heaven shall come in his glory to judgment then the just that are his Sons shall receive a Kingdome and the Inheritance prepared for them and then omnes creaturae ornamentis admirabilibus insigni splendore illustrabuntur all the Creatures that as their servants wait upon them shall be decked with admirable adornings and goodly beautie Now we may further know that the species of of the Creatures may be called All the Creatures as well as the Indvidualls may of the severall species Gen. 2.1 Gen. 2.1 when Heaven and Earth were finished the species of the Creatures when as yet they had not multiplied nor increased in Individuals are called omnis exercitus illorum all the Host of them Gen 2.19 And Gen. 2.19 the severall species of the Beasts of the Earth and of the Fowls of Heaven Moses calls omnes bestias agri omnia volatilia coeli every beast of the field and every Fowle of the Aire or all the Beasts of the field and all the Fowles of the Aire And in the same Verse they are called every living creature whatsoever Adam called every living Creature that was the name thereof So I conceive that all Creatures may be said to be renewed when their severall sorts Gas Olevian in cap. 8 ad Rom. or
and yet not be partaker of the same excellencie of glory or unspeakable joy and ravishment that the Children of God shall be as being in the presence of the Lamb in the Seat of glory or in the third Heaven into which other creatures shall not come neither are capable of it This well weighed the Argument will not firmely conclude against the most generally received opiniō Again in the forenamed place which he referres his Reader to for satisfaction he brings in the glossa ordinaria shewing as you have heard that by tota or omnis Creatura or Creatura indefinitè sumpta is not meant singula generum but genera singulorum not all Creatures of every kinde but every kinde of all Creatures His second Argument this and it is not onely his but the Argument of divers others There shall then be no more any use for any such Creatures Whence thus Those Creatures that shall remain after the day of judgement shall be for some use But of Brutes Plants and such like there shall be no use Ergo. P. Mart. in loc To the major we say with Peter Martyr Hoc tamen mihi certissimum videtur quodque omninò affirmari debeat istas naturas rerum non mansuras in extremo die nist aliquod opus habiturae sint Pugnat enim cum natura communi ratione aliquid constituere quod omninò sit otiosum Quae autem Deus his rebus opera sit adscripturus facile nos fateamur ignorare Notwithstanding this to me seems a most certain truth and such a one as ought altogether to be affirmed because the natures of those things should not remain after the day of judgement except there were some use of them for it is both against nature and common reason to ordaine any thing that is of no use at all But what imployment God will appoint these Creatures we may easily grant or acknowledge our selves to be ignorant saith he Lombard lib. 4. sent dist 48. in ipso calce Lom lib. 4. sent dist 33. in calc answering to that question what use there shall be of the light of the Sunn and Moon after the day of judgment saith fateor me ignorare quià in Scripturis non memini me legisse I confesse my selfe ignorant of that because I do not remember that I have read of it in the Scriptures For the which his modesty and plain dealing in this point Peter Martyr commends him and wisheth he had dealt thus in other passages Vtinam in aliis rebus definiendis uti voluisset pari modestia fide I would to God saith he that he would have used the like modesty and truth in his defining or determining of other points but this he did not This for the major proposition To the minor But of Brutes Plants and such like there shall be no use c. I answer that if by use he mean usum communem necessitatis the common use of necessitie and such as man stood in need of the Creatures for in the state of his mortalitie and naturall abode upon the earth then I grant there is no such use for them as for the Creature to carry burthens for his use to draw to runne at his service c. to nourish him to cloath his body c. for after this life we shall not stand in need of any such supplies But if by use he mean usum ineffabilis claritatis an use of ineffable excellency he is not certaine that there shall be no such use of them which God in his wisdome may appoint them for I make it out thus he grants that the Sunne and Moon shall remain after the day of Judgement yet shall there be nullus usus communis necessitatis no common use of necessitie for them such as the Creatures had of them in the state of mortality neither yet of the earth which he also grants shall remain after the last day In his 31. qu. upon Rom. 8. D. Willet qu. 31. in 8. ad Rom. he grants that the Sunne and Moon shall not then serve to give light unto the world there shall then be no darkness c. true therefore as I have said they shall not serve for any common use of necessitie as now they doe But whereas it is said Isa 30.26 Esa 30.26 that the light of the Moon shall be as the light of the Sunne and the light of the Sunne shall be sevenfold c. Howsoever this may be meant of the glorious restauration of the Church in the time of Christ Esa 35.17 18. compared with Isaiah 65.17 18. Yet I have formerly shown that this is not the compleat sense of the words they stretch to a further thing as S. Peter shewes 2 Pet. 3.13 2 Pet. 3.13 therefore S. Hierome saith thus upon the words Solem tum accepturum mercedem laboris sui that then when the light of the Sunne shall be seven-fold the Sunne shall receive a reward of its labour or it shall be brought into a more excellent estate as other Creatures shall be and if so then it shall shine though not by way of common necessitie but for some other use And then reckoning up some other particular uses of it hee concludes But then all the Creatures shall rest and their ministery and service such as is now shall cease This we grant such as is now shall cease for that is common use of necessity And whereas its commonly added by divers that the motion of it shall then also cease because the Scripture saith tempus non erit amplius Apoc. 10.6 Apoc. 10.6 Time shall be no more Secondly because the Philosophers say that motus is causa efficiens generationis corruptionis perpetuae rerum inferiorum naturalium the motion of the Heavens or especially of the primum mobile is the cause efficient of generation and corruption which is continually amongst these inferiour and naturall bodies but these shall then cease there shall then be no more any such generation or corruptions or changes amongst the Creatures To both which we will recite the answer of learned Peter Martyr P. Martyr com ad 8. Rom. in his Commentaries upon Romanes 8. To the former Tempus non erit amplius Ergò nec motus for time is the measure of motion Verùm haec ratio non est firma fieri enim potest ut coelum moveatur sed pro magna illa luce corporis Christi corporumque omnium beatorum Solis Lunae minimè possit observari quare durare potest motus et si tempus non existat But this reason is not firm saith he for it may come to passe that the Heavens may be moved and yet the motion cannot be observed by reason of the great light of the glorified bodie of Christ of the Saints of the Sun and of the Moon therefore motion may indure although time be not His reason he gives is this Tempus enim non est nisi ex
motu observato numerato for time is not simply from motion but from motion observed and numbred and so are dayes moneths hours years c. yet we must know that time is twofold internum or exterrum tempus internall or externall time internall time is nothing but duâ—atio creaturae à principio ad finem the duration of the Creature in its being from the beginning to the end of it and this internall time or duration those Entities have quae non comparentur ad motum Solis that are not measured by the motion of the Sunne for the Sunne was but framed the fourth day as you may see Gen. 1. from 14. Gen. 1. from 14. to 20. Kecker lib. 1. System physici cap. 7. to 20. where Keckerman observes the ground of this distinction of time and the necessitie of it Lib. 1. Systematis Physici cap. 7. for then saith he begun but the tempus externum which was to be from the Sunne and that but quoad materiale neither the formale temporis externi was not to the world before God made man to observe and number it which was not till two dayes after Again if there be not an internall as well as an externall time in which later sense the naturall Philosophers commonly handle time then he shews that corpora illa omnia quae erant creata tribus primis diebus in tempore non creabantur quod si tum ab aeterno quod absurdum c all those bodies that were created in the three first dayes were not created in time which if so that they were not created in time then it would follow they were from eternity which were absurd to affirme Arist lib 4. Physic cap. 11. Aristotle lib. 4. Physicorum cap. 11. defines that tempus externum to be mensuram motùs per prius et posterius for time is successive and Ens fluens If we object with the naturall Philosopher that tempus est motus accidens inseparabile time is an inseparable accident of motion and therefore if motus be continuus then tempus too if motion be continuall then also must time continue too I answer as before it may so continue quoad materiale or quoad rem mensurantem but not quoad formale or ordinem mensurandi for it shall not it need not then to be observed for any distinction sake as now by men whilest they are mortall But it may be again objected that tempus propriè dictum habet ut initium sic etiam finem that time properly so called that is externall time commonly handled by the naturall Philosophers as it had a beginning so should it also have an ending I answer it is true though Aristotle thought it should be perpetuall because he held the motion of the heavens naturally to be so for if motus yet not observatus if there be motion yet it not observed time externall hath his end And in this sense Dr. Willet saith true for so they shall not be for times c. But for motion I would have this observed that not every kinde of motion but that which is violent involuntary or slavish or for the benefit of base objects shall cease otherwise Apoc. 14.4 Apoc. 14.4 the glorified Saints shall follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth therefore shall have some kinde of motion but not as opposed to their Heavenly rest wherein they rest from sinne death slavery and misery Again the Heavens the Sunn and Moon moved in those five dayes or at least in the time before man was created and so by consequence before he had sinned As then you have heard there was no externall time observed from their motion neither then could their motion be any slavery to theÌ„ neither then were they coÌ„pelled to serve any base objects or wicked and rebellious men but their motion was sutable to their nature then and why may it not also be the like after externall time shall cease therefore from the cessation of externall time we cannot infallibly inferre the cessation of all motion but onely probably or as a service of common necessity To the second motus est causa efficiens generationis et corruptionis c. motion is the cause efficient of generation and corruption but when these shall cease then motion may cease also true if these were the sole ends of motion but motion was also for other ends beside these And to this Peter Martyr answers thus Ratio quidem ista probabilis est at non necessaria poterit enim ille Coelestis motus etsi non generationi et corruptioni tamen alii alicui negotio quod nos ignoramus inservire that reason truly is probable but not necessary for though the motion of the Heavens serve not for generation and corruption yet may it serve for some other thing unknown to us And as a new Heaven so a new Earth shall remaine yet not for any common use of necessity so much D. Willet grants qu. 31. D. Willet qu. 31. in 8. cap. ad Rom. ad 8. Rom. the Earth shall not then yeeld fruite for the use of men as now yet may it remain for some other use For himselfe grants qu. 34. qu. 34. that the heavens by the continuall sight of their great glory shall serve to stirre up the Saints to praise and magnifie their glorious Creator if now the Heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament shew his handy works Psa 19.1 Psal 19.1 much more then if as the Prophet hath it and as this Author grants it then also to take place as well as in the Kingdome of Christ the light of the Sunne shall be increased seven fold Isa 30 26. Isa 30.26 yea and the light of the Moon as the light of the Sunne as you have heard His third Argument The faithfull wait for the adoption to wit the redemption of their bodies other Creatures are not capable or partakers of adoption Ergo neither of the redemption of their bodies to immortality I answer this is the weakest Argument brought into form of any other Thus all Creatures that shall be renewed shall be partakers of adoption and redemption of their bodies to immortalitie But the irrationall and insensible not so Ergo. First I answer Rom. 8.23 that this Text is not pertinently alledged for it makes an expresse distinction between the rest of the Creatures and the faithfull that had the first-fruits of the Spirit Not onely they but we c. To the major proposition thus the major is false if properly taken strictly and eminently For first adoption if we take it properly and eminently for adoption spirituall is beneficium Dei per quod nos propter Christum in filios recipit haeredes Coeli aeternaeque vitae cum ipso facit Amand Polan lib. 6. Syntag. Theol cap. 38. Amandus Polanus lib. 6. Syntagmat Theolog cap. 38. Adoption is favour or benefit from God by the which for Christs sake he