hearest carrie it home with thee and with the noble Bereans search in Gods word whether it may not stand with it and further because thou art a private man and S. Peter teacheth that no scripture is of any private interpretation therefore thou art not to rest in thine own sense but thou must go further to the preachers fellows and to them whose authority is prevalent in the Church and require their judgement because S. Paul saith The spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets and if the matter be too hard for them then thou must go to the Bishops who are Gods high priests and ask of them as we are directed in Deut. 17. Devotion as hath been said is the soul to prayer and the rest of Gods service because it is the daughter of the mother-vertue Charitie and this is a cheerfull and free giving of our selves to Gods service as his houshold servants Therefore this is the speciall act of religion And this devotion is derived à voto from a vow and is a frank gift and free binding of our selves unto it and a simile of this we have in Mephibosheth who when king David had awarded his lands to be divided between him and his servant Ziba gave all from himself for Davids sake saying Let him take all seeing my lord the king is come home in peace According to this when we consider what God hath done for us as Mephibosheth remembred what king David had done for him when we remember that he hath not onely made us but after this redeemed and saved us when we were but dead men before him as Mephibosheth and his fathers house were before king David and when we remember further that in his Sonne Christ he hath taken us as his own sonnes to be at his own table therefore now we are willing to forsake all for his sake to let the world and Ziba take all and to give our selves wholly to his service A second motive to this devotion is the consideration of our own defects For when we finde our selves too weak to persist in this purchased grace without his speciall aid we relinquish our own strength and providence to betake us to his protection and so we turn to be his household servants And because prayer is the principall mean to lay hold on Gods help therefore herein specially our devotion in Gods house is occupied And for that many after they have made good vowes by the worlds avocations are called off therefore my Text tells me that this holy service must not be for a time but for ever Holinesse becometh thy house O Lord for ever God is alwaies the same as saith the Psalmist Thou art the same and thy yeares fail not The proverb is Semper idem Wherefore if we be not the same alwaies to him as he is to us if we fail to serve him he will fail to save us because he is alwaies the same as well just as mercifull S. Jude teacheth that the angels which kept not their first habitation God hath reserved in everlasting chains to the judgement of the great day Of how much more punishment shall they be worthy which fall upon fall and finally fall away The angels fell but once and were immediately cast down but loose and carelesse men fall from God twice first in Adam whereby we have all warning and secondly in themselves in which if without repentance they persist then is grace contemned and their falling from God confirmed The devout Anna leadeth us a better example for she being a widow of about fourescore and foure yeares departed not from the Temple but served God with fastings and prayers night and day She would not go out of it but many of us will seldome come at it especially upon Saints dayes and fasting dayes when God should be served with greatest humiliation and strongest devotion because then the Saints in heaven joyn with us Joyn with us will you say how know you that Thus because in Wis. 3. 1. it is said The souls of the righteous are in the hand of God but Gods hand is ever in action therefore the souls departed must be so too What are they doing because they are of our body which is Christs Church they are in continuall care for us because S. Paul saith that the members should have the same care one for another What is their care in action it can be nothing but prayer for us because they themselves are past danger therefore all their desires are for us And this is represented after some manner by Gods ordinance towards the holy nation in getting the earthly Canaan for God would not give to the two tribes and half the land of Gilead but upon condition that they should aid the rest of their brethren and go armed with them into Canaan untill they were in as quiet possession as themselves Now if the Saints in heaven after their manner aid us with their prayers shall we be so base-minded as not to pray with them O ingratitude neither fit for heaven nor earth The Church our mother hath ordained holy-dayes to God for them to acknowledge their pains and labours which they took for Gods glory and our good before they went from us then let us upon these dayes blesse and praise God for them These dayes are the Saints obsequies their feast dayes their dayes of triumph O let us rejoyce with them let us reverence their memories let us imitate their vertues let there be a holy necessitude between them and us let us not be strangers We are all of the holy bloud and the bloud-royall we are all of Christs body therefore let us joyn together that God may be served of us the stronger In Cathedrall and Collegiate churches they serve God every day in the week this is the continuall burnt-offering commanded Exod. 29. In our countrey-churches we are commanded to serve God so too specially adding every Wednesday and every Friday the holy Letanie on Wednesday in memoriall of our Lords arraignment and on Friday in remembrance of his precious death And although in our particular churches we have not the people to attend the continuall burnt-offering in regard of secular businesse yet the priest is to do it and for the people This serveth to teach us that though we be not alwayes in the Temple as Anna was yet the Altar of our hearts should never be cold towards God nor the fire of his love at any time go out but alwaies burn in prayer and meditation and holy desires as God gave in charge by the figure Levit. 6. 12. The fire shall ever burn upon the Altar and never go out And according to this in the new law S. Paul saith Pray continually or without ceasing that is to say upon all occasions offered and again Praying alwayes with all prayer and supplication in the spirit In the old law were two principall sacrifices Juge
her fruit Then neighbours if you desire the cry of our poore to cease and the judgements of God to forbear us let us give God his due and respect his house There was a time when our holy fathers spared no cost nor labour to build Gods houses now let us take our time to adorn them as many of our devout brethren have begun So forward were good people in the old world to this service that Moses made proclamation to stay their devotions as we reade in Exod. 36. O that but half this willing heart were among us Christians to shew our love to God in this kinde The second office of holinesse is a holy preparation before we enter Gods house This is taught by Solomon Eccles. 5. 1. Take heed to thy foot when thou entrest into the house of God as if it had been said Thou canst not enter as thou oughtest without a preventing and preparing thought Why sayest thou not to thy self Whither goest thou what art thou about to do If thou sayest To serve God then consider what God is Is he not the maker of all things and the mover of all things made canst thou see any thing that is not his canst thou heare any thing which his hand hath not made canst thou wear any thing which his fingers have not spunne canst thou set thy foot on that which his power hath not founded All this week before thou hast sitten at his table and tasted of his cates and canst thou come at any time to his house to thank him for all this and not deeply consider what thou art to do The third office of holinesse is To reverence Gods Sanctuarie and as by other acts of reverence so by keeping off our hats while we stay in it whether there be Service or no Service and this reverence is commanded in generall Levit. 19. after such an emphaticall manner as if the breach of it were equall to the sinne of not keeping the fourth commandment for they are joyned together both in the same precept vers 30. Ye shall keep my Sabbaths and reverence my Sanctuarie I am the Lord. Where ye see why God commands his house to be reverenced because it is his house and the honour that is done in it and to it is done to himself I am the Lord. As the good usage which we give to the family of a nobleman reflecteth from the family to the nobleman so is it between God and his house When we go into our kings chamber where stands his chair of state though the king himself be not there yet we put off and are uncovered in remembrance of his majestie but our heavenly King as he is in all places because he is infinite so he is in this his palace by a more speciall resemblance of his holinesse but then chiefly when Gods people are met together there for Gods house is a little heaven on earth here dwels the Father Sonne and holy Ghost the Father in receiving our devotions the Sonne in directing them and the holy Ghost in sanctifying them Thus saith the Sonne of God Where two or three are gathered together in my name there am I in the midst of them Thou wilt say I cannot see either Father Sonne or holy Ghost in this place I answer God is a Spirit therefore not to be seen with bodily eyes yet hath he given thee bodily eyes to inform thy spirituall eyes Seest thou not Gods Minister here speaking to God and bowing his knees to him when he speaks Seest thou not the Sonne of Gods seat here the holy Altar at the upper end of this house and seest thou not the holy Font at the nether end where the holy Ghost is alwaies ready to receive all into his kingdome If the Sonne and holy Ghosts seats be at both ends of this house must not the Father needs be all the house over because both Sonne and holy Ghost proceed from him and are but one Spirit and one God Moses saith The Lord our God is one Lord. He is in the light that shines in at the window he is in thy breath by which thou prayest and speakest Thou mayst say further I cannot see the holy angels here attending on him Wilt thou beleeve no more then thou canst see then art thou no better then S. Thomas in this case to whom our Lord preferreth all them that beleeve have not seen See with S. Pauls eies in the 1. Cor. 11. 10. where men are directed to be uncovered on their heads in Gods house women to be covered because of the angels that is to say lest the holy angels in the congregation should be offended at the womens irreverent carriage with bare heads and long hair and at the mens hats on their heads Wherefore good fellow-brethren if you respect God and his holy place have a speciall care to maintain good orders and manners in it lest God and his holy angels be offended at us To conclude as all the holy saints in heaven behold Gods face there so all the saints of the earth are here in this lower heaven beholding the beauty of his holinesse Now if God be here his seat here his angels here his saints here his word and worship here then what reverence and holinesse becometh this house above all places in the world Wert thou in the kings chamber the king there speaking to thee and thou to the king how wouldest thou tremble what passions wouldest thou have within thee what thoughts of humilitie what cares of oversights But because thou canst see none but thy neighbours here here thou art bold and servest God with lesse fear then men serve the work of his fingers Si quis regem hominem saith Erasmus alloquuturus circumstante procerum coronâ nec caput aperiat nec genu flectat non jam pro rustico sed pro insano ab omnibus haberetur Quale est ergò illîc opertum habere caput erecta genua ubi Rex adest ille regū immortalis immortalitatis largitor ubi vener abundi circumstant aetherei spiritus nec refert si eos non vides vident illi te nec minùs certum est illos adesse quà m si videres illos oculis corporeis It skilleth not whether thou seest them when as they see thee for it is as certain that angels are present in Gods house at such times as if thou sawest them with thy bodily eyes Open therefore all thy eyes the eyes of thy minde and the eyes of thy body the eyes of thy body to behold the outward beauty of this house in divine service and the eyes of thy soul to behold the inward beauty of Gods holinesse majesty and greatnesse and thou canst not choose but be reverent more then our usuall manner is The 4 sort of reverence and office of this holinesse beseeming Gods house is at the entring in before we take our seats to bend the knee and to bowe our body to him
neither warrant for it nor president The like difference is at this day among our professours One sort will not sociate with the rest of their neighbours in the house of God because they have not every day a sermon to teach them more knowledge Both these the Apostle here reproveth in saying Knowledge puffeth up that is to say makes men proud but Charitie edifieth What the Apostle hath here put down in the generall I will proceed to prove in the particulars And to begin with the pride of knowledge In the creation God made his angels exceeding bright and glorious in understanding and then propounded to them his Sonne to be their governour to direct them in his service according to that Heb. 1. 6. Let all the angels of God worship him as if it were said Let them follow his direction But they seeing themselves made in such perfection of knowledge were so lifted up in pride that they refused a directour and would serve him after their own understanding for which their pride they were thrown down from heaven to hell After this the angels perceiving that the pride of their knowledge had thrown them down they set upon Adam and Eve perswading them also to break their order in eating of the tree of knowledge The serpent-angel told them that if they would eat of this tree they should be as Gods knowing good and evil This conceit of knowledge did so puffe them up too that they broke Gods commandment and were ipso facto thrown out of Paradise After this when man was ejected out of Paradise so politick and proud grew they that they would make a tower to clamber up to heaven and to defend themselves against Gods providence God seeing their pride confounded their devices by changing their language and then they were dispersed all the earth over like straying herds The like pride hath now adayes puft up our Puritanes that being but very ignorant people yet they will not be content to be accounted men of any mean knowledge or be satisfied with any setled estate but they will run from church to church from preacher to preacher and from one opinion to another untill they have lost and confounded themselves in the tower and Babel of their own fancies Knowledge puffeth up saith the Apostle and when a man is at the highest then he falls lowest Knowledge threw the angels out of heaven to hell knowledge threw Adam and Eve out of an earthly Paradise into a wildernesse of miseries and wittie policie cast mighty Nimrod with all mankinde out of the citie to seek straw and stubble with the children of Israel all the world over But saith the Puritane We have no sermons we are without a preacher we shall perish for want of knowledge I answer It is not knowledge that shall save because then all they that know the will of God and the mysteries of life must needs be saved But so they shall not because our Saviour saith He that knows his masters will and doth it not shall be beaten with many stripes and S. Paul saith The hearers of the law are not righteous before God but the doers of the law shall be justified Then knowledge without charitie saveth not but increaseth punishment and puffeth up Besides if knowledge were able to save then the devils might be saved because they know more then the best minister in the land And whereas thou standest upon much knowledge for we will yeeld thee that which is sufficient I say more unto thee that one may be saved without any knowledge at all Know you what you say yes the childe of three moneths old when by Gods providence it departeth what knowledge hath that of salvation yet the Church in all ages hath taught that such shall go to the kingdome of heaven and what should let it is without originall sinne because that is washt away in Baptisme and actuall sinne it never committed any by reason it wanted the use of free-will Besides the infant after Baptisme is within the covenant and united to God by his grace and God cannot denie either his grace or his covenant Now if the poore infant shall be saved without any knowledge at all why then shouldest thou think that thou canst not be saved with mean knowledge fit for thy estate But thou wilt say The infant is not suffered to live to the means of knowledge and therefore he is excused for the want of it Then what sayest thou to the men and women which want the gifts of understanding whom some call fools some innocents who know not the right hand from the left or whether there be a heaven or a hell what shall these be damned which want the knowledge that thou hast where dwells thy charitie I will not beleeve thy knowledge because that makes thee proud and the proud will condemne all save themselves The School Tenet is Amentes furiosi infantes non peccant that is Fools mad-men and children sinne not Therefore mad-men though they kill a man are not put to death for it Again the Church hath ever taught that all they that are within the covenant are in the state of grace untill they fall away but these Christian innocents cannot fall away because they cannot sinne and they cannot sinne because they want knowledge and free-will And my charitie teacheth me to hope that as the Saviour of the world at his first coming had mercie on the Gentiles who before lived without faith and without God in the world so at his second coming he likewise will shew favour to these want-wits and weak-wits and then open the windows of their understanding to see God face to face because they are within the covenant and are baptized Christians But to return to thy former challenge We have no sermons we want a preacher we shall die in our sinnes we know not what to do The Lord open thy eyes as he opened the eyes of Elisha his servant in the 6 chapter of the 2 book of Kings and then thou shalt see a multitude of preachers First all Gods creatures are thy preachers and daily teach thee And to prove this turn to the 19 Psalm 1 2 3. The heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament sheweth his handie work One day telleth another and one night certifieth another There is neither speech nor language but their voices are heard among them Again turn to the 12 of Job 7 8. and there he will bid thee ask the beasts and they shall teach thee and the fowls of heaven and they shall tell thee Or speak to the earth and it shall shew thee or the fishes of the sea and they shall declare unto thee When thou travellest abroad and seest a good piece of ground a good cow or a good horse thou wilt say I would my neighbour would sell me these for reasonable money Canst thou see the goodnesse of the creature in these and not see the goodnesse of the Creatour Canst thou
thy neighbour as thy self ye do well Here the text makes a manifest supposition of fulfilling Gâ—â—â—â— law in this life first it affirmeth this doctrine to be according to scripture next it sheweth how it is to be tried that is by the law in loving our neighbour as our selves and he that can do this there is no doubt but he loveth God above all because without God he could not do this Were Gods law not possible to be fulfilled the supposition should be idle unfit for Gods word and unbeseeming one writing by divine inspiration and then the twelve tribes might justly have returned this caption upon S. James You put upon us that which cannot be done But in this absurditie the Apostle could not be taken because he wrote by divine inspiration and sootheth the thing first by adding to his supposition this commendation Ye do well and secondly by fetching to this head all other parts of Gods law saying afterward For whosoever shall keep the whole law and yet fail in one point he is guiltie of all Here therefore is a generall and absolute fulfilling spoken of and here is implied that every one is bound to bring his obedience not to one or most but to every part of Gods law and so no starting hole is left for any one beloved sinne Secondly this supposition of S. James is confirmed by our Lords prayer Thy will be done in earth â—s it is in heaven If the law which is Gods will could not be fulfilled in earth then Christ obtained not what he would we daily pray in vain and Christ hath in vain commanded us to pray Thirdly this is confirmed by the liturgie of our Church in the collect upon the first Sunday after the Epiphanie in these words And grant that they may both perceive and know what things they ought to do and also have grace and power faithfully to fulfill the same through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen Where we are taught by whose vertue men may fulfill Gods law that is by Jesus Christs grace and power Lastly this is taught by the prayer upon the ten commandments Lord have mercy upon us and encline our hearts to keep this law Where first we are taught to know our own miserie in that we are bound to keep Gods law with the penaltie of everlasting death and yet of our selves we have no power to perform it and therefore we pray God to be mercifull to us Next we pray that he would encline our hearts to keep his law where is shewed that God himself is the first mover and principall actour in this work that we do but run along with him and that of our selves we are so crooked and averse that if he do not encline and bend our hearts as the shipwright boweth his timber by his instruments the strength of his arms and the heat of his fire to make a ship we should never be able to sail to the kingdome of heaven Wherefore if we shall fail to joyn our hands to Gods hand when the principall acting is his the second and inferiour ours when he hath used all his means towards us his threatnings to terrifie us his exhortations to draw us his promises to entice us and propounded the end and reward of the work to be onely ours whereas the greatest merit is Christs if we now be defective and behinde on our part we shall be worthy of many hells To conclude in that we intreat God to enable us to keep his law hence appeareth the laws excellencie and mans benefit in observing it It is Gods image and similitude in which he made man therefore it hath relation to us and we to it it restoreth us to our first perfection and heavens felicitie it is the conformity between God and man it is that which maketh God and us one Therefore to the keeping of this we must strain soul and body we must put all that we can we must not fly to naked imputation where is required our conformation For whom he did foreknow he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Sonne His Sonne hath fulfilled the law and so must we too But here may be objected that they which are in Christ are delivered from the law Rom. 8. 2. For the law of the Spirit of life hath made me free from the law of sinne and of death Therefore we have nothing to do with the law I answer that in this place and in the chapter before by the law is understood concupiscence the law of the members which giveth precepts and motions onely for sinne and not the law of God which giveth precepts against sinne and for holinesse and righteousnesse Again it may be objected that we are not under the law therefore we have not to do with it Rom. 6. 14. Ye are not under the law but under grace It is answered Though we be not under the law to be condemned terrified and forced by it yet we are under the law to Christ that is to be guided by it as the Apostle testifieth of himself 1. Cor. 9. 21. Being not without the law to God but under the law to Christ Therefore if the very just shall transgresse while they are within the law they are bound to make satisfaction by holy penance which is secunda tabula post naufragium Lastly it may be objected that we are dead to the law and therefore we have no more to do with it Rom. 7. 4. Wherefore my brethren ye are also become dead to the law by the body of Christ that ye should be married to another even unto him that is raised up from the dead that ye should bring forth fruit unto God By the law here is not meant the law simply but the law and the flesh compounded together as appeareth in the sixth verse wherein we stood in bondage to both For the laws letter onely shewed us what we were to do but gave us no power to perform and with this the flesh and the old man went hand in hand for though the law gave us no power to perform yet the flesh gave us power to transgresse and sinne To this the Apostle sheweth that we are dead by the merit of the death of Christs body that we might be married to another that is to Christ in Baptisme by whose Spirit and grace we might be enabled to fulfill that which the law taught and commanded to bring forth fruit unto God and our own salvation And from hence it appeareth still that the law of it self is good and we have need of it though it be not sufficient for us because it is our school-master to shew us our sinnes and to bring us to Christ Gal. 3. 24. Rom. 7. 7. I had not known sinne but by the law Having made an end of confirming my first argument from the scriptures supposition and grant now I proceed to my second argument which is founded upon the efficacie and
captive to the law of sinne which is in my members But the law of the Spirit freeth from the law of the flesh Rom. 8. 2. Therefore the Apostle saith further Gal. 5. 23. Against such there is no law And this freeing law of the Spirit is nothing but charitie as S. Augustine saith Id agit gratia ut dilectione impleantur mandata Dei quae timore non poterant To draw to an end Were the law impossible to be kept then all the exhortations and threatnings in Gods word should be idle then all mens labours would wax lazie and then good life which is after the rule would be exiled for that no man would strive against the stream Wherefore great enemies are they to Christians growth and reward in the way of godlinesse which are against this doctrine they are like to the man in the parable who laid up his money in a napkin and at last had it taken from him A surplus argument I have from the unworthinesse of them that are against the argument Origen in his ninth homilie upon Joshua giveth this censure that they are to be compared to women which say that Gods commandments cannot be kept Indeed I grant that it is easier for flesh and bloud to break Gods law then to keep it But when God hath for man ordained it as his highest form promised his blessing and helping hand unto it and set a kingdome and a crown at the end of it they are all base-minded that will not bring their best endeavours to it Hearken to Jehoshaphats good counsel in 2. Chron. 19. 11. Be of good courage and do it and God shall be with the good Hearken we further to Gods encouragement to good Joshua There shall not a man be able to withstand thee all the dayes of thy life as I was with Moses so will I be with thee I will not fail thee nor forsake thee Lastly let us listen to Christs counsell and encouragement for us all Matth. 28. 20. Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you and lo I am with you alway unto the end of the world Many examples also have we of those that fulfilled Gods law by scriptures warrant But to shunne tediousnesse I will use onely two couples the first of Enoch and Elias who so walked with God on earth that they are now translated to walk with God in heaven The second is that of Zacharie and his wife Elizabeth of whom it is thus written Luke 1. 6. And they were both just before God walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blamelesse If they lived so well then in the time of the law what may we do now in the time of grace when the law of the Spirit reigneth and when the light of the moon is as the light of the sunne and the light of the sunne is seven-fold and like the light of seven dayes Now though I hold this in thesi that Gods law might not be impeached his grace not shortned nor good endeavours hindered yet will I be no patron to any that shall presume and boast of it For my self I will ever put it off to others and give all the praise of my wayes to God onely for pride is the laws break and humilitie is a member of its fulfilling Wherefore when I have done all that I can I will pray with the Publicane God be mercifull to me a sinner Thus in condemning my self I shall be justified by the law it self James 4. 10. Cast down your selves before the Lord and he will lift you up Toward the godly mercie and justice go both together Therefore with the Psalmist will I sing My song shall be of mercie and judgement unto thee O Lord will I sing Again All the paths of the Lord are mercie and truth unto such as keep his covenant and his testimonies To which S. Leo exhorteth very well saying Non comprehendi potest quod promittitur nisi custoditum fuerit quod jubetur We cannot attain to that which is promised unlesse we observe that which is commanded But because without the grace and mercy of God this we cannot do he addeth further upon the words of our Saviour BE YE HOLY AS I AM HOLY c. thus Cùm videtur difficile esse quod jubeo ad jubentem recurrite ut unde datur praeceptum praestetur auxilium Seeing it seems difficult which I do command run for aid to the commander that from whence the precept is enjoyned help of accomplishing may be afforded Which he that of nothing made us and by rebellion fallen redeemed us grant through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen FINIS Theologia amantis Deum OR A TREATISE OF THE DIVINE ATTRIBUTES S. LEO Serm. 1. de Pentecost Etsi nemo de Deo potest explicare quod est nemo audeat affirmare quod non est excusabilius enim est de natura ineffabili non eloqui digna quà m definire contraria TO speak of Gods greatnesse what flesh can but tremble while he is the Transcendent incomprehensible S. Thomas teacheth that we cannot speak of him properly but by a proportion from things created And Dionyfius sheweth in the fourth chapter of his mysticall Theologie that all things are more truely denied then affirmed of him it is understood of mans and not of Gods affirmations The reason is for that no man can rightly speak of that which he never saw and God saith No man shall see me and live Why because he is incomprehensible as Athanasius hath in his Creed For as the sunne being gazed on destroyeth the eye-sight so he that striveth to comprehend his Maker the brightnesse of his Majestie will break his life The Sonne of God saith No man hath seen God at any time the onely begotten Sonne which is in the bosome of the Father he hath declared him Then so farre as he speaketh we may speak with him or speak consectaries to his sayings because he being in his Fathers bosome inwardly knoweth him As Jacob when he wrestled with God would not let him go till he had blessed him and as the Philistines could not finde out Samsons riddle till they had plowed with his heifer no more can we finde out the mysteries of God unlesse we plow with his Spirit and wrestle with him by prayer This being done then God will blesse us as he blessed Jacob and then he will shew us his hinder parts as he did unto Moses by created means These he expresseth to us by his divine attributes whereof the foundation is his substance or essence And this Essence God challengeth as his name to be known by for when Moses demanded of God his name he told him it was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifieth essence I am or will be So that to be properly belongs to God from whom all things have their being And this is seconded by these sayings of Gods word Isai.
are made and compounded have a mixture of infirm matter or potentialitie and therefore are mutable Consectaries From hence arise these consectaries that if God be in every one of us upholding our essence this shall be our greater condemnation if we do not seek and finde him who is so neare unto us and turn to him who is within us Secondly this argueth Gods infinite greatnesse in that no creature can escape his presence which is as well in hell and in the hardest adamant as in the glorious heavens Thirdly to see this wonderfull God with the eyes of our minde whom we cannot see with bodily eyes to see him who is in all things supporting all as a root or foundation with him to converse to walk to talk and to do nothing without him is the onely securitie that is in the world And this appeareth by this saying of S. Paul upon Moses For he endured as he which saw him who is invisible and is seconded by David Psalm 16. 8. I have set the Lord alwaies before me therefore I shall not slide Fourthly to be content with God onely and not to mix our selves with worldly things is mans simplicitie Gods attributes 1 Unitie Having spoken of Gods essence it followeth to speak of his attributes Of which the first is Unitie the first of the 3 great passions Metaphysicall Unum Verum Bonum And this is testified by these affirmations of Gods word Heare O Israel The Lord our God is one Lord Deut. 6. 4. See now that I even I am he and there is no god with me Deut. 32. 39. That which is the beginning and cause of all things must be one and no more As one is the beginning of all numbers so one God is the beginning of all creatures therefore Parmenides said Omnia unum sunt Multiplicitie of things visible is but the multiplied shadow of invisible unitie According to this Seneca said of God Est totum quod vides totum quod non vides But this must cautelously be understood not that God in the stone is truely and properly a stone as Servetus wickedly affirmed but that he is the onely cause of the stones being and of all things else 1. If there were more Gods then one then there would be some difference between them because multiplicitie admits difference and varietie and therefore something should be in the one which is not in the other and so that God which wanteth should not be a perfect God 2. That there is but one God shall appeare from all things that are because he hath set his mark and stamp upon them for all things speak but one Though there be millions of men in the world yet every man is but one man Though there be many species of things made yet they all consist of individuals There is nothing but is one thing Multiplicitie and collectives end in one Many members make but one bodie many sheep but one flock many beasts but one herd many men but one kingdome and all creatures make but one world Wherefore one is the mark and image of God who as he is but one so he comprehends all in himself 3. If there were more then one then warre would not cease between them till one had gotten the upper hand to be above the rest For as Tertullian disputeth against Marcion he which is God must be summum magnum the chiefest great above all other and this can be but one Again S. Cyprian thus Unus omnium Dominus Deus Neque enim illa sublimitas potest habere consortem cùm sola omnem teneat potestatem Ad divinum imperium etiam de terris mutuemur exemplum Quando unquam regni societ as aut cum fide coepit aut sine cruore desiit If an earthly kingdome will not suffer a fellow how should that celestial highnesse endure another And Ennius saith Nulla sancta societas nec fides regniest Alexander likewise told king Darius Mundum non posse duobus solibus regi That the world could not be governed by two sunnes 4. If there were more Gods then one then as fast as the one did blesse us the other would curse us according to that of the Poet Mulciber in Trojam pro Troja stabat Apollo Then again the creatures would not so well agree as they do for if one creature were made by one God and another by another then there would be nothing but relucting The earth would swallow up the water the fire would burn up the aire the host of heaven would set upon the hosts of the earth to depopulate it yea heaven it self would be divided Saturns planet would spoil the planet of Mars the light of the sunne would waste the other lights and every creature as his God should be best able to aid would overcome his fellow or inferiour But now because there is but one God that hath made all therefore he hath care of all alike therefore they agree as they do and mutually serve each others benefit 5. The government of commonwealths where divers and strange dispositions combine themselves into one bodie for one common good shews that nature imitateth the Creatour which is one 6. Contrarietie and discord though it be never so great yet it cannot overcome unitie but unitie overcomes it as an armie concatenate prevaileth against an armie scattered This sheweth that there is but one God ruling over all which is the God of unitie and concord 7. The generall desire that all creatures have to come to one common end which is good argues this for the Philosopher hath Omnia bonum appetunt All things desire good Wherefore as all things joyn in one concerning the general end though all use not the right mean this argueth also that there is but one beginning which hath given but one common appetite to all creatures Now having shewed God to be but one from hence it followeth that in him there can be no pluralitie therefore his essence is not one thing and his attributes another neither may we say of his attributes This is not that but his truth is the same that his goodnesse is his goodnesse the same with his power his power the same with his essence and so there is no difference nor distinction numericall or specificall but in God all is one and one is all and to think otherwise is to make God in himself finite and limited because look how much one attribute hath of infinitenesse proper to it self so much the other must want and so be limited Thus therefore are we to affirm of God and his attributes as convertibles God is truth it self or the first truth and the first truth is God God is goodnesse or the first goodnesse and the first goodnesse is God God is power and power it self is God and so of the rest Next as God is one so he is all because all things are contained in this one Therefore if all the goods of men and angels
every day twelve measures of floure fourtie sheep and six great pots of wine But eating and drinking are no signes of Gods life which is not supported by means like the life of men and beasts but by its own acting for he is the first mover and the fountain of life to all things living First he moveth himself by begetting his onely Sonne of his own substance and by producing the holy Ghost of the same essence Secondly he moveth his creatures by giving to them life and breath and the order of their wayes according to that of Daniel to Belshazzar And the God in whose hand is thy breath and all thy wayes him hast thou not glorified And because God ever liveth therefore he continually acteth by begetting his Sonne and producing the holy Ghost while he alwaies understandeth himself and alwaies loveth himself And by this acting he continually enlightneth men and angels and enflameth them with love And the image of this continuall motion of God is mans breath and the pulse of his heart but especially his pulse which never ceaseth beating night nor day You may for a time retard and stay breath but by no means you can stay pulse no more may all the devils in hell interrupt the living welfare of Gods saints either in earth or in heaven because the Almighties pulse never leaves beating He is purus continuus actus he alwaies moveth and never ceaseth Therefore the Psalmist saith He that keepeth Israel neither slumbreth nor sleepeth And this life fountain of all lives is that which Philosophers call animam mundi naturam universi according to that of the Poet Spiritus intus alit totósque infusa per artus Mens agitat molem Gods Providence To Gods life allie two other attributes his providence and his power His providence is his foreknowledge by which he provideth for his creatures their ends and the means leading toward them Gods providence is his law by which he governeth his creatures for when he had made all things it was not fit then to leave them to themselves If he should not have made them to some end then he should have lost by his work if he should have provided them an end and no means to go toward it then both he and his creatures should fail wherefore after the creation it is fit that God should execute the law of his providence for the ordering of all things to their ends The end of the inferiour creature is to serve man who is Gods image and the end of man is to serve his Maker for making of him in his own image The order to these ends is to be seen in these three in the order of necessitie in the order of inclination in the order of free-will The order of necessity serves for creatures inanimate which are farthest remote from free-will Of these the Psalmist saith He hath made them an ordinance which none shall passe Thus the fire burneth and the water of necessitie quencheth except for his pleasure he dispenseth with his ordinance The order of inclination instinct is for sensitive creatures because they come nearest to free-will by this the bee gathereth hony and fish serve severall coasts at severall seasons as if they were sent upon a message The order of free-will is for man to which because it is the highest God addeth his speciall grace And by this man travelleth either to his home of happinesse or his home of heavinesse In this order though it be never so free and suggested by a sea of possibilities yet none can outflee Gods providence which the School calleth Fate for that the second cause cannot move out of the first no more then the lower orb can turn above the higher The reason is for that mans will is ordered by contingent objects and God is the commander and orderer of objects and applieth them as he please And thus God by causing a sound to be heard in the eares of Sennacherib of king Tirhakahs coming against him of free-will he brake up his siege against king Hezekiah Thus again by the light of lamps and the sound of trumpets God discomfited the great host of the Midianites Thus also God by leaving the wicked reprobates to their free-wil to grace sufficient and the objects of pleasure covetousnesse and pride for all their free-will power of nature they cannot free themselves from eternall sorrow Lastly thus God by mans free-will by his word and Sacraments and by grace habituall and influent to mans free-will added saveth his faithfull and elect and bringeth them to eternall life And this providence of God concerning mans will thus distinguished first by grace generall to all mankinde added next by meer free-will to which man is left in himself and lastly by grace habituall and effectuall by which onely the godly and elect are moved and governed this I say is answerable to the threefold motion of the heavens the first moving from east to west the next turning contrarie from west to east and the third moving sometimes to the south and sometimes to the north So the first degree of Gods providence moveth all men generally to grace and goodnesse and this is Gods motion onely answering to that of the primum mobile The second contrarie to this is the motion of nature and this is mans onely oppositely crossing God and his grace The third going both waies is the motion of Gods sonnes who are compounded of nature and grace and they move sometime to vertue and goodnesse and sometime to vice and wickednesse Again for the better knowledge of the state of free-will to which many doubts and questions are liable we are to understand that it runneth under two orbs subordinate to Gods providence The first and nearest is the orb of Contingencie the second and more supream is the orb of Fate The orb of Contingencie is decreed of God for the proper element of mans free-will to expatiate in as fishes swim in the water and fowls flie in the aire And were it not for this mans will could not be free but shut up as it were in a prison and so could neither be rewarded nor punished neither move to heaven nor go down to hell no more then the brute beasts which want understanding and the objects of contingencie To shew how man comes to have free-will it shal appeare by these foure particulars First because God hath given to man reason and understanding by which his will is not bound to one object but hath libertie to make a free choice among many Secondly because it hath an orb of contingencies or possibilities to elect in Thirdly whereas God hath made mans will in his own image by which it is capable of a spirituall good or a spirituall evil in this respect God hath given freedome to it by giving it a conscience wherein the rules of nature are written either to excuse it if it do well or to accuse it if
infinitie from the capacitie of the receiver Thus that is infinite which cannot be comprehended or received of any Therefore of Athanasius in his Creed God is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 incomprehensibilis Further God is infinite because he is not compounded of matter and form for that which is in any matter is contracted and determined by its matter but God because he made all matter and forms is beyond all matter and forms he comprehends them but they cannot comprehend him he onely therefore is infinite All greater orbs receive within and under them the lesse but God being the first and largest essence comprehending all things under him cannot be received totally of any inferiour therefore he must be infinite and incomprehensible That which hath no bounds nor borders must be infinite but Almightie God hath no bounds because nothing bordereth upon him and there is nothing above him to confine him He hath no adjacent no equall no corrivall for this cause the Logicians will not entertain him into any Predicament but put him alone by himself in the Transcendent mounting above all things for though he may be apprehended of his inferiour yet he cannot be comprehended of his compeer And this his incomprehensivenesse and transcendencie we shew first in regard of his understanding and will secondly in regard of motion thirdly in regard of place fourthly in regard of time In regard of understanding will because at one act and instant he understandeth all things at the same act and instant he willeth all things His understanding never preventeth his will and his will is never subsequent to his understanding because they have both but one present esse incomprehensible His act is never abrupt but alwaies one and permanent therefore he onely is the true 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whose act end and perfection is alwaies in himself In regard of motion Dionysius saith Nec stat nec movetur He standeth not because he is alwaies moving his creatures and he is not moved because there is nothing to stirre him He is primus motor and if he move not all things lie asleep In regard of place he is incomprehensible for that he is every where and no where He is every where where there is a place and he is no where where there is no place and he must be in no place because no place can contain him Every where speaks finite because all places are created but no where speaks infinite because it is not created And though he be no where yet he is not out of himself therefore he himself is infinite Lastly in respect of time he is infinite for that he had no beginning and because he had no beginning therefore he can have no ending à relatis He hath neither terminum à quo nor terminum ad quem therefore in time also he is infinite And this infinitenesse in God is that which will suffer no man to see him as in himself he is No man shall see me and live saith God Therefore when the Saints stood before God they fell down upon their faces or else God held his hand before their faces as he did unto Moses The rest of Gods attributes his truth his goodnesse his mercie justice power and providence we may in some measure endure but his infinitie no creature can sustain because it hath no measure If we look to the antecedent of Gods eternitie after the first or second prospect the raies of our mindes eyes are broken if we look to the sequent after our sight is reflected from the heavens we can see no further further then the walls we cannot go If we look but upon the image of his infinitie which is his works and his waies our eyes begin to dazle Peter cried out at the draught of fishes Lord go from me for I am a sinfull man and Paul cried out O the depth both of the wisdome and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgements and his wayes past finding out Lastly Job saith He doth great things and unsearchable yea marvellous things without number When he goeth by me I see him not when he passeth by I perceive him not Lastly here the plausible description of Trismegistus affirming God to be a sphere whose centre is every where and whose circumference is no where holdeth better with a metaphor of the creatures residence in God then with any formall veritie or reason of infinitie because every where hath relation to place which is finite for that it is created but in God there is nothing finite If therefore we will assigne a centre to the infinite we must extend it beyond every where because the centre must be proportionate to the circumference but in God there is no proportion because he is all infinite therefore as his circumference is no where so his centre in proper speech must be no where too To which we may applie the doctrine of Dionysius in his book of mysticall Theologie cap. 4. Veriùs subtiliùs omnia de Deo negari quà m affirmari Consectarie The consectarie use is that seeing God is above all our reach therefore we should never speak rashly or ex-tempore of him like bold Puritanes which many times rather babble then speak but with all reverence and maturity like sober Christians like to that of Solomon Be not rash with thy mouth nor let thy heart be hastie to utter a thing before God for God is in heaven and thou upon earth therefore let thy words be few Gods Eternitie The seventh and last attribute is Gods Eternitie and hath reference to time which is alwayes flowing and running and the further it goeth the more it getteth and the more it getteth the more it argueth its want and indigencie in that it needeth but eternitie as it can get nothing so it needeth nothing because it alwayes is and hath neither antecedent nor subsequent but is one individuall having no parts no more then Gods essence for to be is Gods eternitie Time hath parts the first the middle the last as it had a beginning so it shall have an ending Therefore time standeth within eternitie as an inferiour orb and eternitie is the supporter of it so long as it shall stand Time is the shadow of eternitie and eternitie the substance therefore time shall vanish with the shadow because it is following eternitie as the shadow follows the sunne but eternitie cannot vanish because it is a durable substance yea being it self Eternitie is one permanent instant not admitting division it alwayes was and cannot cease to be But here the question may be made that if God was ever before either time or place where then should God be The answer of Divines is that before the creation he was in himself Tertullian saith Ante omnia Deus erat solus ipse sibi mundus locus omnia solus autem quia nihil extrinsecus praeter illum Caeterùm nè tunc quidem
feoffe it upon true doctrine and by writing when they forge a letter and put another mans name unto it Now denying the proceeding of impostours by these three he utterly barres the Thessalonians from admitting this false doctrine that Christs coming was then at hand And therefore he adjoyneth this generall to these particulars Let no man deceive you by any means Though they prophesie in the spirit though they preach out of the pulpit though they shew a letter signed as it were with mine own hand yet beleeve it not according to the like monition Gal. 1. 8. Though we or an angel from heaven preach unto you otherwise then that which we have preached unto you let him be accursed The two antecedents of Christs coming For that day shall not come except there come a falling away first and that man of sinne be revealed the sonne of perdition The Apostle having bound the Thessalonians from the hasty expectation of Christs coming now he gives them two infallible antecedents which must go before so that till these be come Christ may not come and when both these are come then the time which we look for must be at hand so saying our Saviour When ye see all these things know that the kingdome of God is neare even at the doores The first antecedent is the falling away the second and last is the uncovering of the man of sinne These two by reason of congruitie must go before for before these two parts be acted how should Christ come to judgement Cuique sua est tempestas saith Ecclesiastes Every thing must have his time Before Christ can judge the deficient they must have a time to fall away in before Christ can crown the constant they must have a time to be tried in before Christ can fight with his adversarie his adversarie must first shew himself and come into the field so there must be a world before there can be an end of the world besides in generation there is privation ever before form therefore in the breeding of Antichrist before the end defection must precede The falling away Whereas the first antecedent is a falling away we must enquire what is meant by this 'T is not a falling away from the Romane empire as some have imagined for what hath Christ empire to do with the Romane empire but it is a falling away from the faith of the Gospell it is the greatest defection that can be because it is a falling from Christ to the breeding of Antichrist Thus S. Paul expoundeth himself in 1. Tim. 4. 1. Now the Spirit speaketh evidently that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith He saith some because all shall not But that this some shall be the greatest some our Saviour sheweth in the Gospel by an interrogation But when the Sonne of man cometh shall he finde faith on the earth Defection spirituall is like a river the further it runneth the greater it groweth therefore the fittest time for the great Antichrist is the last time Where the falling away is Next the question is where this apostasie is to be found in what part of the world whether in the east church or in the west church Let us search the new Testament and see if we can finde any thing for it there First the Gospel was preached to the Jews many embraced it at the first as we reade in the Gospel but now they be all gone from it looking for a new Messias Where is the Church of the Corinthians the Church of the Galatians the Church of the Ephesians the Church of the Philippians the Church of the Colossians the Church of the Thessalonians to all which S. Paul wrote what is become of the twelve tribes to which Saint James wrote and whither are gone the seven great Churches of Asia to whom S. John wrote All these East Churches founded by the scripture are fallen from Christ and become Mahometans and Nestorians Their falling away was prophesied by S. John in the 2 of the Revelation The Church of the Ephesians was challenged for leaving their first love and were threatned with the removing of their candlestick if they did not repent The Church of Pergamos was challenged for maintaining the doctrine of Balaam the doctrine of the Nicolaitans and was threatned to be fought against with the sword of Christs mouth The Church of Thyatira was charged for suffering of Jezebel to deceive the people and was threatned to be cast into a bed of affliction The Church of Sardis was challenged for being then dead or at least a dying and was threatned to be come upon as a thief comes unexpectedly The Church of the Laodiceans was challenged for that they were neither hot nor cold but luke-warm and were threatned to be spewed out of Christs mouth All these with all the Churches of Africa as lamentable experience proveth a long time ago are gone in denying Christ totally and in receiving of circumcision the mark of the beast Therefore here that is in these Churches of the east which at this day are all under the great Turk this apostasie of which S. Paul speaketh of necessitie must be understood Thus the Church which rose in the east like the moon in the firmament is going down in the west expecting Christs coming Then from this great defection let us acquit Christendome whether they be Papists Protestants or Lutherans because though there be some differences amongst us in ceremonies and expositions which destroy not yet still our head Christ by Baptisme standeth upon our bodie and the substance of the Gospel is entire and whole amongst us by retaining the articles of the faith the volume of the new Testament and the practise thereof by faith and good life But where Baptisme is removed there is perfect apostasie because there the head is cut off from the body And this is contrarie to the commission of our Saviour Matth. 28. 19. The authours of the falling away To proceed in this point next it is expedient to know the authours of this defection how long it hath continued and who is the upholder of it For the first we finde that the first authour was the arch-heretick Arius who as we reade in S. Austine held the Sonne of God to be a creature and the holy Ghost to be the creature of a creature Hence he is called of S. Hilarius Principium Antichristi the beginning of Antichrist and in the Councell of Sardis he is named 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a fighter with Christ. The second authour was the heretick Nestorius who affirmed Christ to be onely man And he was termed Ecclesiae incendium the firebrand of the Church as we reade in Socrates and officina blasphemiarum the shop-house of blasphemies as we reade in Euagrius The third and last authour was the false prophet Mahomet who by the help of Sergius the Nestorian Monk forged his Alcoran in which as in the sink of heresies is contained
the perfection of all apostasie This falling away began in the reigne of Heradius the Romane Emperour who lived in the yeare of our Lord 637. And from that time to this the issue of defection hath continued spreading it self over Asia and Africa being aided by the great Turk the successour of Mahomet who daily increaseth the monarchie of this defection by captiving of Christians making them his Basshaws and Janizaries and by taking in of Christian kingdomes to more then the third part of Europe And if Christian Kings do not by divine providence combine themselves against this beast 't is greatly to be feared that he will lick up all Christian kingdomes as an ox licketh up the grasse of the field Polychronicon sheweth that by the Christians discord this beast was bred of the Hagarenes And M. Fox in his historie of Turks affirmeth that the first letting in of Turks into Europe was by dissension of the Princes of Greece Discordiâ cuncta ruunt Be wise now therefore O ye kings be instructed ye judges of the earth And you Christians leave off your divisions which are the bridge for the Beast and Antichrist to passe over to us The river Euphrates was a famous defence unto Babylon but after that king Cyrus had divided it into foure hundred and threescore chanels the enemie at ease went in at the emptie and drie hollow and wonne the citie before invincible And right so if we Christians shall cut our main current into many small creeks by dividing our selves into divers sects of religion there is great likelihood that the Turk will overrunne us all That speech of some Christians hath alwaies been held of me for profane and heathenish that they had rather live under the Turk then under the Pope or the king of Spain But what is their reason because under the Turk they may have the libertie of their conscience And what will their conscience-libertie unbounded bring them to to break open hell gates to live without faith without law to do what they list to dispute of the Trinitie and to denie Christs divinitie as the Transilvanians and Hungarians Turkishly and Jewishly have begun For the passion of Christ good Christian brethren let us give over our hostile dissensions When two of the Hebrews in Egypt fought and quarrelled what said Moses unto them Sirs ye are brethren why do ye wrong one to another The Papists and we call one God our Father one Lord our Saviour one holy Ghost our Sanctifier and we have but one mean to unite us into this heavenly Unitrinitie which is holy Baptisme how then should we not be brethren and why then should we wrangle and fight one with another Said not Abner to Joab in that hot conflict of brethren Shall the sword devoure for ever knowest thou not that it will be bitternesse in the latter end how long then shall it be ere thou bid the people return from following their brethren If we shall fight and quarrell so long that Ottoman come in to make us his slaves because we will not enjoy Christs peace will not this be bitter Oh blessed Jesus raise up one to bid the people return Blessed be that peacemaker among men as the holy Marie is blessed among women Oh sweet Jesus smell a savour of rest Nulla salus bello pacem te poscimus omnes There is no health in warre saith the Poet we all desire peace Otium bello furiosa Thrace Otium Medi pharetrâ decori Shall furious Thracians and barbarous Medes desire rest from warre and we Christians delight in combates and quarrells are we not yet full with more then fourescore yeares bloud If we withdraw not will not Christ withdraw from us Oh that the prophesie were revived to beat our swords into plow-shares and our spears into pruning-hooks that we might unlearn to fight that the wolf might dwell with the lambe and the leopard lie with the kid and the lion and the fat beast might feed together Seek peace and ensue it saith David the sweet singer and the blessed Paul saith If it be possible as much as in you is have peace with all men Is it not possible that Christians should agree There be differences which hinder What then In the bodie though one leg be lame yet if the other set forward that will dragge after as well as it can Among the Greeks there were divers dialects and yet they had but one language they held together in the main So though Papists have a letter more then we or we one letter for another yet we may hold together in the radix If they sing Gloria Deo inexcelsis we may say Glory be to God in the high heavens The founder of Churches S. Paul he could bear with differences expecting Gods reformation Let us therefore as many as be perfect be thus minded and if ye be otherwise minded God shall reveal even the same unto you Then for the present let us be patient and afterward God will shew where the errour lieth Why should we presume so much of our skill while we are in our non-age and know but in part and prophesie but in part Have not better men then we been deceived Did not Elias say Lord they have killed thy prophets and digged down thine altars and I even I onely am left and they seek my life to take it away Yet God told him that he had reserved seven thousand men that had not bowed their knee to Baal And did not that blessed vessel Saint Paul say that he verily thought in himself that he ought to do many contrary things against the name of Jesus of Nazareth Then let neither side be too stiffe but let us trie all things let us follow our leaders let us hold that which we have till we see better But above all things let us put on charitie which is the bond of perfection Then as the clear eye helps the blear eye the sound hand aids the withered hand and the comely parts cover the uncomely so shall we Christians cover one anothers infirmities and help each other till Christ mend us all Let Protestants love the Papists because they have kept the holy oracles and sacred mysteries for them and let Papists love the Protestants because they are descended from them wear the badge of the covenant with them and by a light and oblique dissent provoke them to better life and more refined learning Have not dissenting Fathers and sliding Scholists been alwaies born with in points of religion To come again to the defection it is a matter not unneedfull to know by what means the falling away was first broacht and then disperst And this was by preaching of heresies and false doctrines Never were so many heresies set on foot as in the first five hundred yeares after Christ when preaching was at the most Then preaching of its own nature is indifferent and
to heaven in the gaze of their enemies which is a signe of the resurrection and of their fellows following shortly after Here beginneth Antichrists horrour as we reade in Revel 11. In the three dayes space and half while the witnesses bodies lie dead in the streets and uninhumed the Antichristians shall make great mirth and send gifts one to another but when they shall see them to stand again upon their feet and after that to go up to heaven then shall great fear come upon them The second prodigie is the blacknesse of the sunne the bloudines of the moon and the falling of the stars As in the worlds creation the light was the first dayes work so in the worlds destruction the light shall be first obscured And as when the candles are put out men take their rest so when sunne and moon shall be extinct the righteous shall be translated to the rest of souls To the wicked the light shall be put out with utter darknesse but the godly shall go from the light variable to the light of glorie These two lights of sunne and moon shall be to Antichrist and his companie two glasses to behold themselves in The glasse of the sunne which represents the Father of lights by his black darknesse shall reflect upon their consciences the light of Gods countenance removed from them and the blacknesse of darknesse reserved for them in the pit of darknesse The glasse of the moon which sembles the Church by her bloudy colour shall oppose to them the multitude of Christian bloud by them shed in their persecution for the space of three yeares and an half And the falling of starres like mountains of fire dashing before their faces shall daze them with unspeakable perplexitie and record unto them their falling from grace The third is the great Terrae-motus such an earthquake as was not since men were upon the earth as it is in Revel 16. 18. One saith it shall be so great that neither man nor beast may stand upon the earth Shaking goes before ruine as a signe of falling Hereupon the Apostle inferreth that the things which are not shaken may remain The fourth is the roaring of the seas and waves expressed Luk. 21. 25. And to this Maris-motus he addeth that the sea shall lift it self fourtie cubits above the height of mountains insinuating that now the waters prepare themselves to claim their ancient right which they had in the creation which is to be above the earth as then it was till God commanded the contrary for the seat of men and terrene creatures And this is confirmed Revel 6. 14. where is said And every mountain and isle moved out of their places Which is not so to be understood as though they were to leave their situation but for that they shall be no more seen the mountains being demolished to make the orb even and the waters being drawn over their faces like a carpet over a table The fifth is the horrour of the aire by fearfull voices thundrings and lightnings and the fall of hail Every stone about the weight of a talent expressed Revel 16. 21. and Ezek. 38. 22. All the elements shall be out of order presaging their dissolution and the fearfull punishment which Antichrist must expect when shortly after the element of fire shall be out of his place and flaming all the world over The sixth is the falling of buildings mentioned Ezek. 38. 20. and Revel 16. 19. And every wall shall fall to the ground Et civitates gentium ceciderunt And the cities of the nations fell When houses and castles fall then there will be no more dwelling here Therefore it behoveth all beforehand to provide for buildings made without hands The seventh is the strange behaviour of living creatures intimated Ezek. 38. 20. The fishes of the sea the fowls of heaven and the beasts of the field and all that move and creep upon the earth shall tremble at my presence One interpreteth that all the sea-beasts shall be gathered together above the sea and shall give a lowing up to heaven The fowls shall flock together and sigh and howl one to another And the beasts shall go lowing to the field and when they come there shall refuse to feed thereby portending their expected end The eighth is the cleaving and rending of rocks and stones prefigured by the stones rending at Christs death and demonstrating the hardnesse of Antichristian hearts which refuse to melt at the death of Christians when the inanimate and hard stones break in many pieces And to this end the woods trees and herbs also shall sweat bloud as Sibylla foretold 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The ninth is the opening of graves and the coming forth of bones standing by the graves rehearsed by one and foreshewed by the graves opening and the bodies coming forth at Christs resurrection For if such demonstration was made for the beginning then the like premonstration is to be looked for in the fulfilling as a competent consectarie The tenth is the appearing of the signe of the Sonne of man in the firmament which the Fathers understand to be the signe of the crosse upon which Christ suffered S. Augustine saith Quid est quod omnes noverunt signum Christi nisi crux Christi Quod signum nisi adhibeatur sive frontibus credentium sive ipsi aquae quâ regenerantur sive sacrificio quo aluntur nihil eorum rite perficitur What is that which all have known to be the signe of Christ but the crosse of Christ which signe unlesse it be applied either to the foreheads of beleevers or to the water it self whereby they are regenerated or to the sacrifice wherewith they are nourished none of these are rightly performed This the Gospel placeth as the immediate preceding signe of Christs coming like the mace or rod born before Kings and Judges when they go to their tribunals or like the ensigne or standard carried before conquering Emperours For in this our Lord Jesus triumphed over his enemies as is expressed Coloss. 2. 14 15. where it is said that he nailed to his crosse the hand-writing of ordinances that was against us and spoiled principalities and powers triumphing over them in it Wherefore upon the sight of this signe it is said Then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn because then the Jews which put Christ to death upon it and Antichrist the Arch-Jew with the whole earth adhering to him shall see him with his crosse coming to take vengeance upon them And then shall the saying be fulfilled They shall see him whom they have pierced These prodigies with others by S. Luke intimated under the shaking of the powers of heaven and the things coming upon the earth shall interpose themselves between the end of Antichrists persecution and Christs coming and shall so follow on the neck of one another that they shall be heartlesse and witlesse not knowing what to do by reason
56. 7. My house shall be called an house of prayer and our Lord in the Gospel confirmeth it Wherefore if God will heare the prayers of his people in all places then he will heare them sooner and with greater respect in his own house which is specially dedicated to prayer and his service Neither doth this any way derogate from his ubiquity but from his being ubique uniformiter for as his mercy although it is over all his works yet is it not equally in hell and in heaven or the measure of his justice equally poured forth upon saints and angels as upon the children of disobedience so likewise although this be Gods attribute to be every where yet he is not every where alike both in regard of the promise of his especiall presence made in Scripture in such houses consecrated to his name by which they become more especially holy as also because in this house God will heare for the presence of his Sonne For as S. Chrysostome saith Where Christ is in the Eucharist there is no want of angels where such a King is and such princes are there is a heavenly palace nay heaven it self It followeth now to shew what God is and that he is the great owner of this house Great is Gods house but greater is the owner because no house can hold him therefore my Text useth an exclamation which intimateth a great entity Holinesse becometh thy house O Lord God is far greater then his house for he not onely dwelleth in his house but in the hearts of men in the intelligences of angels and in all other creatures And because nothing can contain him he dwelleth in himself most perfectly Of all places the prophet David speaketh Whither shall I go from thy spirit or whither shall I flee from thy presence If I ascend up to heaven thou art there if I make my bed in the grave thou art there also If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea even there shall thy hand leade me and thy right hand shall hold me And in Isa. 66. 1. God challengeth the whole world for his house Heaven is my throne and earth is my footstool what house will you build for me saith the Lord hath not my hand made all these things Wherefore when we come to worship God in his house we must bring this thought with us to surrender up all our own thoughts of serving him and desire him to ayd us with his holy Spirit And when after this we have done our lowliest service and served him with our best devotions yet we must say Lord we can never serve thee enough because thou art infinite and we uncapable of thy greatnesse and worthinesse Thus farre have I spoken of God and his house but before we enter it it is fit to know our selves and how we are to be qualified for it From the highest to the lowest alas we are all poore creatures At the first originally we were born abroad in the fields our mothers name was the earth and our fathers name was nothing for from nothing God made all his creatures according to that in Heb. 11. 3. So that things which are seen were not made of things which appeare Seeing then we are so poorely descended what shall we do we must go to service we must seek some good house for our preferment The best house in the world is Gods house for he is owner of heaven and earth and able to advance all But what are the orders of this house what will here give content Holinesse becometh thy house O Lord. Would we know what this holinesse is It is no common but a superlative honour it is Gods honour which we call godlinesse and holinesse common honour belongs to all that have Gods image in them but holinesse reflecteth onely upon the high and mighty God For this cause our Saviour hath taught us to say Hallowed which is more then Honoured be thy name according to the Psalme Holy and reverend is his name And this holinesse respective to Gods house consisteth of certain holy offices The first is To adorn and beautifie it fit for his greatnesse as himself gave pattern in beautifying his tabernacle there was gold and silver precious stones silks with all precious colours the most choice woods and all things framed with the best cunning that God inspired Bezaleel and Aholiab and all the wise-hearted of that time Now to prosecute S. Pauls argument if that which was to be done away was glorious much more is that to be glorious which is to remain 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and Dei domus sort well together comelinesse and holinesse joyn hand with each other Thus saith my Text Holinesse becometh thy house O Lord. This office equity exacteth of us for seeing God hath made the worlds great ornament and our 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 our little world for our honour and use should not we proportion a due ornament for his house and service A mans house is his state and the greatest men are esteemed by it And according to this Ezra saith Blessed be the Lord God of our fathers which hath put into the kings heart to beautifie the house of our God that is in Jerusalem And the Psalmist saith Worship the Lord in the beauty of holinesse that is to say in the beautified sanctuary or as the Geneva translation expoundeth in the glorious Sanctuary But how are our Sanctuaries about us for the most part beautified If basenesse were not more then want of beauty I would hold my peace One beauty hath beat out another the beauty of preaching which is a beauty too hath preacht away the beauty of holinesse for if men may have a sermon prayer and church-service with the ornaments of Gods house may fit abroad in the cold Alas that the daughters should drive away the mothers Is it not a shame for us to see the houses of knights and gentlemen sweeter kept and better adorned then the houses of the King of heaven To the one one mans means is sufficient to the other the means of a whole town is liable and yet this latter nothing so beautified as the other is is not this a second shame Our Saviour telleth us that in his Fathers house there are many mansions Shall we look for glorious mansions in the kingdome of heaven and will we not prepare comely mansions in the kingdomes of the earth Doth not God challenge us where he challengeth his chosen people Is it time for you to dwell in your cieled houses and this house to lie waste Gods judgement follows Ye looked for much and lo it came to little and when ye brought it home I did blow upon it and why saith the Lord of hosts because of my house that is waste and ye come every man to his own house Therefore the heaven over you stayed it self from dew and the earth stayed