see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the Prophets in the kingdom of God and ye your selves thrust out and they shall come from the East and from the West and from the North and from the South and shall sit down in the kingdom of God and behold there are last which shall be first and fiâ—st which shall be last I suppose you doubt not but these words must be understood of the Jews yet if you should scruple it these words would resolve you We have eaten and drunk in thy presence and thou hast taught in our streets As if this must advantage them and entitle them to the kingdom of heaven because the Master of the house is of their own nation and chiefly sent to them Which words some imagine to relate to the day of judgement but to me they seem to refer to the first coming of Christ and this will be manifest to any man that with diligence will examin the particulars spoken of by our Saviour wherefore Christ being asked about the paucity of the elect answers not to the question but directs his discourse another way least he should breed a remisness a negligence a laziness in them to seek after the kingdom of God and therefore he exhorteth them to strive to enter in at the strait-gate before the Master of the house be risen up and shut it against them C. What is this gate and how to be shut M. You will plainly understand what is meant by the gate when I have shewed you what it is to have the gate shut C. Proceed then to the handling of that M. When we read that the Master of the house doth rise and shut the gate we must understand thereby the secret counsel of God upon the Jews to blind them and harden them for a time that they should not confess him and in a word the shutting of the gate is the rejection of the Jews for a season that the Gentiles might be received into the Church of Christ Which opinion is confirmed by those words by which he foretelleth they shall come from all the four câ—rners of the earth and sit down in the kingdom of God And from the 14. of the Acts also where Paul and Barnabas when they were come and had gathered the Church together they rehearsed all that God had done with them and how he had opened the door of Faith unto the Gentiles Also by that which Luke said before that the door should be shut after that the Master of the house was risen up but he rose when Christ who is that Master of the house and Lord of the house of God his Church had delivered himself from the power of death from whence you see it follows that nothing else is understood by the streight gate but that short intervail of time from the coming of Christ to the besieging destruction and desolation of Jerusalem this also was foretold by the Prophet Daniel in the 9. Chap. And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease and for the over-spreading of abominations he shall make it dâ—solate even until the consummation and that determined shall be powred upon the desolate Again our Saviour hath explained these words of the Prophet saying When you shall see Jerusalem compassed about on every side then know that her destruction is at hand and a little after This nation shall be greatly oppressed and shall perish by the edge of the sword till the times of the other nations be fulfilled C. But what are those times M. I shall tell you though perhaps otherwise than most men conceive for Christ doth here intimate that the Jews shall remain under that blindness and calamity tiil the other Nations of the world have believed and embraced the Gospel which limitation of time is determined in the secret will of God nor is it any other than what the words of S. Paul import That blindness in part is happened to Israel till the fulness of the Gentiles become in Now weigh the words and observe whether this sense of them be strained or detorted or rather be not proper and genuine C. They are indeed onely the Apostle handleth them more at large M. Let us therefore revolve and perpend the answer of Christ to the question You demand of me whether few shall be saved but I admonish you not to trifle away time in such questions but let there be a striving a holy contention amongst you with all celerity to enter in at this door of my Gospel for the time is very short and when the hour of your rejection the imminence of your calamity approacheth your complaints will become unprofitable and your desires to enter frustrate and repulsed for the gate of Salvation shall be barred up and the faculties of faith cumbred and stifled Seek not O ye Jews with anxiety to know how few of you belong to the Church Triumphant but with a wise emulation run the race of Faith that ye may belong to that Church and it behooves you also to set out early if ye believe these words of mine by which I provoke and exhort you to newness of life and publikely denounce and declare unto you the approach of the Kingdom of God Now if we believe the sense of these words to be the same with those of S. Matthew which you objected to me which cannot be denied seeing in both places there is mention of the narrowness of the gate there that place in Matthew cannot reasonably be understood of the number of the Elect for if in that passage of Luke nothing be intended but a premonition of that short period of time in which the Jews had a capacitie by Faith to attain the Kingdom of Christ although the number of them was very small which then should believe yet you must needs grant me that those things mentioned by our Saviour in the other Gospel must onely be referred to the Nation of the Jews of which people few indeed did enter by the True Gate Christ Jâ—sus and very many by the secret purpose of God being excluded remained without C. The force of your reasons doth incline me to assent and the rather because it hath been observed of S. Luke that it is his peculiarity to deliver those things clearly and distinctly which in the other Evangelists are related more obscurely and indeed this is the gift of an elegant and the duty of a perspicuous Writer I will instance for brevity sake but in one example Matthew writeth that the two theeves between whom our Lord was crucified used the same exprobations towards him as did the Chief Priests Scribes and Elders but Luke saith onely one of them used contumelious language against him And one of the malefactours which were hanged railed on him saying If thou be Christ save thy self and us but the other answering rebuked him saying Dost not thou fear God seeing
would conclude that neither sin nor Law nor the powers of Hell should be able to condemn me As Paul in many places witnesseth We believe saith he that man is justified by faith not by the works of the Law David likewise in this placeth mans beatitude when God imputes righteousness to him without works Blessed are they whose sins are forgiven and whose iniquities are blotted out Blessed is that man to whom God hath not imputed sin Lastly I would conclude that from the appearance of works no infallible criterium could be grounded of our everlasting condition because we are not ignorant that those men that have been most dear to God have collapsed and continued in most presumptious and dangerous sins who afterwards upon repentance have been restored to eternal happiness Therefore we ought not to judge rashly of the final estate of others but leave them to their master either to stand or fall Rom. 14. C. I approve your answer brother Maynordus for it most rationally confutes the cavils of the adversaries and their mistaken expositions and solidly confirmeth our opinion And hereafter by the assistance of God I will thus repel the darts of the devil and elude the subtile arguments of some men M. The Lord teach thy hands to war that bows of steel may be broken by thine arms Psal 18. I conceive I have now sufficiently shewed the first hatching of this barbarous opinion and all its serpentine turnings and windings It remains now that we proceed to the confirmation of our most salutiferous perswasion C. You judge rightly otherwise you may incur the same censure with Lactantius who was said very soundly to confute the opinions of his adversaries but very weakly to maintain and prove his own assertions But in my judgement these men seem ignorant of the duty of a prudent Oratour neither do they fully understand the disposure uâ—ed by Lactantius in his Books of Divine Institutions For it is the part of a wise Oratour as Cicero teacheth us to endeavour all he can that that part of his Oration which consisteth in the refutation of his Opponent be more firm compact and pithy than that which concerns his own Defence to cast all our darts against him but if our own assertions be easier to be proved and his harder to be overthrown then it is an excellent course to endeavour to entice and withdraw the minds of men from the opposite defence and to convert them to the favouring of our own Which things being true I see no reason why it should be objected against him that he laboured more in refutation than in proof for such is the cause of Religion that it must not be supported by the infirmity of humane arguments and subministration of reason but must flourish in the embraces of an active Faith Go ye into all the world saith our great Master and preach the Gospel to every creature he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved but he that believeth not shall be damned Paul also saith That a Bishop should be able by sound Doctrine both to exhort and convince the gainsay rs Tit. 1. For there is no more required but the sincere and pure word of God which to them that are ordained to eternal beatitude is more sure firm and infallible than principles and demonstrations are to Geometricians And therefore if any man hath detected and confuted an erroneous opinion he hath well performed his undertaking I speak not this as though Lactantius had not confirmed true Religion as it was to be proved against them who were ignorant of the Scriptures or despised them For when in the first three Books he confuted the superstitious errours of his adversaries then he falls upon the proof of Christian Religion in the next three Books and in the seventh he sets down the true end of our Religion and sweetly invites men to pursue the reward of immortalitie M. What you speak of that Father is very true that he was to contend against such as denied the authority of the Scriptures neither did they admit of Proofs deduced from that authority But we who have to deal with such men as reverence the Sacred Monuments of Truth must proceed in a different manner I will therefore demonstrate the Amplitude and Largeness of the Church Triumphant fâ—om four most firm and most clear topick places and with as much brevity as the reason of the matter will allow First from the power of God Secondly from his wisdom Thirdly from his mercy and goodness and Lastly from Divine Testimonies To begin therefore with the first I say Caelius that if we should grant the Church and Kingdom of God to be narrower or less peopled than that miserable Commonwealth of the devil I fear we should derogate from the glory and majesty of our Creatour and King For the power and greatness of a King consisteth not so much in wealth and treasure as in the multitude of his people the largeness of his territories the extent of his provinces and the vast number of his Subjects who pay him tribute and are subject to his Dominion How did the people of Rome swell to that greatness but by the multitude of Kingdoms and variety of Nations which they subdued and governed from hence they were stiled the powerful Romanes and Lords of the world From hence their Senate was called the Haven of Nations the Refuge of Kings For what is greatness but an abundance of power and majesty and what is power but a facultie of protecting others defending themselves and a deliverance of the oppressed from the possession of an enemy but if the enemy of God and man be better provided of subjects than the King of Heaven he is then more powerfull and his greatness more wonderful But who was ever so prodigiously wicked as to affirm the devil to be more powerful than God the work than the workman the basest servant than the most wealthy Lord wherefore doth the Lord of Heaven delight himself in these Titles King of kings Lord of lords the Mighty God the Lord of Hosts Strong in battel and the like C. Although the current of your discourse doth very much affect me nor do I willingly hinder it yet I cannot forbear for a while to stop it Some man might here say this also is a great argument of the power of the King of Heaven in that he hath destinated the major part of mankind who were all his enemies to everlasting banishment M. This might be alledged of some Tyrant who leaves no means unattempted either through justice or oppression to enlarge his Empire and such a Tyrant is that old adversary the devil But to affirm this of our Heavenly King who is our most lawful Soveraign our common Father who made us and hath taken an everlasting care to preserve us were most injurious scandalous and blasphemous Neither is that any right demonstration of power that a Prince destroyeth the greater part of his people but on the contrary
THE CHURCH Triumphant OR A Comfortable Treatise of the Amplitude and Largeness of the Kingdom of CHRIST Wherein is proved by Scriptures and Reason That the number of the Damned is inferiour to that of the Elect. Nè Redarguas ea falsitatis de quorum contrariis non est demonstratio Rabbi Mos By JOSEPH ALFORD M. A. sometime of Oriell Colledge in Oxford Exercere nos Deus vult diffiâ—ultate Quaestionis Non decipere falsitate sententiae Augustin Printed by W. Bentley for J. Williamâ— at the Crown in S. Pauls Church-yard Anno Domini 1649. 〈…〉 with that usefull observation of Irenaeus who speaking of Prophecies and some other abstruse points in Religion saith Antequam effectum habent aenigmata sunt ambiguitates hominibus they are clouds in the eyes and riddles in the understandings of men until they be explained I humbly intreat you therefore to accept my indeavours and to suspend your judgement till you have weighed the Reasons on both sides Let not the seeming novelty of the opinion retard your enquiry for although Truth be the daughter of the most High and therefore there can be no new Truth yet many Errours are ancient embraced reverenced unsifted and uncontroverted meerly in regard of their Antiquity when notwithstanding some doctrines of great consolation may languish and be suppressed under those errours The treasures of Divine knowledge are inexhaustible and to the dissolution of the World the Oracles of God will suppeditate new matter wherewith to recreate a holy diligence to confirm a doubting spirit and to confound a sawcy curiosity If I have delivered a truth unto the world which hath lien as an Embrion buried in the womb of errour it is a wealthy blessing upon my poor endeavours If I doe hallucinate in the prosecution of it I am willing to be confuted without obstinacy I am not less desirous to demolish an errour than I am sollicitous to hearken to a corrected judgement Sir I wish you felicities both temporal and eternal that when you have finished the progress of faith and hope you may be translated into this Church Triumphant together Sir with Your most devoted servant JOS. ALFORD OF THE LARGENESSE OF THE Church Triumphant IN the Misteries of Theology some questions are not yet un-muffled from their obscurity This Doctrine concerning the Paucity or Multitude of the Elect fruitful of consolation and conducible to the knowledge of God hath seemed not onely difficult but inexplicable The opinion of the Learned asserting the Paucity hath augmented the Difficulty as if the bare authority of men were sufficient to prevail with after Ages without the concurrence of their reasons It hath been inveloped with obscurity by a surmize that the knowledge of it is hid in the secret councel of God and is to us unrevealed neither hath it appeared what reasons can be raised from the Doctrine of Faith and good Works which might greatly perswade us to a belief of the greater number to be saved But the clouds of erroneous prejudice being dissipated truth will be manâ—fested in a more vigorous excellency What tidings can arrive more acceptable to a consternated spirit labouring under sin and an apprehension of eternal torments than to receive an assurance that between the exhaustible mercy of his God and his iniquities there is no proportion That the goodness of God is not circumscribed in the salvation of some few men just and perfect and eminent for sanctity but that he will beautifie innumerable others lame and infirm and dislocated members On the other side what can more encline the hearts of men to desperation than to feign God to be some severe and importunate Exactor who will admit none into his Heavenly Kingdom but Enoch Elias Prophets and Apostles and some few men of Angelical holiness For as in the body all the members are not Eyes but the Ears the Nose the Hands the Feet and other more ignoble parts have their distinct and proper functions So in the Body of the Church Triumphant whereof our Lord Christ is the Head the members are divers and subordinate some being dignified above others and as in a well constituted City there are the chief Magistrates men of middle ranks and the poorer sort so in the City of God which through his benignity is congregated and constituted by degrees in this world there will be found not onely Prophets and Apostles but also many inferior persons out of all Kingdoms People and Nations In the Tabernacle of Moses and upon the building and beautifying of that illustrious Temple of Solomon they did not onely bestow gold silver and jewels but they made use also of brass wood stones Badgers-skins and Goat-skins to let us understand no doubt that into this Heavenly Temple whereof that was a shadow some shall be received who in the judgement of men want the austere conversation and refined piety But if any man object Nothing that is defiled and impure shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven and that God hath commanded us to be holy even as He is holy Let that man also know that he who upon the Cross purified the thief in the fire of his own sacrifice and torments will in like manner deal with all those that are ordained to salvation It is the commandement of God that we should be perfect but imperfect is that charity that refuseth salvation to those that have not fulfilled that commandment he commandeth what we are unable to perform that the riches of his mercy might abound to make the whole world obnoxious to his benignity for by the fulfilling of the law or the accumulation of good works no man can be perfectly just before him For this cause I have framed this Disputation of the Amplitude of the Kingdom of God conceiving it no less profitable than if it had consisted of the Mercy Goodness Wisdom Power or in a word of the Nature of God For these things are so concatenated knit and interwoven that unless the confines of it exceed the territories of the devil we can neither truly apprehend his mercy nor those other attributes that declare his nature But such is the peevishness of some spirits they choose rather to defend an opinion with obstinacy which they dote upon than to enquire what may be stedfastly maintained without contumacy but we who defend the better Cause to wit the magnifying of the Mercy of God in the salvation of Mankind for beyond these we shall not proceed are prepared to refute without pertinacity and to be convinced without passion I have not enterprised this Disputation with any secret end divided from the glory of God not to anticipate more able pens nor to introduce any superannuated Heresie not to tyrannize over the judgements of men by an upstart Opinion nor to impose a necessity of belief upon the meanest capacity but to unbosom my Meditations to the Pious and the Learned and to have this liberty judged by the Church of Christ according to the
salvation for when the soul springeth and culminateth in the contemplation of such a love unless it be doomed to the left-hand distribution that man must needs abhor vice when he knoweth it is so displeasing to so loving a father And it will also forcibly allure him to the love of virtue and piety because he remembreth the indulgence of his God doth require it of and expect it from him Lastly he will continually endeavour to be holy innocent and just because he knoweth his God and his Saviour is holy pure innocent and just Nor doth the objected security hinder at all the jouâ—ney of piety but may rather be accounted the life of good actions and a happy being but such a condition of life cannot possibly be espoused to a perpetual fear of evil and torment Neither doe I understand and mean by security that carnal habit which ariseth from a contempt of Gods laws and an incogitancy of the day of judgement but a privation of anxiety and a tranquillity of spirit germinating and budding from a confidence of the Divine goodness to mankind which our Lord and his Apostles have called Peace In this security and affiance I say felicity is placed and I term it the fountain of holiness and good works What good things can he imagine what laudable action can he meditate or what great matters worthy of a Christian resolution can he perform that alwayes doubts his own salvation that thinketh God is angry with the greater part of mankind and entertaineth such narrow conceptions of the kingdom of Christ as if it were open but to some few men I know not who in some angle and nook of the World This is not to extol his Majesty but to obscure it this is not to advance his glorie but to diminish it not to magnifie his goodness but to disparage it not to admire his wisdom but to despise it not to stand amazed at his omnipotence but to mock it whereas they who think highly and Honourably as it is meet they should of the Largeness of his Kingdom their contemplations are devout pious and the more congruous to the essence of God Of which most blessed kingdom what my conceptions are I shall comprehend in two books or Dialogues in the last I shall variously and plainly demonstrate the largeness of this Kingdom having in the first cleared all those places of Scripture which seem to oppose the magnitude of it For distinction sake I name the Prolocutours Caelius and Maynardus and every attentive Reader may make himself a Moderatour Caelius I come accompanied my dear Maynardus with early desires to renew our last conference and if it be no interruption to your studies I should desire satisfaction in a scruple by some words of yours injected Maynardus I account it my Caelius the noblest end of my studies if by that advantage I can in any matter benefit a friend C. You may remember that after you had discoursed of the goodness and mercy of God to mankind in Christ you added that his kingdom which was built upon and established in mercy was set open to more men than many men have hitherto conjectured I have ruminated upon these words being doubtfull whither they might tend and many things coming to my rememberance I remain unresolved M. Speak I pray your thoughts C. First I thought of Oâ—igen who as it is said was of Opinion that not onely the damned Souls of men but also the Devils themselves at last should be received unto mercy I thought also upon their opinion who believed that although not all men yet such as were matriculated into Christ by Baptism and did eat of his mystical bread should obtain eternal life Lastly I pondered whether you might not insinuate that the number of the Elect was not inferiour to that of the Damned but rather greater M. And which of these did you find most agreeable C. The last but that the Scriptures teach us otherwise seems the more probable But because nothing falleth unadvisedly from you I expect the reason of your words and whether you intended them in any of these senses which I have delivered M. First I conceive that opinion to be falsly imposed upon Orig n and that it is an emulous invention of such men that would obscure his eminence which unworthy practice those times so well as these were very prone too For my part I conceive that most learned man to have advanced the Kingdom of Christ and the mercy of God by no reproveable or vulgar amplifications which saying being maliciously detorted through envy and perversly understood by ignorance that devout Father was slandered to affirm that the devil should be translated to glorious immortality But this opinion whether held by Origen or any other man is sufficiently refuted by Christ himself the Master of Truth The second opinion which doth invest all those with eternal happiness which are initiated by Baptism into and have participated the Body and Blood of Christ is utterly to be rejected and dis-allowed for that imputeth salvation to the efficacy of outward signs and elements but this is so super-abundantly overthrown by S. Paul that it were waste of time to urge any thing in confutation of it for it would follow by unavoidable consequence if that Opinion should be granted that Hymeneus and Philetus and Alexander of whom Paul makes mention that Ananias and Sapphira and Simon Magus that Julian the Apostatâ— nay that Sergius the Monk who by some hath been reputed Antichrist are now partakers of Beatitude But the third opinion that the City of God the Heavenly Jerusalem the Church Triumphant should be larger than the execrable synagogue of the devil doth not seem to my judgement to contain the least absurdity Wherefore I shall not conceal my preconceptions of it unless you otherwise conceive of it C. I should as I said before embrace this perswasion did not the word of God restrain my consent M. Doth neither the authority of the ancient Fathers nor the consent of former ages nor the newness and greatness of a matter then prevail with you C. Not at all For first in disputation not the authority of men but the power of reason should be of most importance Secondly the Fathers claim not the least assent to their writings further than they are confirmed by the testimonies of the Scriptures Then for the consent of many ages and customs what is it if it be not supported by reason and the authentical authority of Gods word but a decrepit and a blind errour For there is no novelty in Truth than which nothing is more ancient for she is the Daughter of the Most High But if there be a truth newly explorated the greatness and the newness of it should rather allure than affright me or any other man M. You would then did not the Scriptures over-rule you joyn your consent to this Opinion C. I would M. Verily I applaud your judgement as holy and worthy of a Christian But
or Leprosie repair to the Priests I know some men from hence would authorise private Confession or rather confusion for with such foolish and impious Allegories they indeavour to obscure the Doctrine of Christ it was an argument of Divine power and an evident testimonie of the obedience of Christ who came not to destroy but to fulfil the Law for it was expresly said in the Law that the Priest should judge of the leper The Lord also commanded the rich Man to sell all his goods and give them to the poor and to follow him that saying very much troubled him and made him sad yet perhaps he afterwarwards put it in execution And if he did not he ought to have done it in obedience to the command of so good and gratious a Master it will be sufficient for us to have such a preparation of mind that if the welfare of our brethren and the glorie of the Lord require it to part with all things yea life it self but this being a singular injunction and commanded onely to one man doth not bind the generality of men so that they should neglect their estates or impend all their wealth upon the poor any more than they are bound to sacrifice their sons because God commanded Abraham to such an obedience and therefore because our Lord said unto the Jews that many are called but few are chosen we must not generally extend and stretch these words to all times and persons C. You mean if I understand you right that those sayings were meant of the Jews of those times and solely to be appropriated unto them of whom many by the Prophets and afterwards many were called by the Lord himself but few were chosen namely Apostles Disciples and some Women as the Holy Scriptures do witness these were the little flock to whom Christ did Minister that consolation in Luke saying Fear not little flock for it is the will of your Father to give you a Kingdom this is that remnant of which Paul in the 11 to the Rom. saith Even so then there is at this time a Remnant according to the election of grace these are that seed of whom also Isaiah speaketh Except the Lord of Sabboth had left us a seed we had been as Sodom and been made like unto Gomorrha In all which places the paucity of the Jews of those times which should be saved is not obscurely signified M. You take my meaning right and you have very aptly connumerated those places of Scripture Those that do detort that saying of our Saviour should observe that all those parables in the 20 21 and 22. Chapters in Matthew do contain the rejection of the Jews and the calling of the Gentiles In confirmation of this truth weigh those words in the first similitude in the 20 Chapter they murmured against the good man of the house saying These last have wrought but one hour and thou hast made them equal unto us which have born the burthen and the heat of the day And it is manifest that after the resurrection of Christ these Jews did make complaints and when Paul and the rest of the Apostles preached the Gospel to them that were without they held it an unjust thing that the Gentiles should be made equal to them the ancient and Holy people of God this is plain to be seen both in the Acts of the Apostles and also in the Epistle to the Romanes In the same parable also these words Take what is thine and go thy way do clearly imply the rejection of the Jews and what is more manifest than that convertible Text Those that are last shall be first and those that are first shall be last Who I pray are those last made first but the Gentiles alienated from the Common-wealth of Israel and now preferred before the Jews and who are those first made last but the Jews for a time rejected till the fulness of the Gentiles be come in Then also those Israelites shall be saved as we have shewed before Moreover the Parable of the 21 Chapter cannot admit of doubt and that in the 22. Chapter is so perspicuous that if in the first there possibly were any doubt to be raised yet this would easily remove and dissolve it especially when the same sentence Many are called few are chosen is found also in the conclusion of that parable Now that this similitude was by our Lord appropriated to the Jews who can make a question when he observes these words The wedding is ready but they which were bidden are not worthy Go ye therefore into the high wayes and as many as ye shall find bid to the marriage This is the same which our Lord commanded to his Disciples Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel to all creatures Mark the last Chapter This Paul and Barnabas testifie in the Acts It was necessarie that the word of God should first have been spoken to you but seeing ye put it from you and judge your selves unwoâ—thie of everlasting life See we turn to the Gentiles for so hath the Lord commanded us Now compare this of Paul with that of our Saviour and you will find that one egge is not more like another Christ saith They that were invited were not worthiâ— Paul saith You judge your selves unworthie Christ saith Go out into the high waies Paul saith We go out unto the Gentiles for thus hath the Lord Commanded But let us rise to dinner there is an importunate creditour must also have some satisfaction That which remaineth which indeed is the most important matter we will difer until the afternoon M. THe serenity of the air my Caelius and this pleasant face of heaven doe even invite us to forsake the house With your allowance therefore we will repair to yonder summer-house and spin out our discourse C. It is most agreeable Maynardus for I prefer the benefit of your conversation before all sublunary contentments It is now your part to proceed and as the gravitie of the matter doth require I shall lend you a very attentive ear M. I will proceed conditionally that you will interpose when you doubt of any thing spoken C. I shall most willingly M. Then First I will declare the first rise and beginning of that opinion concerning the paucitie of the Elect. Secondly I will prove by plain and solid arguments the amplitude and Largeness of the CHURCH TRIUMPHANT In the beginning as by the subtle malice of the Devil death got an enterance into the World so by his artifice and emulation this envious and narrow Opinion hath been advanced and disseminated for this father of lies this enemy of mankind saw and collected by indubitable signs that the Church of God was established in mercy as upon an unremoveable foundation and that by degrees God would settle his heavenly Kingdom which should consist of infinite multitudes of Citizens therefore hath he endeavoured and doth still contrive by a thousand deceits temptations and trecheries to coarctate
it is an invincible evidence of power when the greater number are by him preserved For the clearer understanding of this Suppose two Princes one whereof without all Law or provocation save that of his own exorbitant will sought the ruine of his people and bent all his intentions to destroy them the other used all industry care and diligence though they were ungrateful to preserve them should not the greatest power be judged to be in him the Protector C. Yes indeed M. What if he preserved but a greater part would you suppose him to be a more powerful Prince than the other C. Why not Truly both the more powerful and also the more merciful for if he could have saved all he would have saved all M. I do not think so where then is his justice for without it there can be no exercise of virtue for the punishment of and his severity unto a few doth exalt and magnifie his clemency to the rest C. I confess it but we must be circumspect least whilest we praise his clemency and augment his power we diminish his justice But if these attributes be equal in God then the number of the blessed and the number also of the damned are equal M. Such an equality is not to be required where there is neither debt nor merit here onely the true bounty the free mercy of God are discerned for God oweth to no man and it is lawful for him to do what he pleaseth with his own creature the work of his own hands and fashioned for his glory unless that the nature of all men especially that of a Prince should be more propense to clemency and pardon than addicted to punishment and revenge as God himself witnesseth of himself saying The Lord the Lord God merciful and gratious long-suffâ—ring and abundant in goodness and truth Now no motive is so prevalent as the promise of salvation to win souls to God nothing is so magnificent so princelike so highly liberal as to succour the afflicted to pardon the suppliant and to deliver men from dangers on the contrary nothing is more abject vile and deformed than to make the highest cruelty to cohabite with the greatest power C. If God loweth nothing to man why is it said in the 20. of Matthew that the Master of the house bid his Steward call the labourers and give to every one their hire Also our Lord Christ saith to those that suffer reproach and persecution for his Names sake Rejoyce and be exalted in joy for I say unto you great is your reward in Heaven M. Our Lord out of his meer goodness and benignity calleth that a reward or recompence which is the effect of his own liberality and this by the sequâ—l of that parable is manifest The good man of the house went out to seek labourers not they to seek him as he saith in Isaiah I am found of them that did not seek me I was made manifest to them that asked not after me He calleth them he hireth them he sendeth them he sendeth for them and he payeth them Some acknowledge the goodness of the Master and murmure not others complain using many objurgations taxe him of unjustice and boast their own works and day-labours all these the Lord thus satisfieth Friend I do thee no wrong didst thou not agree with me for a penny take what is thine and be gone I will give unto this last even as unto thee is it not lawful to do what I will with mine own aâ—t thou envious because I am good and libâ—ral What I pray thee do all these things import but the bounty of the Master of the house which is most plainly proved by those words that it was lawful for him to do with his own as bâ—st pleased him For he now calleth those things his which before he called by the name of a hire that we might understand his wonderful goodness for he adorneth his own gifts with the name of a reward that he might cherish and rowse up our sluggish natures to the lively performance of our duties For otherwise hath not the Lord stampt it as a Law saying when you have kept all the Commandments say of your selves You are but unprofitable servants for you have pâ—rformed but your duty C. What is there intended by the word penny M. The penny signifieth the Covenant which he hath made with us offering to us life or death honour or ignominy felicity or misery All these things Life Honour Felicity are by his Fatherly indulgence promised to them that do not attribute them to their own works or merit but to the proud and such as boast of their own works as did the Jews or those that despaire of the loving kindness of God nothing is due but reproach and confusion For as Paul saith The wages of sin is death but the gift of God is everlasting life through Jesus Christ our Lord. C. Can life and death then be called a recompence or reward M. Yea life in reference to the promise death in respect of sin may be so called For reward beareth an indifferent signification and is appliable in good and bad things to good and bad men Of bad men and vain-boasters the Lord saith They have received their reward And this is the same which the good man of the house saith Take what is thine and be gone Peter also saith That the wicked find the reward of their unrighteousness C. I now plainly perceive that the Doctrine which you raised from that Parable in our morning discourse is properly to be understood of the calling of the Jews if you please therefore pursue your purpose M. My purpose was to declare the infinit power of God by which we might conjecture of the largeness of his Church and Kingdom For if the Majesty of a King is best conspicuous in the abundance of riches in the multitude of people and a great number of Kingdoms Provinces and Nations we must necessarily conclude That the Kingdom of God who onely can be truely said to be powerful great and wonderful is much bigger than that tyranny of the devil For I will never call that Prince great who hath a great multitude of enemies but I will term him powerful to whom many pay subjection and in this I â—â—â—e Solomon on my side In the multitude of the people saith he is the Kings honour but in the scarcity of men is the destruction of a Prince C. This cannot be denyed when those things are abstracted from persons and â—lmes but when I consider them more nearly and look upon them in the lives and customs of men I confess I am puzled what to think for do you not see that Satan doth possess the greatest part of the world which as John saith is covered with evil therefore not without cause is the devil called The Prince of this world and lord thereof M. What my CAELIUS Know you not that John saith Judge not according to appearance but judge righteous judgement
do you forget what you confess in the Symbole of your Belief when you say I believe the Holy Catholick Church which is the Communion of Saints which had it been subjected to sense had not been put into our Confession which consisteth simply and absolutely of the objects of our Faith Let it not therefore move thee that this Kingdom of Christ this Commonwealth of the Saints is not visible to the eye for it is better believed and comprehended in the mind than discerned by the sense C. But seeing it consists of men what is the reason it should be invisible M. Because God in the administration of his Kingdom differeth from the conduct of humane reason or the Methods of that old beguiler And here now we may contemplate the wonderful and admirable wisdom of God The devil filleth all placeâ— with sin death and desolation God disposeth all things in justice life and healthfuâ— salvation Now observe with what inexpressible art God doth this to deceive thaâ— Deceiver Under sin he covereth justice under death life under condemnation salvation under infirmitie strength under folly wisdom From hence it is said that all the World is overspread with evil from hence Satan is said to be the Prince of this world because he seemeth to govern all things according to his own sensualitie as though there were no providence but it is not so by no means so the true and legitimate Prince is he to whom the Father said Ps 2. Ask of me and I will give thee the nations for thine inheritance and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession He is the true Lord who conquering death and the Authour of death saith in the 28 of Matth. All power is given to me both in heaven and in earth C. You have proved these things very fully and the matter is strengthened by the nature and definition of faith for faith is defined by the Divines to be a firm comprehending of those things in the understanding which are not seen M. I rejoyce that you have so well profited by our discourse that you can assist the cause I maintain But to make it yet more clear unto you I will propound a similitude We are in this life as in a Citie which of right belongeth to some good Prince but this Citie is usurped and oppressed by a certain Tyrant with severe bondage as for example Pharaoh oppressed the Israelites in that memorable calamity now if any man enter this Citie and observe the Customs of it he will say it differs very little from that of Aegypt which with outward appearance and seeming willingness followeth and obeyeth the Tyrant but inwardly consenteth with the true and lawful Lord and although they can contribute nothing else yet they sigh and wish for him expect him and bewail the burthen of their servitude and when he shall come with power to chase and subdue the enemy and to restore the Citie to freedom then the Tyrant shall feel of what force the Faith and Love of this people is to their Lawful and merciful Prince for in stead of many Subjects he shall then find many Enemies for that old saying is a true one He that hath many servants hath many Enemies What are we not all Subject and mancipated to sin even against our wills Fitly therefore may we say with Paul With the mind I serve the Law of God but with my body I am Subject to the dominion of sin Add also that many men commit many errours through ignorance and those will admit excuse and pardon for a difference must be put between sins of weakness and sins of malice and presumption But wherâ— our King Christ Jesus accompanied with might and Majesty shall come to sight the last battel with the Devil then that infinite multitude of the Elect that innumerable company of celestial Citizens shall appear Now they are not discernable because as I have said either through force or ignorance they are compelled to wear the Tyrants colours In the mean time till the expectation of that time be satisfied our prudent and abundantly wise Prince hath some secret and clandestine conferences with them heartens them and comforts them and bids them continue faithful to him and he will accept this their desire of him this Faith for perfect obedience And although he can deliver us he delayeth it suffers us to undergo the Discipline of afflictions to kindle in us a greater desire of his coming These are the Divine stratagems the royal arts which do deceive both the narrow judgement of men and also elude the deceits and snares of the Devil for who would say that in so many sins there should be any righteousness in such a perturbation such a trifluctuation of miseries any quiet rest or peace in so much folly any wisdom in so much servitude any liberty or in so many dangers any safety who would ever have thought the thief who was even buried alive in all wickedness and brought to be crucified for his notorious and flagitious offences had been one of the Sons of God and of the number of the Elect On the other side who would have imagined that Judas Isâ—ariot chosen to the Honour of an Apostleship and daily and hourly a continual hearer of Divine truth and heavenly wisdom should not have been a Citizen of Heaven O the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgements and his waies past finding out Here is the new Art here are new reasons of heavenly administration this is the mysterious way of God alone who onely is wise powerful and good Great is our Lord and of great power his understanding is infinite Psal 147. C. By this way of judging according to the shallow judgement of man I suppose Elias was deceived when he made his complaint that he onely was left of all those that did worship God but what answered the oracle of God to him I have reserved to my self seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal Rom. 11. M. You gues right and if in one place in one nation there were so many althougâ— to a definite number be here put for an infinite multitude and those unknown to â— greater Prophet how many may we suppose then to have been and now to be iâ— the whole World C. Verily I think an innumerable company M. Let us then believe that this our heavenly King is able and knoweth how to purchase to himself a greater kingdom than the Enemy who hath neither wisdom nor power C. But upon what reason do you refuse the ascription of wisdom and power to the Enemy when it seems repugnant to his name to deny him those attributes for you may call to mind they were termed Daemones or evil Spirits from their great power or wisdom by many of the Ancients for Plato who followed Hesiod and other Poets doth conceive them to be called Daemones quasi Daimones which signifieth prudent or
a few do much resemble that man who made a most magnificent feast fit in the preparation of it to entertain a whole City but when the guests came to sit down that were invited there appeared onely a very thin number and might not a man demand wherefore all this preparation mountains are delivered of a mouse C. Who will deny this for to what purpose should he prepare many things with ostentation which he did not intend to distribute M. But far otherwise doth our Lord deal by us for when some had refused to come to his Supper Luke 14. Go out saith he to a servant into the streets and lanes of the city and bring in hither the poor and the lame the maimed the halt and the blind and when this was done and yâ—t room was remaining Go saith the Lord into the high-ways and hedges and compel them to come in that my house may be full C. Oh the wonderful benignity of the Lord to whom it seemeth not enough to invite onely but to compel men to a fruition of his plenty But how doth he compel men for this phrase may sound harsh to some ears especially seeing our Lord seemeth to be of a different Opinion saying The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence and is taken by violence M. First we may call them violent who deny themselves in the brideling of their appetites and moderating their sensualities who oppose the activity of Faith against the wit of reason and prefer the Kingdom of God before all the fugitive pleasures of all the kingdoms of this world He that will follow me saith the King himself let him deny himself this is that holy violence Let him take up his cross and follow me For the Kingdom of God is not overcome by any man but by him who hath first overcome himself He that obtains this conquest as Plautus saith is Victor victorum Conquerour of conquerours Again God is then said to compel when of chips of Hell he makes Cedars of Paradise Of sons of wrath sons of God and coheirs with Christ when by a kiss of love and a spiritual embrace he carrieth them up to Heaven who by nature were concenterd in hell Thus when St. Paul did precipitate hlmself into blasphemies and did exagitate the world with persecutions God suddenly wraps him up into the third Heaven This blessed compulsion also did they undergo that were of the Baptists Auditory who as soon as the Sermon was at an end contended in a holy faith who should first lay hold on Christ for our Lord meant nothing else in those words but to express the vehemency of desire in the multitude to attain everlasting happiness This he also shewed in the similitude of a conquered city into which the Souldiers strive to enter Of which matter if any man doubt let him read the Testimony of St. Luke in the seventh chapter who expounding those things which Christ said of John and of the Kingdom of God saith All the people that heard him and the Publicanes justified God being baptized with the baptism of John Now God dealeth with us even as we use to do with tender infants we hang up a piece of money or some other thing and shew it the child pointing to it as a reward of his weak endeavours to reach it we invite and allure him to take it which when he cannot perform then by little and little we let down the money neerer the childs hands till he have caught it Then we rejoyce the child triumpheth that he hath got the gold and we shout and praise the child as if he had done some great matter But tell me now what did this little infant perform You placed the money you provoked him to take it you let it down that he might reach it onely you did not put the money into his hands and yet you praised him and cockered him as if he alone had done all But God besides all these things doth more for us He doth not onely set a felicity before us invite us excite us and raise us up but also by the gracious instinct of his Spirit sweetly allure us and compel us to like it to will it to choose it to embrace it and to love it C. O blessed constraint O delightful violence let us therefore with them congratulate this priviledge that he hath adopted us to the participation of the glorious inheritance of the Saints that he hath rescued us from the powers of darkness and translated us to the Kingdom of his dearest Son M. We ought indeed to return our thanks to him but who can offer thanks worthy of so great mercies Our most liberal Prince will fill his house will people his Kingdom but how large can we suppose this house this Kingdom to be when it is as capacious as his love as far extended as his goodness and as patulous as his mercy in which there is sound neither measure nor circumscription And because this house is capable to entertain a multitude of guests and not a paucity onely therefore Christ saith In my Fathâ—rs house are many mansions John 14. Now compare the words of our Saviour with the opinion of these men they say His house is a narrow house a small house and that it shall also continue above half empty the Lord witnesseth his desire to have it filled and as Isaiaâ— saith It shall be even too naâ—row by reason of the inhabitants chap. 49. Now consider who is most worthy of belief God or man that is truth or a lie C. Who will make any doubt of that when God onely is true and all men are lyars M. What then hath our King omitted wherein hath he been deficient in goodness or wisdom that his Kingdom should be dilated amplified and replenished Moses the Commander of the Isra lites by the direction of God appointed them six Cities for Refuge three on this side and three on the further side of the River of Jordan that they who killed a man unawares through errour might flee thither and escape Romulus the first Founder of Rome set up a Sanctuary also unto which any malefactour might flee and by that means avoid punishment This was the first beginning and foundation of that stupendious Empire of the Romanes neither is it worth a wonder for who is not moved with the names of liberty and freedom and safety who doth not chearfully run thither to find it where it is promised the same Moses consecrated every fiftieth year to liberty and plenty for in that year the slaves were emancipated and the bond-men made free New tables were instituted new Ordinances devised and possessions did revert to the owners by their former right to the inheritance the Harvest and the Vintage of that year was in common it was proclaimed by the sound of Rams-horns and Trumpets and from thence called the year of Jubilee But hath the wisdom and goodness of God been less liberal to us hath he not sent Christ or rather did
hath not been revealed to them C. I confess I thought thus within my self but I was willing to hear your opinion but when you said a little before speaking of the Church that it was wheresoever men did believe or should believe wherefore made you that addition should believe M. Because at all times and in all ages many are elected to this kingdom which are not yet called not compelled by faith to enter as were Saul Cornelius the Centurion and Sergius Paulus the Proconsul and innumerable others whose vocation and ingress was by the Lord for some time deserred who because they were from all eternity appointed to this kingdom are therefore all Citizens and Members of this heavenly Common-wealth this is manifest by these and others who the goodness of God being revealed are afterwards received into this kingdom C. They say that Cornelius oponed a passage into this kingdom by his prayers and Alms-deeds and this they confirm by those words of the Angel to him Thy prayers and thy Almes are come up for a memorial before God M. The abettors of such fancies are contumelious to God and ignorant of the Scriptures they reproch God for they rob him of his Honour and give the glory to man they are ignorant of the Scriptures not discerning an open truth Their errour ariseth partly from a non-consideration of the words preceding and subsequent which if they had perpended they had never dashed against this Rock What hath St. Luke written in the beginning of this Chapter That Cornelius was a devour man and one that feared God with all his house which gave much Almes to the people and prayed to God alway Afterwards those men that were sent by Cornelius give him this Character that he was a just man feared God and of good report among all the nation of the Jews Who now doth not plainly see that his piety to and his fear of God are first commended then his Almes and good deeds are spoken of he was a Religious and a good man and therefore gave many Almes to the poor and prayed to God alway which were the fruits and effects of his piety Therefore it is said he was of good report among the Jews But from whence came these good effects Not from his good deeds for the tree must be good before the fruit can be good as our Lord saith Matth. 7. For the cause cannot follow the effect any more than a daughter can bring forth her Mother But who made him Religious and just and fearing God Who but he that circumciseth the foreskins of our hearts That taketh away our stony hearts and giveth us hearts of flesh and new Spirits Ezech. 11. He I say made Cornelius both Religious and devout and were not these things declared unto Peter by the Divine oracle of God for when he supposed that all the rest of the Nations were alienated from the benefit of the Gospel the Angel telleth him Those things which God hath purified call not thou unclean Acts 10. Here God witnesseth that he had purged prepared and consecrated Cornelius to himself And although it was spoken because of Cornelius yet the words concern all those that God hath chosen and adorned with the beautiful knowledge of the Gospel And whereas it is said that his prayers and giving of Almes went up to God as a memorial nothing more is intended but that God heareth the prayers of the Godly that their good works are acceptable to him and that he hath them in remembrance as flowing from himself the Fountain of all good gifts And where it is said that he was frequent in prayer it is evident that this proceeded from a Divine inspiration For as Paul saith We know not what we should pray for as we ought but the Spirit it self maketh intercession for us with unutterable groans Rom. 8. Now if he was endued with the Spirit of God as certainly he was and that his Almes-deeds and his prayers were accepted it is as certain that he had saith without which it is impossible to please God as St. Paul doth most plainly teach Rom. 10. And if he had the illustrations of Faith then his heart was purified and cleansed as Peter testifieth of Cornelius and other Gentiles in St. Luke saying That God had enlightened them by his Holy Spirit and purged their minds by Faith C. I perceive that by degrees you have come to the right explication of the truth but there is yet one thing to be enucleated for Peter saith Of a truth I now perceive that God is no respecter of persons but in every nation he that feareth him and worketh righteousness is accepted by him Act. 10. Here he sheweth that by good works a man is reconciled to God M. This speech of the Apostle meaneth nothing else but what diverse other holy sentences do teach that God in his election of and his Love to mankind hath regard onely to their goodness and glorie not to their original their pedigree their country their sex their age their merit or any other personal attributes This truth is exemplified in the person of Cornelius whom God called being an alien and dignified him with a place in his kingdom The signs of Election are an ingenuous and a reverential fear of God like to that of obedient children towards their parents from whence there ariseth in them a confidence and a stedfast perswasion of the love of God to them and from thence again groweth a delight in the Law of God a complacency in the works of righteousness he that is accepted by God he feareth he honoureth loveth and trusteth in God for it behoveth that the person of that man be gracious and acceptable whose duties or offices of Love are accepted for no performances are acceptable from him against whom we entertain a prejudice or aversation of this we have experience in the common civilities of life but with God there is no prejudice for he is the searcher of the heart And John saith Whosoever doth work righteousness is born of God Also Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ he is born of God that is therefore some men live justly some man believeth Jesus to be the Christ because he is justified by God and endued with holiness and righteousness by him for unless he thus be born of God he is unable to perform any thing justly and rightly or to believe that Jesus is the Christ This the Lord himself confirmeth upon Peters confession that he was the Son of the Immortal God Verily saith our Saviour flesh and bloud hath not revealed this unto thee but my Father which is in Heaven Now there is this difference between Divine and humane justice he that is not justified by God may execute humane justice for fear of punishment expectation of glorie or hope of other reward but no man is exercised in heavenly justice who is not first justified purged by Faith and assisted with grace Therefore it is no wonder that whosoever
feareth God and worketh righteousness is accepted of God because the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom and a good understanding have all they that keep his Commandments With this fear as with salt the Lord doth season their hearts and preserve from corruption even whilest they are ignorant of him those that he purposeth to call into his kingdom This inchoation of their liberty is afterwards perfected in the time of their vocation by the preaching of the Gospel and by Faith C. I have received full satisfaction and I hope hereafter that both my self and others will give greater credit to the Oracles of God then to the perverse opinions and interpretations of men M. Now that we may conclude this digression I say that wheresoever or whensoever such are found in that moment of time they have attained to this Sanctuary this propitious year of Jubilee Onely as it is written Let us call upon the name of the Lord and we shall not be disappointed Also Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall escape Joel 2. Also The name of the Lord is a strong tower the righteous flyeth unto it and is safe Prov. 18. To this tower this sanctuary the Lord himself beckneth the poor the miserable the wretched the desperate sinners in this sweet invitation Come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden and I will ease you These are the wayes the secrets of holy state and the Divine Policies which our King useth for the Instanration of his kingdom And if the kingdoms of the earth are enlarged by such artifice how much more shall we think the kingdom of Heaven to be dilated which is far more capacious more firm and more easie of access C. Truly I suppose it will infinitely exceed the kingdom or rather the dungeon of the Devil even as much as there are more who wish and desire ease impunity Honour and Salvation then who are in love with labours punishments servitude ignominy and death eternal and certainly but few men will precipitate themselves into these calamities when they may with such facility redeem themselves from the fear of them And although a small industry onely seemeth necessarie to the prevention of these endles torments yet we see but few men that contend to get to this refuge this most pleasant Citie and what should be the cause of this slackness this dulness this indiligence is to me altogether unknown M. The cause is manifest First that which I named before to wit that the new reason of state which our King maketh use of in the administration of his affairs deceaveth those that with the judgement of men seek after this citie as gloriously visible and conspicuous Secondly the Church is congregated and constituted out of this holy Sanctuary by the preaching of the word and the administration of the Sacrament and these being concealed from the greater part of the World by this means this citie for a long time was kept hid and so little taken notice of that it was scarce discernable who were the true Citizens But as soon as the glad tidings of the Gospel have arrived then we see them flock to this citie as in the time of Christ and his Apostles For when Christ himself had said that the kingdom of God was at hand and after that he had exhorted men to bring forth fruit worthie of repentance he then called them all unto him with that joyful summons Come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden and I will give you ease Of this joyful invitation this liberal year the Prophet Isaiah foretold when speaking in the Person of Christ he saith I am endued with the Spirit of the Lord Jehovah hath Anointed me and sent me to declare joyful tidings to heal them of broken Spirits and to give liberty to them that are in bondage sight to the blind to deliver the oppressed out of their streights and to preach the joyful year of the Lord. The Apostles also those faithful Embassadours of Christ did invite all mortal men to this great benefit this most blessed kingdom Old things are past away behold all things are become new and all things are of God who hath reconciled us to himself in Christ Jesus and hath given to us the ministerie of reconciliation to wit that God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself not imputing their trespasses unto them and hath committed to us the word of reconciliation Now then we are embassadours for Christ as though God did beseech you by us we pray you in Christs stead be ye reconciled to God for he hath made him who knew no sin to be sin for us that we might be made the righteousness of God in him But shortly after false Apostles and counterfeit Embassadours brought in humane traditions and began to lay upon mens shoulders the burthen and heavy yoak of the Law which things did deject not erect mens minds did terrifie them not allure them did wound them not heal them from whence 〈◊〉 came to pass that few made their approach to this kingdom or if they drew near they soon returned and departed For the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ is not propagated and advanced by the sword but by preaching by the energie of the Spirit by good example patience charitie meekness justice temperance constancy goodness faith lenity long-suffering and all those blessed and peaceable fruits of the true Spirit of God So our Lord himself so his Disciples propagated the truth and sowed the Heavenly Doctrine of Christ in mens hearts For our Lord as Hilarie told Constantinus Augustus did rather teach than exact a knowledge and confession of himself and giving Authority to his precepts by the frequent attestation of miracles he despised a will that was any other way compelled to acknowledge him And full of truth are these words for nothing so free as the judgement in Religion For Religion flourisheth by sound reason and strong perswasion not by fear and threatnings It is defended preserved by dying not by killing by patience not by cruelty by justice not by butchery by faith not by fraud rotten policy For he that will establish Religion by imperious ordinances force doth not seek to defend it but to violate and pollute it But because we see the night approaching Caelius unless you have ought to interpose I shall descend to such places of Scripture as seem to favour this my opinion of the amplitude of the kingdome of God C. I have not the least doubt remaining and I earnestly intreat you before the night prevent us to hasten to those proofs as the chief end of our meeting M. In the first place therefore weigh diligently that magnificent promise of God made to Abraham so often repeated and inculcated God promiseth and confirmeth his promise with an oath that he will make his seed as the dust of the earth so that if a man can number the dust of the earth then
shall he number the seed of Abraham Gen. 17. And again in the 22. chapter he promiseth In blessing I will bless thee and in multiplying I will multiply thee in thy seed as the Stars of the Heaven and as the sand which is upon the Sea-shore and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies and in thy seed shall all the Nations of the earth be blessed Here I would know of any man whether God in this inimitable as to us and inestimable promise did intend that the multitude of the Elect for that they were presignified by the seed of Abraham is plainly shewed in the 4. to the Romanes should be inferiour to the number of the Reprobate Who will dare to say so when he compareth his seed to those things which exceed all other things for number yea indeed which are themselves numberless For although Archimedes that noble Geometrician supposed that he could number the sand not onely about Syracusa but of all the habitable and in-habitable parts of the world and undertook to write a Demonstration of this supposal to Gelo then King of Sicilie yet the Prophet Isaiah teacheth otherwise What man saith he hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand and meted out the Heavens with a span or comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure or weighed the mountains in scales and the hills in a ballance Thus comparisons of this nature have been adhibited to demonstrate such things unto us which in their kind admit of no comparison From whence it follows that the progeny of Abraham is more numerous and copious than all others Moreover all the Faithful being comprehended in the seed of Abraham there is in the expressions of the Holy Ghost a kind of tacite contention against that Opinion of the Paucity of Believers for as often and as much as he amplifies the Kingdom of God so often and so much he speaks in diminution of the kingdom of darkness Neither in this can I accord with S. Austin who saith these words are uttered in an Hyperbole yet when he labours to declare the matter any man may perceive he is mistaken For in his Book Of the City of God he saith That the seed of Abraham is less in number than the multitude of the wicked Suppose the sand of the Sea-shore or the dust of the earth do much exceed the number of the whole generation of mankind What then we do not confess that the number of the Elect is greater than the number of the Sands but by the comparison this onely is in question Whether the Holy seed of Abraham do not surmount the number of the wicked but if it be not implied that the number of the Elect is the greater why should it be compared to a thing that is infinit If some man had come and said That this comparison so high that it exceeds belief is more agreeable to the multitude of the wicked which is much above that of the faithful would he not hereby secretly insinuate that here was no relish of Divine wisdom in this comparison But if to think any such thing much more to say it be impious and execrable it is manifest and follows undeniably that the multitude of such as belong to the Kingdom of God is much the greater But to this â—ath not God added this also That in the seed of Abraham all Nations shall be blessed Gal. 3. But how shall they all be blessed if the major part be excluded from eternal happiness One of these two things is necessary there to be allowed either which I abhor to think that God is a lyar or else that the number of the blessed is not equiparated by any other number and which of these two is to be chosen I leave to the pious Reader to judge C. You conclude solidly and truly for as Fabius sheweth an Hyperbole is then to be known when the matter expressed exceedeth all natural measure Now these promises are not vulgar but so ample stately and honourable that the narrow minds of mortal men should be struck with admiration as often as they contemplate the blessed multitude of the glorious Saints M. You speak the truth But that wicked one who is wrapped up in a mantle of piety hath been always busie and diligent to eclipse this truth I will now produce another place of Moses because I know every new argument is a fresh vexation to that fiend In Exodus God doth wonderfully set forth the goodness of his own nature for such is his clemency that he promiseth mercy to a thousand generations in pardoning sins and transgressions but threatneth vengeance onely to the third or fourth generation Consider now what proportion there is between one thousand and four and know that there will be as great an inequality between the glorious free men of Jesus Christ and the few and miserable bond-slaves of the devil C. This is a proportion without proportion to speak like a Geometrician a comparison between a body and the shortest line M. From Moses let us pass to that Evangelical Prophet Isaiah by whose authority we shall learn that this most blessed Kingdom is perspicuously exaggerated He poureth forth words of great consolation upon the Church even then Militant Rejoyce O barren thou that didst not bear break forth into singing and cry aloud thou that didst not travel with child For more are the children of the desolate than the married wifâ— saith the Lord. Which words are both cited and explained by S. Paul in his Epistle to the Galatians Many more saith he are the children of the desolate than of her that hath an Husband Now they that are experienced in knowledge of Divine mysteries are not ignorant that the Church of God is understood by that desolate and barren and the kingdom of Satan by the married wife for in the same place the Apostle distinguisheth them one from the other by most certain notes Now we brethren saith he we the children of the Promise as Isaac was but as then hâ— that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit even so it is now Nâ—vertheless cast out the bond-woman and her son for the son of the bond-woman shall not be Heir with the son of the free-woman Therefore we are not my brethren the children of the bond-woman but of the free C. I have heard and as I remember I have read that that barren was the Church collected out of all nations that the married wife was the Commonwealth of Israel the Synagogue of the Jews which differ nothing but in Nation and time M. I know it and therefore I alleadged this place of the Apostle that it might plainly appear that they are not distinguished by reason of Nation and time but for inward qualifications for manners for conditions and for the end For first he distributes all mankind into those that are born of the flesh and those that are born of the Spirit besides these