By which texts it is plaine that the Saviour of mankind must bee both man and God dwelling in man and the second person of the holy Trinitie which we call the Sonne Notes a THe subject no other than the termes For the understanding of this see my second part of Logonomia Introduct Sect. 4. numb 11. b Hee tooke on him the humanitie If it bee most true which is said Col. 1.19 that all fulnesse should dwell in him yea all the fulnesse of the Godhead bodilie how can it bee but that if Christ dwell in our flesh all the persons likewise must bee incarnate For all the Persons together make but one infinite fulnesse of the Deitie And therefore 1. Tim. 3.16 it is spoken without any distinction of Persons that God was manifest in the flesh Answer To become man was a personall proprietie of the Sonne of God for the incarnation was not of the Godhead wherein the Persons are one but of that subsistence according to which the three Persons are distinguished So that as in the Trinitie there be three persons in one nature so in the mysterie of the incarnation there is one person in two natures Now why the person of the Sonne and none other could become man the reasons before doe make it plaine And although it bee most true that all the Persons together are but one God in the infinitie or fulnesse of the Deitie yet is it as true that the infinite fulnesse of the Deitie is in all and every person alike as the fulnesse or perfection of mankinde is in every man equally Neither is that in Tim. spoken without distinction of the persons for it followes immediately He was justified in the Spirit What is that but that the Spirit of God the holy Ghost did justifie his doctrine and Gospell as most true in causing the hearts of all the faithfull to beleeve it But it is most manifest that the witnesse is neither the thing witnessed nor the person in whose behalfe the witnesse is given Neither was this witnesse of the Holy Ghost onely but also of the Father from heaven 2. Peter 4.17 1. Iohn 5.9 10 11. Compare herewith if you please the note g on Chap. 24. § 9. Object 1. In the end of which Chapter you may see other objections fully answered Our Lord. CHAP. XXIIII That this Jesus the Sonne of the Virgin Mary whom the Christian faith confesseth is the Saviour of the world THat reverend and fearfull name of God is a name of glory but the word Lord importeth the title of that right which he hath in his creature And how justly this belongs to our Lord Christ may appeare by that interest which he hath in us both by the right of our creation and of our redemption and of all the benefits which we hope thereby What right he hath in us for our creation it hath appeared in that wee are his workemanship Chap. 13. § 9. Now it remaineth that we make it manifest that he alone is our Mediatour and that besides him there is no other for if the Saviour of the world must of necessitie be man that hee might satisfie the justice of God for the sinne of man as we have proved Chap. 20. and likewise that he must be God that hee may be able to heare and to save all them that come unto him as was manifest Chap. 21. and that the Sonne of God tooke on him our flesh that by him the love of God might be manifest to the creature as it was proved Chap. 23. If there can be but one Sonne of God as it was shewed Chap. 12. and the note thereto it must follow of necessity that there can be but one onely Saviour of mankinde which Saviour is our Lord Iesus the Sonne of the blessed Virgin Mary as it is further manifest by these reasons following 1. It is necessary that all the dignities of God bee magnified in the creature according to the uttermost greatnesse which they can have therein But if this Iesus whom we confesse be the Saviour of the world then all the dignities of God are magnified according to the uttermost extent of greatnesse which it is possible they should have in the creature and that without any abatement or lesning in any one of them for his mercy is magnified to the uttermost in pardoning the sins of many for the merit of one his justice and love in this that he spared not his only Son but gave him to death for a satisfaction for the sin of mankinde his glory in that the creature once sinfull and mortall is made partaker of glorie and immortality his wisdome that out of the greatest ill the destruction of the creature by the malice of the devill he hath brought the greatest good that is the exaltation of the creature beyond that state of happinesse wherein it was created Chap. 18. § 2. and so in the rest But if this Iesus bee not the Saviour of the world as the Iewes affirme if when that other Bar-Coziba of theirs shall come he preach the same doctrine and doe the same glorious miracles which our Lord hath done though it be impossible that God should suffer the world to be so mocked then the same most high and glorious truth should bee both preached and confirmed by a most false and lying Prophet who should professe himselfe the Saviour of the world and was not yet neverthelesse seeing our Lord was the authour and manifester of that truth he shall have the honour to be beleeved and the falshood shall dwell with that other to come But if he shall preach any other doctrine than this which wee have received then neither can the dignities of God bee magnified in his greatest and most excellent worke in the creature that is in the salvation of mankinde as was shewed before neither can his Scriptures bee of absolute authority when another manner of Saviour shall come than they have described unto us but both these things are utterly impossible and therefore this Iesus whom the Christian faith confesseth to be our Lord is the Saviour of the world and beside him there is no other 2. If this Iesus whom wee acknowledge bee the Saviour of the world then the expectation of the most excellent and virtuous men is quieted and at rest in the assurance of his heavenly promise But if this bee not hee but that the Saviour is yet to come for wee have already proved that man having sinned should be restored by a Saviour that should bee both God and man then since that time that Christ the Sonne of God and the virgin Mary came wee that have beleeved in him are in the greatest errour that may bee and all our hope in God through the satisfaction of Christ must bee ashamed all our beleefe in his word is vaine and all the virtues the constancie love and patience of the Martyrs is perished so that when that pretended Messiah shall come he shall not be beleeved or if
25.11 and so lost his head by the sword Therefore He must needs endure that bitter and accursed death of the Crosse 4. The tree through the craft of the devill was unto man-kind a cause of sinne Therefore lest the tree which was created good might become a curse to him for whom it was created and thereby the end of the creation might be perverted it seemed fit to the Wisedome of God that as the tree had beene an instrument in the worke of mans condemnation it should also bee an instrument in the worke of his redemption that man by his wound might also bee healed And therefore that our ransome should bee payed on the Crosse 5. Man by his sinne had made himselfe subject to the curse of the Law Therefore that the promise to Abraham That in his seed all the Nations of the earth should bee blessed Gen. 12.3 might come vpon them it was necessary that the curse should fall vpon that promised seed in whom they were to bee blessed as Saint Paul doth argue Gal. 3.13 and 14. 6. This crucifying of our Lord was prefigured diverslie in the Law as by the Serpent in the Wildernesse if you compare Numb 21.8 with Iohn 3.14 Moses also spreading out his hands in the forme of the Crosse overcame Amalec by his prayer Exod. 17.11 But aboue all other figures that glorious Type of Christ Samson who should begin to save Israel Iud 14.5 most liuely figured our Saviour on the Crosse when he laid his hands upon the Pillars and slew more at his death than he had done in all his life Iud. 16.30 So our Lord the Authour and Finisher of our Salvation though by His Preaching and His miracles He had shaken the Kingdome of the Devill yet by His death upon the Crosse He did triumph over all the power of hell Col. 2.15 David Psal 22.16 prophesies plainely of the wounds wherewith He was pierced in His hands and His feet when He was nailed to the Crosse as the Prophet Zechary Chap. 12.10 of that wound which through His side they made in His heart I the Lord will powre vpon the Inhabitants of Ierusalem the Spirit of Grace and supplication and they shall looke upon mee whom they have pierced And thus according to the Prophesies that were before was our Saviour crucified as you reade in the Gospel 3. Dead VVEe see IESVS made a little lower then the Angels for the suffering of death that He by the Grace of God should taste of death for every man Heb. 2.9 All the reasons for His crucifying confirme thus much And for this cause was Hee conceived and borne that He might redeeme His people from their sinnes The arguments also of the 19. Chapter of the 21.22 and 23. come all to this centre that Christ our Lord and onely Redeemer must die for our sinne 1. For seeing man by his sinne had made himselfe subject unto death according to the just sentence Gen. 2.17 In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die it was necessary that He that had made Himselfe our surety Heb. 7.22 and taken our sinne upon him Esay 52. should die for our sinne 2. It was necessary that the highest degree of obedience should bee in him in whom was also the perfection of Sonne-ship But all the perfection of Son-ship was in Christ both that which is Eternall and that which is in time as hath appeared Therefore also the perfection of obedience But there can be no degree of obedience beyond this that a sonne should die at the will of his father Therefore it was necessary that our Lord should die For God so loved the world that He gave his onely begotten Sonne to die that the world by him might bee saved But because it was impossible that He in his Eternall being should be subject to death therfore was it necessary that He should bee incarnate that Hee should bee conceived of the Holy-Ghost and be borne of a Virgin as it hath beene prooved 3. If Isaac the shadow were content to die at the will of His Father how much more ought Christ the substance to fulfill the will of His Father 4. The manifestation of the infinite dignities of God the Father is the proper and peculiar office of the Son See Iohn 17.6 and 26. And how could either the infinite Iustice or Mercy or Love of God the Father toward His creature or His honour in the creature bee better manifested than in the death of that Son For although it were farre from Injustice to punish the innocent for the wicked when He had set Himselfe to answere for the sinnes of the world yet was it the uttermost the most severe and eminent Iustice that possible could bee to lay upon Him in whom there was no sinne neither was there any guile found in His mouth the burden of vs all to breake him for our sinnes to multiplie His sorrowes and at once to deprive Him of all the comforts of God and life it selfe for our offences Neither could the Mercy or love of God toward His creature be greater than this that when wee were enemies yet spared He not His owne Sonne to worke our reconciliation Neither can the honour of God be more magnified by the creature than for that mercy and love which he hath shewed toward the creature in the Eternall Glory and happinesse which He hath reserved for it through the satisfaction of his Son And because these things could not possibly be brought to passe otherwayes than by the death of the Sonne of God therefore was it necessary that He should die 5. Of contrary effects the immediate causes must needs bee contrary The greatest delight and joy which the naturall man hath is to follow his sinfull lusts Therefore the recovery or restoring of man from his sinfull state cannot bee but by the suffering of the greatest sorrow that is of death 6. The obedience and sufferings of Him who was to make satisfaction for the disobedience and rebellion of all man-kind could not possibly be either exceeded or equalled But if our Lord had not died a most bitter and cruell death in those torments which He endured both in his soule and body then had His sufferings beene equalled if not exceeded by many of the holy Martyrs who for their love and faith in God endured most bitter and exquisite torments Heb. 11.35 c. and that with joy unspeakable and glorious Therefore it was necessary that our Saviour should die a most cruell death and bitter both in the sufferings of His soule and body 7. The greatest exaltation or glory that could come unto the creature was in this that it should become one Person with the Creator which we have proved before to have beene done in the incarnation For the greatest glory and grace done to the creature the greatest love and humilitie is due to the Creator But our Lord who was so exalted had not beene humbled to the lowest degree of humilitie if
graces God gave unto him hee gave them as a king to him and his for ever if hee as a faithfull liege-man should performe those services that were belonging to that state wherein he was infeoffed but if hee performed not that service whereto hee was bound then must he also forfeit that estate for him and his for ever And because contraries are knowne each by other as a crooked line by a straight it may easilie appeare what that originall sinne is whereto all the sonnes of Adam were made lyable by his offence for if Adam were created in originall righteousnesse so that hee had power both to know and to doe that which was pleasing to God and a freedome of his will to continue or not to continue in that state and without any of those conditions he could not be perfect then must it needs follow that by that sin of his both he and his posterity are deprived both of that knowledge of the will of God of the knowedge of the creature also and of all abilitie to doe or will any thing as of our selves that may be pleasing in his sight for as that originall righteousnesse had with it not onely an innocencie harmelesnesse or freedome from sinne but likewise a positive strength to doe that which was good so likewise that originall sinne brought with it a corruption of the understanding a frowardnesse of the will a heavinesse or unablenesse to all good and more than that a concupiscence or ill desire leading the minde captive unto sinne for contrarie causes must have contrarie effects so as God had created that first righteousnesse in the heart of man so when man did willingly forsake his service and of himselfe betooke himselfe to the service of his enemie the devill for to whomsoever a man doth yeeld himselfe to obey his servant he is to whom hee doth obey the devill not onely willingly entertained this new come guest whose service he so much longed for but also gave him his livery and infected his heart with contrarie conditions that he might never after be fit for the entertainment of his former Lord. For of contraries about the same subject one must of necessitie be therein as light or darkenesse in the ayer health or sicknesse in the bodie sight or blindnesse in the eye so that in stead of the former vertues wherby the Spirit of grace did guide mans heart to God he is now not only utterly disabled to doe that whereto his conscience tels him he is bound but also become a thrall of Satan to be guided and governed according to his will And this wretched and sinfull estate with the guiltinesse or obligation unto the punishment thereof which is the death both of bodie and soule is that originall sinne wherein every one of Adams children is conceived and borne and for which he is subject unto death for so was the sentence that in what day hee sinned he should die the death And though Adam instantly did not finde himselfe to die yet by the just sentence of the Law and justice of God did he finde himselfe spiritually dead that is destitute of the grace of God and that strength which he had to doe his will and therefore subject to this necessitie that he must die at last and so in an estate contrarie to that in which he was created neither ought it to seeme strange or unjust that God should punish this sinne of Adam in his posteritie also for as it was personall in respect of himselfe to make himselfe liable to the wrath of God so his naturall gifts being lost and corrupted the contrarie qualities brought in in stead thereof became a naturall contagion to all his posteritie There is heere some little question whether this ignorance frowardnesse heavinesse and concupiscence before spoken of be the effects of originall sinne the wounds of nature as the schooles call them or the sinne it selfe But as their contraries were in originall justice as the parts or as the poperties or as the effects thereof so must these be in originall sinne to mee they see me to bee that spirituall death that was threatned to Adam and so the present punishment of that sinne and in them that are not renewed to the life of grace the assurance of that further punishment that shall come upon the soule hereafter Let us not stay in needlesse questions but looke to the proofes of our conclusion for by the knowledge of originall righteousnesse it will appeare what these things are 1. Because nothing can bring forth naturally any other thing than such as it selfe is If Adam were in himselfe corrupted as hath beene shewed Chap. 16. hee could not beget any other children but such as were corrupted And forasmuch as all men in justice are accounted as one man in respect of the common nature whereof they are all partakers it is just with God to punish all men alike for their common corruption from which no man can say his heart is cleane for doth any man forbeareto kill an adder though he never yet stung any man or beast I thinke not but because the whole nature of adders is venimous therefore will he kill him 2. It cannot stand with the justice of God to punish any one with death who is not lyable to that punishment for some offence Now the sinne of those infants who from their birth are carried to their grave not being any actuall sinne to which any election or consent of the minde could come it is plaine that they are punished for their originall sin And concerning them that have lived to take an account of their owne wayes there needs no other proofe than the testimony of every mans conscience whether they finde not the law of sinne in themselves warring against themselves and leading them captive unto sinne contrarie to the law of their own minds This is that burthen under which the Saints doe groan so as that they hate themselves therfore and desire to be delivered from this bodie of death Rom. 7.18 c. And why of death because the wages of sinne wrought in the body is death Rom. 6.23 yet not of the body onely but of the soule also both in regard of this inbred contagion that bitter root and of that consent which it gives to sinne that I say nothing of them who through custome follow sinne with greedinesse 3. Every creature naturally continues in that estate and followes those things whereto it was created except some great contrarietie befall to the hinderance thereof But man was created to know and to love God and to see his wisdome in the creature and to honour him therfore and doing thus to be happie for ever thereby yet nothing of this is done accordingly by any among all the sons of Adam therefore some great hindrance and contrarietie is come between But nothing that good is could be an hindrance to this great good nor yet any thing which is without the man himselfe Therefore mans sinne
assumed the person of any man though therewith hee had taken also the common nature of mankinde yet that Person had had perculiar interest in the eternall and infinite love and wee had beene unequally subjected one to another but now the common nature onely being raken unto the deity every person hath equall interest as in the common nature so in the eternall love Now let us see the reasons of the proposition 1. It is necessary that all the actions of God be done according to the perfection of that order which is most fit and agreeable unto those actions But seeing it stood with the Love of God to dwell in mans being as it hath bin proved it was most convenient that the Sonne of God should take our nature on him For first the Son is the image of God increated man his created image and that all perfection of an image might bee in the increated image it was necessarie that hee should bee also the created image of his Father Secondly seeing that by the eternall nativitie hee is the eternall Sonne that the perfection of all Sonne-ship might bee in him it was necessarie that hee should bee that Sonne that should bee borne in time Thirdly and because it pleased the Father that all fulnesse should dwell in him Colossians 1. verse 19. Seeing hee was brought forth by an eternall nativitie hee must also perfect that nativitie which was in time Fourthly and because all things both which are in heaven and in earth were created by him it was necessarie that all things by him should bee restored Fifthly Mans nature is the daughter of God therefore being led away captive by sinne was to be rescued by his Sonne Sixthly Man fell from grace by the craft of the devill therefore by the wisdome of God was hee to be brought to favour againe Seventhly Mankinde is the peculiar possession of the Sonne by the speciall gift of the Father Psal 2.8 Iohn 17.2 therefore being lost it was to be recovered by his speciall purchase And if there bee any other personall proprietie of the Sonne of obedience or the like it sorts better with him to bee incarnate than either with the Father or the holie Ghost All the arguments which prove that it was necessarie that Christ should dye may bee brought hither See them in the 27. Chapter 2. Nothing can bee admitted in the actions of the Deitie which takes away the distinction of their personall proprieties seeing God is the author of order not of confusion But if either the Father or the holy Ghost had beene incarnate then their personall proprieties were thereby in utter confusion for if the Father had beene incarnate then should hee not be eternally a Father that had in time become a Sonne so also neither the perfection of fatherhood should be in the Father nor of Sonne-ship in the Sonne And concerning the holy Ghost seeing hee is that emanation breath of effluence of the power wisdome life c. whereby the worke of God is perfected if he should have beene incarnate the same being should be both the worker and the thing wrought See Luke 1.35 But all these things are impossible Therefore the Sonne of God onely tooke on him our flesh 3. The greatest excellencie which God can love in himselfe is the image of himselfe beheld in himselfe that is the Sonne of his eternall love The greatest excellencie which God can love without himselfe is the image of himselfe beheld in his creature Therfore it is necessarie that the Sonne of his eternall love be also incarnate that the love of God be most perfect toward his Sonne with all perfections of love which can bee either within or without himselfe 4. It was said before Chap. 11. that the goodnesse infinitie eternitie wisdome and power of God being viewed or objected to the infinite wisdome by the infinite action of his understanding was the Sonne Now if the Sonne be incarnate then the actions of all the divine dignities are perfected and may be infinite both in their internall and as much as may be in their externall object But if either the Father or holy Ghost had beene incarnate then the object of those dignities could not bee one and if the object were not one then could it not be beheld with one action of understanding But it is impossible either that there should be two infinite objects or two infinite actions Moreover if the holy Ghost had been incarnate then the infinite internall action should have become the externall object if the Father then the fountaine of the Deitie should become not the objectant or being which understandeth but onely the object understood But all these things are impossible for God is not the author of confusion therefore it was necessarie that the Sonne should be incarnate 5. The doctrine concerning the Mediatour conteined in these foure Chapters is as the substantiall ground of the Christian Religion so is it that foundation on which all the Prophets and Apostles have builded for as Saint Peter saith 1. Pet. 1.11 That which the Prophets by the spirit of Christ did search into was the time when the sufferings of Christ should be reveiled and the glories that should follow after The summe then of the whole Scripture being to shew the redemption of man by the death of our Saviour God and man the authorities are not farre to seeke Many of the texts of the old Testament you shall finde most excellently brought together and interpreted by Iustine Martyr against the Iewes in his dialogue of the truth of the Christian Religion which is intituled Tryphon Some most evident texts you shall have out of the new Testament and more hereafter as need is Iohn 3.16.17 God so loved the world that hee gave his onely begotten Sonne that whosoever beleeveth in him should not perish but have everlasting life for God sent not his Sonne into the world to condemne the world but that the world by him might bee saved Gal. 4.4 But when the fulnesse of time was come God sent forth his Sonne made of a woman made under the Law that hee might redeeme them that were under the Law that wee might receive the adoption of sonnes Phil. 2.6.7 Christ Iesus being in the forme of God thought it no robbery to bee equall with God but tooke on him the forme of a servant and was made like unto man and was found in shape like a man Colos 1.13.14 God hath delivered us from the power of darkenesse and hath translated us into the kingdome of his deare Sonne in whom wee have redemption through his blood Col. 2.9 In Christ dwelleth the fulnesse of the God head bodily 1. Tim. 3.16 Great is the mysterie of Godlinesse God was manifest in the flesh justified in the Spirit seene of Angels preached unto the Gentiles beleeved on in the world received up to glorie 1. Iohn 4.14 Whosoever shall confesse that Iesus is the Sonne of God God dwelleth in him and hee in God
concludes Rom. 8.18 That the afflictions which are of this present life are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall bee revealed For those things which God hath prepared for them that love Him are such as neither eye hath seene nor eare hath heard neither have they entred into the heart of man to conceive 1 Cor. 2.9 And concerning the assurance of this joy let the same mind be in us which was in Saint Paul Rom. 8.38 39. I am perswaded that neither death nor life nor Angels nor principalities nor powers nor things present nor things to come nor height nor depth nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Iesus our Lord. For it is just with God to give unto His Sonne having fully satisfied His justice for the sinne of man to give to His Sonne I say according to the merit of His desert that glory and honour and immortall joy which is due to Him therefore which joy for the infinite merit of His Person being both God and man must likewise be infinite And because Himselfe is God blessed for evermore and hath eternall glory and happinesse and a Name which is above every name that is named in this world or in the world to come therefore hath Hee not any need of this purchased glory which is due for His sufferings but that glory is reserved for them that are called of His grace to be partakers thereof And because a finite creature cannot be capable of infinite glory at once intensivè that is according to the infinite measure thereof therefore is it bestowed extensivè that is in the externity or continuance thereof wherein man is carryed from glory to glory by the Spirit of the Lord 2 Cor. 3.18 Neither is it for any man to thinke that this glory which Christ hath purchased by His obedience should be setled on that humane nature which He assumed in the Incarnation For that hereditary or native glory which He had as being one with the Father was abundantly sufficient to glorifie that tabernacle wheresoever He was pleased to dwell as He saith Ioh. 17.5 And now ô Father glorifie thou Me with thine owne selfe with that glory which I had with thee before this world was So it appearing both by reason and authority of the holy Scripture that this happinesse which we doe beleeve in eternall life is to be eternall as the life is that first doubt which was first * In the entrance before Chapter 1. proposed in the entrance is fully satisfied The other two questions concerning the soule you shall heare by and by § 2. The heresies that have been concerning this Article though they be divers yet two especially are needfull to be examined One of the Chiliasts which thought that after the resurrection the kingdome of Christ was to flourish 1000. yeeres in this world taking that Scripture which is in Revel 20. for proofe thereof The other is that which they lay to St. Origen That all the reasonable creature even the most wicked among men yea the very devills themselves after their sins by long torments have been purged out shall be restored to joy and happines in the kingdome of heaven and againe after a long time shall fall to their former sins againe and so returne to their ancient punishment and this say they shall be the revolution of all the reasonable creature both good and bad for ever 1. But this is contrary to the trueth of the holy Scripture For no creature either man or Angel can approach to God or come to heavenly happines but onely such as God doth love and whom He loves He loves unto the end Iohn 13.1 because in Him is neither variablenesse nor shadow of change Iam. 1.17 2. Moreover as none can be partaker of heavenly joyes but such as are interested therein by Christ seeing no man commeth to the Father but by Him Ioh. 14.6 if there should be any falling from joy it would seeme to argue an insufficiency of the merit of Christ which cannot stand with the infinity thereof 3. Besides if God willed this eternall revolution of the creature from extreame joy to paine and from paine to joy then were we not taken into the state of sonnes and heirs of glory yea coheirs with Iesus Christ. Ro. 8.17 but to the state of bondmen which should have so much happines as we were able to purchase by our indurance of afflictions and torments 4. So the justice of God should not be infinite if it might be satisfied by a finite creature 5. And if any satisfaction to God could have bin made beside that which was by the death of Christ then that of Christ had beene needlesse and in vaine But all these thins are impossibilities Therefore there is no such revolution from one state to another as this opinion fained to Origen after his death when hee could not answer for himselfe would bring in But though Origen were a Saint yet was he a man and so might have his errours CHAP. XL. Amen ⧠The third supply Concerning the questions incident 1. Whether the soule of man be immortall § 1. 2. Whether there be one common soule of all men § 2. 3. That the holy Religion of the Christians is onely true and none other beside it § 3. 4. How faith is said to justifie § 4. Whether the soule of man be immortall § 1. IT is not the doubt that any Christian can make whether the soule of man be immortall or no. For when God hath come downe from heaven and hath taken upon Himselfe the being of man when He hath beene borne and died to make satisfaction for the sinne of man can any one that beleeves this make a doubt whether hee have an immortall soule or whether immortall life doe belong to him both in soule and body Therefore is not this question proposed for the Christians sake but by way of defiance against the Atheist and such godlesse people as say in their hearts There is no God no soule no life to come And although by all the arguments of the two last Chapters and many before the question may receive an easie solution yet to give full satisfaction is this which followes in particular But to brand both the questions and the movers thereof with their due infamy it must ever be remembred that the errour of the mortality of the soule doth take away the foundation of all religion and common honesty For how can he make due reckoning of honesty that cares onely for himselfe to shift and sharke for a present maintenance in worldly plenty and supposed joy and thinkes that all is ended with him in this life Or what reverence can he have of God or His seruice who is not perswaded that there is a God or if that must needs be put yet is he perswaded that with this life ended his foule also comes to nothing And if there be no reward
power and working thereto or can an infinite power bee but in an infinite being or can an infinite worke bee without an infinite power so that these three which hee makes divers Creators and that of severall Trinities can bee but one Creator as they are but one Trinity in unity of essence as hath afore beene declared at large And as concerning the conclusion it is yeelded that the number of individuals or particular beings is infinite to us utterly beyond our reckoning but yet to Him without whom a Sparrow lights not on the ground they are all numbred Nay I say further that through his blessing upon the creature to multiply according to kinde Gen. 1. the individuals are in nature potentially infinite but no way to Him by whose onely power nature doth worke For otherwise His wisdome and power could not bee coequall And thus have men wearyed themselves in vaine to finde out his wayes that are past finding out The first supply concerning Man CHAP. XIV That Man was created one alone male and female as the Scripture names them Adam and Eve CHAP. XV. That Man was created innocent and without sinne CHAP. XVI That Man continued not in that innocencie but that he sinned and thereby became subject to eternall death CHAP. XVII That by the sinne of our first parents the whole masse of mankinde was corrupted and made liable to eternall death both of body and soule CHAP. XVIII That there is a restoring of man to a better life and further hope than that from which our parents fell CHAP. XIX That this restoring could not be made by any meanes that was in man nor by any one that was man onely CHAP. XIIII That Man was created one alone male and female THese questions seeme necessarie for the knitting of that which followes to the conclusions that have beene made before And because they are taken as suppositions in the briefe of our Creed and seeme plaine enough of themselves they may be handled with the more shortnesse but yet may they not here bee let passe altogether untouched for although it be given that man is the creature of God yet if he made many men and many women though one or moe sinned yet the rest might continue in their innocencie and so the whole race of mankinde was not corrupted Or if hee made but one man yet if he made him such as men now are then could not his actions be accounted any way sinfull or if Adam by his sin lost not his estate of happinesse or his owne alone or if there were no hope of restoring then to beleeve any Saviour were altogether in vaine or if there were any other meanes of salvation by man or Angell than that which the Christian faith doth hold then were all that which followes utterlie needlesse therefore it must appeare that man was created first one male and female and no moe secondly upright and without any taint of originall or actuall sin onely such freewill he had as that he might sinne if he would or if hee would not hee might not haue sinned And first that hee created them one only male and for continuance of kinde his female it is plaine by this 1. The workes of God are so made in the perfection of number and measure as that it is not possible to finde any defect or excesse therein But if moe men than one had beene made if without the power of bringing forth their like there had beene defect in them and they needlesse and in vaine if with such power of multiplication as Adam had then had there beene excesse in the creature and God had needlesly brought out mankinde from many roots which might bee brought out from one alone but this was unnecessary in the creature therefore it could not bee fitting in the wisdome of the Creator And therefore he being but one he created man in his owne image one man male and female Gen. 1.27 2. The excellencie of Lordship or rule must be in one alone cannot possiblie consist in many so that if many men had bin created the Lordship of man over the inferiour creature had not beene perfect in one although there be now many millions of men yet the Lordship over the creature is to everie one equall with Adam or Noah inasmuch as everie man claimes as the perfection of his kinde so the dignities and prerogatives thereof from his first originall which if it had beene many could not have beene so excellent 3. Everie naturall motion or instinct of nature which is ordered according to one rule must needs have one authour and one beginning But all the ordinarie and naturall motions of every species are according unto one rule to joyne with their like to propagate their like to maintaine their life alike c. Therefore mankinde had but one author of all their kinde and so were not brought out of stones nor trees neither yet were they 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or springing of themselves out of the earth as the fancies of the heathen that knew not their originall leade them to beleeve 4. The worke of God must needs bee of the highest and greatest perfection that may bee But the beginning of a species from one roote is more noble excellent and perfect than from many because in that one both the individuall and the whole kinde also is conteined Therefore the first creature in mankinde was one alone 5. It was necessarie that the God of Unitie and peace should so create man as it might be most availeable for the maintenance of that love and peace which should afterward bee and flourish amongst men But when men know themselves to be the sonnes of one common father of them all they are more straitly tied to brotherlie love and the upholding of fellowship among themselves And this being the end the meanes must be availeable to the end Therefore the beginning of mankinde was onely from one man whereby it seemes that Adam had not his name from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Adamah which signifies earth but rather as a master observed of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Achad dam one blood as S. Paul urges it Act. 17.26 That God of one blood made all the nations of men that dwell upon the face of the earth CHAP. XV. That Man was created innocent and without Sinne. THis may appeare by the consideration of those excellencies which belong to the Creator For no cause can worke contrary to the being and perfections of it selfe But if the cause bee powerfull and able to bring forth the effect then must the effect also bee perfect and upright and especially free from that which is most contrary to the cause thereof But it is before manifest that all things had their beginnings from God the most powerfull and working of all causes and because of the infinitie of his goodnesse and iustice hating wickednesse and sinne above all things therefore as all his creature was exceeding good so it followes
of blessing and joy for evermore Psal 16.11 in the narrow path of which holinesse because the godlesse Pagan and loose living Christian cannot nor will not walke therefore they cannot bee said effectually either to will or to desire everlasting life But this is that speciall grace reserved for the vessels of mercy by which they are not inforced against their will but of naturall men naturally unwilling are made willing to follow Him that drawes them with the cordes of love to love that which is pleasing in his sight and so to will and desire constantly and effectually to follow that which is for their soules health So this desire being wrought in them by Him that is able to fulfill the desire of them that feare Him is a pledge unto them that their hope shall never bee ashamed And thus the weakenesle of the assumption and falshood of the conclusion doe plainely appeare 6. But hee is accounted a cruell creditor that will exact more then his debtor can pay and hee a cruell Lord that requires of his servant that which hee cannot performe Therefore the most mercifull God requires of man no other satisfaction then that which man is able to performe Answer It is just that God should require of man that he enabled him to performe For otherwise His justice should bee deficient or wanting towards Himselfe and his glory likewise unduely esteemed And the cruelty of a Creditor is to require more than a man is able to performe by himselfe or by his suretie Therefore our most mercifull Lord foreseeing the malice of the Devill and the sinne of man thereby to the glory of His infinite grace provided us a Saviour before we had sinned For whose abundant satisfactions sake wee have a doore of entrance as wide as the Valley of Achor set open unto us that by His merit alone wee may come boldly unto the throne of grace there to find helpe in the time of need Of which Mediator we are now to speake in the Articles following ARTICLE II. ⧠And in Iesus Christ His onely Sonne WEE have seene the wretched estate of man to which he is subjected by reason of his sinne whereby he is unavoydably lyable unto the wrath of God which he is utterly unable to indure and from which to escape there is no meanes in his owne power Now consider with thy selfe most wretched caitif that art afraid to die because thou hast no hope but in this life what it were for thee to stand iustly condemned to die and every minute to expect the execution of thy doome if any one could be content to die for thee that thou mightest inioy the usury of this aire but for the time of thy naturall life from which thou knowest thou must part at last But being subject to an infinite wrath to an endlesse punishment the endurance of which but for one houre hath more miserie then the suffering of a thousand untimely deathes what love canst thou owe to him what thankes canst thou give unto him that would free thee from the punishment and instead of that restore thee to an estate of life and ioy eternall And seeing it hath appeared that this cannot bee done by any one that is onely man wee are now in this second place to see what are the conditions of our Mediator who by Himselfe is able to make satisfaction for our sinne For seeing the just sentence on man was that for his owne sinne hee should die the death which because it was the word of an infinite speaker of an infinite truth it must of necessity bee meant according to the uttermost extension of the truth and so meane all death of body and soule temporall and eternall And because the Mediator for man could not endure a temporall or bodily death except hee were man therefore it shall first appeare That the Mediator for the sinne of man must bee man And because eternall death is such a thing as no man onely man can offer himselfe unto with hope or possibilitie by himselfe to overcome therefore it shall appeare in the second place That our most glorious Mediator must bee God who being of infinite life wisdome and power knew how to conquer eternall death that having in the infinite worthinesse of his owne person satisfied the infinite justice for the sinne of man Hee might give eternall life to all them that by true faith should lay hold on His merits and in thankefulnesse for that unspeakeable mercy live in obedience to his commandements And that it may appeare what the superexcellency of the knowledge of our most holy faith in the religion of Christ is and that for the worthinesse and glory thereof it farre surpasseth all knowledge of all things which men or angels can come unto it shall be made plaine in the third place how necessary and agreeing to the wisdome goodnesse and glory of God it was That God should be incarnate Great is the mystery of godlinesse into which the angels desire to looke And because our most glorious Light and guide hath in his Holy word made these things so manifest unto us let us with chearefulnesse and joy in the ready service of our best understanding follow him who in our flesh hath reconciled all things to himselfe and in our flesh hath led captivity captive and triumphed over principalities and all powers of the enemy that we being delivered might serve himin holinesse and righteousnesse all the daies of our life and be accepted of Him in life everlasting CHAP. XX. That the Mediatour for the sinne of Man must bee Man 1. FIat justitia totus mundus ruat But when man sinned it could not stand with the justice of God to punish any for that sinne but man alone And whatsoever is against the justice of God is also against his wisdome his godnesse and power for wee have alreadie proved that all these dignities are in him one most simple and absolute being Chap. 8. And whatsoever is against the power of God is utterly impossible to be therefore it must necessarily follow either that there is no reconciliation of man unto God contrarie to that which hath beene proved in the 18. Chap. or else that this reconciliation must be made by a Mediatour that is man Therefore the Father said fitly hereto Propterea nobis per Mediatorem praestita est gratia ut polluti carne peccati carnis peccati similitudine mundaremur August de Civitate Dei lib. 10. Cap. 22. 2. God might seeme towards man an accepter of persons and towards the Angels that sinned severe and mercilesse if hee should condemne them to the paynes of eternall fire and yet accept man to mercy when no satisfaction had beene made for mans sinne in the nature that had sinned But both these things are utterly impossible and against the justice of God therefore the punishment of the sinne of man must be borne in the nature of man 3. The iust Law and sentence of the most
Creator than the everlasting happinesse of his Creature no means greater or more effectuall than that he become one with his creature Therefore that the creature may bee happy in Him and his honour and praise perfected in the Creature it was expedient that God should dwell in His Creature even in Man 10. By how much any efficient is greater in power by so much more effectually doth it worke to magnifie the end of his worke and so to set it free from littlenesse contempt and unworthinesse of himselfe From which contempt and unworthinesse the creature is set furthest when it is deified and God himselfe is become one with man So the incarnation is the most glorious worke which can bee wrought in the creature To denie then the indwelling of God in his creature were to deny the most glorious worke of God to put an infinite emptinesse betweene God and his Creature wherein no meane should bee and so to exclude the Creature from all accesse unto the Creator which were to put the creature in everlasting contempt and unworthinesse of the Creator so infinite and glorious For the creature being set at an infinite distance from the happinesse which is in the Creator should have no meane whereby it might partake of the infinite glory For no perfection in the Creature being simply and absolutely finite can bee partaker of that which is infinite without the Mediator God and man as it is said Ioh. 14.6 No man commeth to the Father but by mee 11. It is to bee held that God the most wise workemaster of all things should in the creation of the world propose to Himselfe the most noble and excellent end which must bee concerning Himselfe the manifestation of His owne dignities and perfections in the Creature and towards the Creature the greatest perfection which was possible to be therein But if there bee no incarnation neither of these things could be performed Not the first because the divine goodnesse might have done a better worke in his Creature his infinitie a greater his glory a more excellent c. Not the second for seeing God is that superexcellent Goodnesse of which every thing according to the measure thereof desires to be partaker and by man may bee partaker in as much as man participates with every other thing and every other thing being with him if there bee no incarnation this desire of the Creature is vaine the end thereof frustrate and thereby it is subjected to eternall paine the hoped end being impossible to bee attained unto But all these things are inconvenient Therefore it is requisite that God bee incarnate 12. God is infinitely good chap. 4. and so the most lovely being without comparison And therefore are wee most justly charged to love Him with all our heart with all our soule with all our might Deut. 6.5 But God would not require to be wholly and perfectly loved by man except He himselfe did that for man by which Hee might most of all deserve mans love For otherwise he might seeme to require of man beyond that which were due and so the perfection of that love should bee founded in the goodnesse and kindenesse of man toward God not in the goodnesse and mercy of God toward man But this is not so For wee love God because Hee loved vs first and gave His Sonne to bee the propitiation for our sinnes 1 Ioh. 4.10 If then God have done that for us by which above all other things He might deserve our Loves and that nothing can so much deserve our Loves as if he would be pleased to become one with us it was expedient that God would be incarnate 13. That there is an eternall life both in soule and body will appeare hereafter in the meane time it shall be but a supposition Now in eternall life it is necessary that the manly being attaine to the uttermost perfection both of the soule and body that as his understanding so his outward senses be also most pure and perfect But if there were no incarnation seeing the divine glory in it selfe is utterly unapprehensible by our senses and by our understanding neither our understanding nor our sences could have any object wherein to rest and sabbatize and being created without the injoying of their uttermost felicity they would bee the originall of misery and sorrow when as they should bee fit to receive the perfection of all intellectuall and sensible formes from an agent naturall and supernaturall as the Mediator is and yet received it not So also the divine glory should not cause happinesse nor be inioyed by all possible meanes whereby it may cause happinesse and bee inioyed by a meane naturall and supernaturall But if there be an incarnation then the infinite glory dwelling in this mediator may be apprehended and inioyed and make the Creature happie by all meanes whereby it is possible to be happie Therefore God would dwell in his Creature And this argument I suppose may stand well with that scripture Exod. 33.18 and 20. verses where to that request of Moses That he might see the glory of God it was answered that no man can see it and live By which it followes that after death when man is utterly separate from sinne he may see and shall be partaker of that promise which is in Matth. 5.8 Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God which blessing is more particularly described Psal 36.9.10 They that put their trust under the shadow of his wings shall be abundantly satisfied made drunke as some reade it others plenteously moistened with the fatnesse of thy house and thou shalt make them drinke of the river of thy pleasures c. all which the faithfull shall see and inioy to the full in the Mediator God and Man without whom there is no approaching unto God And as this argument is good for the soule and understanding so is it for the outward senses For if the bodily senses make for the increase of punishment in them that are damned so shall they also bee for the increase of happinesse in them that are saved If you desire moe arguments to this purpose you may consider them in the 21. chapter The authorities of the holy Scripture may bee seene in the end of the chapter following The objections against this doctrine of the incarnation you may see in Tho. Aquin. cont Gent. lib. 4. ch 40.49 53. 54. CHAP. XXIII That the Second Person of the Trinitie the Son of God only tooke on Himselfe our flesh IS it true that God will dwell with man Behold the heavens and the heavens of heavens cannot containe Him how much lesse a house of clay whose foundation was in the dust yet doth wisdome take her solace in the compasse of His earth and her delight is with the Sonnes of Men Prou. 8.31 So the Word was made flesh and dwelt in us Ioh. 1.14 And though he were in the forme of God and thought it no robbery to be
equall to God yet as man had beene made in his likenesse and lost it so would hee bee made in the likenesse of man and to restore that first image unto man became obedient unto death even the death of the crosse Phil. 2.6.7.8 O Holy and most blessed teacher of our most glorious faith what high doctrine what holy mysteries what pretious promises doth the Christian faith containe That which is infinite dwels in in that which is finite the circumference in the centre The greatest of beings and the least are one Two births eternall and temporary and but one Sonne And because the essentiall proprieties of both natures doe still remaine he that is the Father of eternity is become a childe Esay 9.6 And hee that is the wisdome of the Father increases in knowledge Luk. 2.52 hee that no place can containe doth grow in stature and the Sonne of an eternall love doth grow in favour with God and Man In briefe hee that hath all things with God the Father save this that he is begotten hath all things with man except his sinne But although there be two generations and that of divers kindes eternall and in time in which respect almost all things are double in him yet is not hee two sonnes because Sonneship respects not the diversity of the natures divine and humane but onely the unity of the Person so that if there be but one Person of both natures there can be but one Son Wherefore seeing the Sonne of God took on Him not the Person but the nature of man yet the whole nature body and soule of the substance of his Mother And seeing that whole nature subsists in the Person of the eternall Son He in both respects both of his divine and humane generation is still the onely begotten Sonne of the Father onely begotten I say that he may be discerned from us that are adopted only sonne because we are not hereafter to looke for any other Saviour His onely Sonne not of Ioseph or any man according to the flesh For as according to the law of the eternall life which is in God He is begotten of the substance of the Father not without but in the Person of the Father yet distinct therefrom so according to that generation which was in time was He begotten by the power of the Father without the Person of the Father being conceived in the wombe of the virgin For as a thing conceived in the minde of a man is the first word or expression of his understanding which being spoken or written becomes sensible and to bee understood of others So the Sonne is in the Father that eternall word understood conceived or begotten before the worlds and in the fullnesse of time not ceasing to be eternally begotten as before He was made manifest in the flesh even that word or life which was eternally with the Father was seene with eyes was looked upon and was handled with hands 1 Ioh. 1.1.2 So that as there is but one Father both in the eternall and timely generation so is there but one Sonne by a most holy most true and substantiall generation God and Man the Sonne of God and the blessed virgin Mary Now this one Sonne one Christ one Immanuel one Mediator one Person is such not by mixture not by confusion not by composition of the two natures nor yet by change of one into another but one by assumption or taking of the humane nature into the divine wherein the deity is to dwell eternally without separation but not without distinction And these two natures so dwell together in the Person of our Saviour as that for the unity of the Person the attributes which belong to one nature are given to the other as Ioh. 3.13 No man hath ascended up to heaven but hee that came downe from heaven even the Sonne of man which is in heaven And againe Acts 20.28 Feed the church of God which He hath purchased with his owne bloud And although I said before chap. 11. that relation properly so called was not in the divine generation but supereminent because all things here are coessentiall a the subjects no other beings than the termes that is the Father and the Sonne the foundation also coessential that is the divine and unconceiveable generation for the termes sake in the Father active in the Sonne passive And although in the second generation neither the subjects nor the termes are coessentiall the subjects are the Person of the eternall word and the Virgin Mary the foundation is the generation whereby the manly being passively was taken of the Virgin unto the person of the word yet in respect of this hypostaticall union or ioyning of the humanity unto the Person of the Eternall Sonne Mary the mother of Iesus is truely said the mother of God not that the Godhead tooke beginning from her but because she brought out that manly being which from the time of its first union was never separated from the Godhead And because the supposition or person wherein both natures are is one Christ of which Person she is truely called the mother though she be mother onely according to the flesh as is said Math. 1.23 A virgin shall bring forth a Sonne and they shall call his name God with us And againe Rom. 9.5 of the Israelites as concerning the flesh came Christ who is God blessed above all for evermore Amen But although there be one only Sonne yet in respect of the two nativities Hee is truely called the Sonne of God and the Sonne of the virgin though with this difference that by the eternall generation he tooke of the Father both his eternall nature and his Person by which he is the sonne of his Father by a supereminent reall relation but of his mother he tooke in time the humane nature but not any humane Person And therefore this Sonship is only rationall except it bee understood with the divine person in which the humanity subsists and so hee is truly said this man and the son of the virgin For as b he tooke on him the humanity soule and body to dwell therein for ever as the Evangelist speaks Ioh. 1.14 The word became flesh 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and made his tabernacle in us So did hee give unto the humane nature to bee one Person in him So that God is now truely one with us that wee hereafter may bee one with him according to that prayer of our eternall mediator Iohn 17. I in them and thou in mee that they may bee one as wee are one So the advantage is onely on our side For the humane nature comming to our Lord in the perfection of the infinite deity could adde nothing to His perfection onely the infinite love of God toward man was perfected thereby because the humane nature being taken unto the Sonne of his love wee are assured thereby of his eternall love that Hee hath loved us as Hee hath loved Him Ioh. 17.23 Whereas if our Lord had
Saviour that was to come into the world yea so approved by the rule of the Law Deut. 18.22 and their owne expositors Moimony in Iesude hatorah cap. 10. that even because they beleeve not therefore is our Lord Iesus that true Prophet that was to come Because hee foretold both their unbeleefe and the punishment thereof Therefore beside other circumstances and proofes in this abundance not necessary to bee remembred take for another argument the unbeleefe of the Iewes and the destruction of their citty and scattering of that nation as the punishment of that unbeleefe Their hardnes of heart and incredulity was prophesied Ps 118.22 Es 6.9.10 c. 8.14.15 c. 52.1.2.3 The scattering of the whole nation is prophesied Lev. 26. vers 27. to 40. Deut. 28.64 Hos 3.4 9.17 The destruction of the cittie and Temple was foretold Dan. 9.26 and by our Lord himselfe Luk. 19.43.44 ch 21.20 with the continuance of that desolation Luk. 21.24 And of this their unbeleefe and scattering of the Nation and desolation of Ierusalem the Iewes themselves and all the world with them are witnesses unto this day If you desire further conferring of the Texts of the old Testament with the new you may reade Tertul. lib. 3. et 4. adversus Marcionem 11. To the death and sufferings of our Lord whereby wee are redeemed unto God the Father Rev. 5.9 wee may also adde the death and sufferings of his Saints as it is written Psal 44. vers 11. to 23. compared with Rom. 8.36 For even from Abel to Isaacke and so forward they that have beene borne after the flesh have persecuted them that have beene borne according to the Spirit Gal. 4.29 And although these persecutions have beene more common and grievous at some time than other as it may appeare by the bookes of the Maccabees and the ten persecutions of the primitive Church foretold Reu. 2.10 yet that rule holds and still shall till that King doe come that shall reigne in Iustice that all that will live godly in Christ must suffer persecution 2 Tim. 3.12 For whether it bee that God by afflictions and persecutions doth try the constancie and patience of his servants and exercise their faith in his promises or whether by trouble and persecution hee will teach them not to looke for their portion in this life or to make them more conformable to the death of his Sonne that they may also bee partakers of his resurrection or that the reward of their afflictions may bee with an exceeding waight of glory or that in the life to come they may by comparison inioy the fullnesse of their happinesse in more thankefullnesse and the perfection of love to the author thereof or that the devil may in Iustice punish such as forsake his obedience for by the taint of originall sinne wee all became his vassalls and God is not uniust no not to the devill himselfe and therefore suffers him to afflict them whom he himselfe will comfort Iob 1. Reu. 2.10 or whether the devil to keepe his owne vassals in firme obedience doth more eagerly persecute the truth this is a sure conclusion that from Abel to this day the truth of the Religion of Christ and the obedient and faithfull professours thereof have ever beene persecuted whereas all Idolatry and superstition of how different kinds soever hath beene and is freely exercised From whence the reason will follow thus If the Religion of Christ and the faith in him have onely beene persecuted by the devill and his Instruments even from the beginning of the world untill now then the faith in Christ is onely the true faith and Hee the onely Saviour of the world But the first is true by the testimony of the holy Scripture and all those histories both ecclesiasticall and prophane that write any thing concerning this matter and the practice of the Turkes at this day doth approve it Therefore the Faith in Christ is onely the true faith and He the onely Saviour of the world 12. To this argument of the sufferings for the faith of Christ you may take another from the heresies that have beene there about For as a malitious enemy besieging a Castle impregnable poisons the fountaine of which the defenders must needs drinke so the faith of Christ being that onely fountaine of life by which we are sustained in our spirituall warfare hath by the malice of the devill beene troubled g with all kindes of heresies which the devill could possibly forge by the wits of his Instruments whereas in all the false worships that have beene in the world no questions nor dissentions have beene but every man wandred as hee was led in the darkenesse of his foolish heart And yet in all these heresies through the gratious direction of the Spirit of Christ and the light of his word the true faith hath prevailed according to his promise Math. 16.18 That all the devils that passe in and out at the gates of Hell shall not prevaile against it From whence you may reason thus That faith which onely hath beene attempted by all manner of heresies to bee corrupted thereby and yet hath stood uncorrupted and unreproveable in the True Faith But the Christian Faith onely is such Therefore the Christian Faith onely is the true Faith and consequently our Lord Iesus is the Saviour of the world seeing in Him onely wee looke for redemption 13. And this is that pole of the Loadstone whereto we may bee directed by every point within the compasse of the holy Scripture And these pointers that follow are sufficient to shew it Act. 2.36 Let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God hath made that same Iesus whom ye have crucified both Lord and Christ Act. 4. v. 10.11.12 There is no salvation in any other for there is no name under heaven given among men whereby wee must be saved save onely the name of Iesus Christ of Nazareth whom God hath raised from the dead Act. 16.31 Beleeve on the Lord Iesus Christ and thoushalt be saved and thy whole house Act. 17.3 Paul opened and proved that Christ must needes have suffered and risen againe from the dead and this Iesus whom I preach unto you is the Christ Act. 18.28 He mightily convinced the Iewes and that publikely shewing by the Scriptures that Iesus was the Christ 1 Cor. 3.11 other foundation can no man lay than that is laid which is Iesus Christ Gal. 1.8.9 Though we or an Angel from heaven preach any other Gospel to you than that you have received let him be accursed Notes a HE to whom all the Prophesies This argument is the effect of that book which Lud. Crocius entitled Apodixis de Messia which with some alterations and additions hee might in part take out of Iust Mart. his defence of the Christians to Antoninus Pius out of Athanasius orat de incarnat verbi and other of the Fathers but most of all out of Hieronymus de Sancta Fide printed at Francofurt
the same purpose a Wisdome increated and a Wisedome created and although Arius affirmed as Postellus That Christ was a creature but not as one of the creatures made but not as one of other things that were made c. and therefore concluded that he held the same faith with the Church and detracted nothing from the glory of Christ when hee called him the first and chiefe creature Epiph. haeres 69. yet Postellus whether he were indeed ignorant of it or whether he dissembled his knowledge makes no mention thereof lest the name Arius might discredit the position although the difference betweene Arius and Postellus be as much as from the East to the West For though Arius held the increated Wisdome or Word to be in the Trinity yet he could not yeeld to this that that Wisdome tooke flesh and became that Saviour to whom we confesse And this was the businesse betweene him and the right meaning Fathers But Postellus held that the created Wisdome that first borne of every creature which in the fulnesse of time tooke flesh of the Virgin Mary and in that flesh made satisfaction for the sinnes of the world was hee in whom all the fulnesse of the Godhead did dwell Now by the rule of our faith both the extremities are yeelded unto that Christ is God blessed above all and that he is man as hath beene proved But this is now to be examined whether it be necessary to the beeing of our mediatour that hee be that first creature of God created before all times and ages of the world by whom all other things were afterwards made in their due times and are governed as Postellus affirmed The Authorities which Postellus brings are either forraine or else out of the holy Scripture you shall first see them of the first kind with their exceptions then his reasons with their answers and lastly those enforcements which are by him and may beside bee brought from the Word of truth 1. First he saith he is urged to the declaration of this truth by the Spirit of Christ pag. 1 3 7 c. but I say these enthusiasmes and revelations are a common claime not onely to them that speake the truth from God as the holy Prophets say Thus saith the Lord but also to them that vent their owne fantasies and heresies in stead of the truth The second authority is that of the Abisine Church which commonly they call of Presbyter Iohn out of whose Creed he cites for his purpose thus much Pag. 24. 25. We beleeve in the name of the holy Trimty the Father the Son and the holy Ghost who is one Lord three names one Deity three Faces one Similitude the conjunction of the three persons is equall in their Godhead one Kingdome one Throne one Iudge one Love one Word one Spirit But there is a Word of the Father a Word of the Soune and a Word of the Holy Ghost and the Son is the same Word And the Word was with God and with the Holy Ghost and with himselfe without any defect or division the Sonne of the Father the Sonne of himselfe and the beginning of himselfe Where in the first Article you see that Church acknowledges the Trinitie of Persons in the unitie of the Deity according to that faith which wee beleeve The second Article But there is a Word of the Father c. is altogether a declaration of this created Word of Sonne of God by whom all the holy Scriptures were given and inspired as Postel speakes But concerning that Church though Postel to make the authority thereof without exception say it was never troubled with any heresie yet it is not unlikely to have nursed that arch-heretick Arius whom all writers account to be a Lybian Besides it is manifest that they are all Monothelites and so farre forth Iacobites or Eutychians that they condemne the fourth generall Councell of Chalcedon for determining two natures to be in Christ Moreover what their learning is like to be you may judge by this that their inferiour Church Ministers and Monkes must live by their labor having no other maintenance nor being suffered to crave almes see Mr Brerewoods Enquiry Chap. 23. 21. a state of the Ministery whereto our sacrilegious patrons and detainers of those livings rightly called Impropriations because they belong most improperly to them that unjustly withhold them from the Church would bring our Church unto But see whereto this want of maintenance hath brought that Church which in the time of the Nicene Councell was of so great regard that their Patriarch had the seventh place in all generall Councels yet now as I have read have they of late yeares beene compelled to send to Rome to beg a religion and teachers from them And this is the Authority of that Church But you will say their Creed is ancient and of authority I say though it be as ancient as Arius yet what wit or judgement was in this to put such a point into their Creed which they themselves by Postels owne confession doe not understand If it were necessary to beleeve it other Churches would not have omitted it if not necessary why was it brought into their Creed But the ancient Paraphrasts Anchelus and Ionathan are without exception and where the Text is And the Lord spake unto Moses they explaine it thus And the Lord spake unto Moses by his word which all the old Interpreters and especially Rambam understand to be spoken of the created Word of God that Word of the Father the Sonne and the Holy Ghost or the Divinitie which is appliable to the created beeings Pag. 24. The Cabalists also concurre with this interpretation and therefore call him the inferiour VVisdome the Throne of Glory the house of the Sanctuary the heaven of heavens united to eternity the superiour habitation in which God dwels for ever as his body is the inferiour habitation after he was incarnate the great Steward of the house of God who according to the eternall decree brings forth every thing in due time And these as I remember are all the authorities which Postellus cites except you will add this that whereas he writes to the Councell of Trent they of the Councell being called for other purposes did not at all passe any censure of the booke or this position which is the maine point therein You may add to these authorities many other and first out of Iesus the Sonne of Sirach Chap. 1. vers 4 5. Wisdome hath beene created before all things and the understanding of Prudence from everlasting The VVord of God most high is the fountaine of wisdome c. which agrees with that in the Creed before that hee is the VVord of the Sonne and the beginning of himselfe And againe verse 9. The Lord created her and saw her and numbred her And Chap. 24.8 9. He that made me caused me to rest he created me from the beginning before the world and I shall never faile And this authority
her and consequently His originall or discent from her Fathers David Abraham c. And being then first conceived according to his humane nature of which the Holy Ghost was not partaker therefore hee was not propagate of the substance of the Holy-Ghost as Isaac of Abraham according to kind to which conception onely the name of Father and Son doth properlie belong Now see the reasons That our Lord was conceived by the Holy-Ghost You may remember how it was said in the Chapter before § 10. Answere to the fourth objection that the Holy-Ghost is that infinite activitie in whose strength every thing doth worke Which if it have truth in every naturall action as I shewed much more is it true in things above nature such as is this conception of our Lord. 1. For if the fountaine bee corrupt then also the water must bee unwholsome And if original sin doe follow every one that is conceived according to the flesh as it is said Psal 51. In sin hath my mother conceived mee then as it was necessarie that Hee which should bee a propitiation for the sinne of others should bee himselfe holy and vtterly separate from sinners so was it also necessary that his conception should be onely by the Holy Ghost that Hee might be free from all taint of sinne both originall and actuall 2. And as the generation according to the course of nature had beene in sinne as was shewed at large Chap. 17. so also was it vtterly impossible that God thereby should bee incarnate For b no agent can worke beyond the power of its owne nature But the Incarnation whereby God and Man became one Person was beyond the power of all naturall generation For man as all other naturall agents is finite the divine being infinite and so impossible to bee begotten by man Beside this the divine being in this case of being conceived must have beene in the state of a sufferer by a being finite But these things are impossible And therefore it was c necessary that the conception should bee by the Holy-Ghost 3. If the conception of our Saviour had beene according to the course of naturall generation then had there beene two fathers of one Person and so the humanitie taken into the Deitie of hrist had beene the cause of confusion in respect of the Father-hood which had beene in God the Father and in respect of man the Father of the same Son So the perfection of Father-hood had not beene wholly and perfectly in God the Father So defect should be in the first principle But these things are inconvenient Therefore d the conception was not by man 4. And why this conception was the peculiar worke of the Holy-Ghost it may yet further appeare thus In all the workes of God in the creature the whole Trinity works either according to one manner common to all the Persons or else according to their personall properties Now in this incarnation of the Son as the Father had begotten Him by eternall generation so in the fulnesse of time did Hee send His Sonne into the world and this sending is that second generation or begetting For as the thought or intent in the minde of a man is that inward word of his understanding which being spoken is made understandable by others So the Word of God remaining eternally in the bosome of the Father being sent into the world became manifest in the flesh And thus the whole being of Father-hood was in the Father and of Sonship in the Sonne And besides these two termes of begetting belonging to the Father and being begotten belonging to the Sonne there is onely that of conception necessary to this most wonderfull Incarnation which must belong to the Holy-Ghost least two offices being given to one Person the third Person should cease to worke So there should bee inequalitie in their actions and their workes without should not bee conformable to their inward beings shewed Chap. 11. and 12. But this is not to bee affirmed Therefore hee was conceived by the Holy-Ghost 5. And seeing it was necessary that the Redeemer of the world should be borne of a Virgin as it will appeare in the Chapter following it was also necessary that the conception should be by the Holy-Ghost For as in the ordinary way of all generation the female seed is not of strength to become man except it receive motion life and strength from the masculine seed conveyed into the place of conception which cannot be done but with the breach of Virginitie so where the Virginitie was not impaired it was necessary that the disposing of the seed and enabling it unto conception should bee by the power of the Holy-Ghost who was able to supplie all defects in nature and to cause the Virgin to conceive and consequently to bring forth without the feeling either of pleasure or paine 6. Every supernaturall worke which proceeds from the perfection of Love must bee performed by him who is the perfection of Love But the Incarnation of God in man was a supernaturall worke which proceeded from the superabundant Love of God to Man-kind See Chap. 22. Reasons 4 5.10 11 12. And therefore wrought by Him who is the perfit Love betweene the Father and the Sonne that the perfection of the band vnion or knot of Love might bee in the Holy-Ghost as betweene the Persons of the God-head so betweene the God-head and the humanity Notes a HEe was not subject to originall sinne A Iew or Atheist may object Object 1 that if Hee were subject to the punishments of originall sinne that is the sicknesses of minde ignorance forgetfulnesse the passions of anger sorrow and the like and so of the body to bee weary hungry faint sleepie c. Then must it also follow that Hee was subject to the sinne for no effect can bee but by the precedence of the cause But it is manifest that hee was subject unto most of these Therefore it may seeme that Hee was also subject to sinne though not actuall yet originall which was the cause of these Answere Though the rule bee most true that no effect can bee without the precedent cause yet in this businesse where grace and mercy is above nature the cause in one wrought the effect in another The sinne was of Adam and his sonnes the punishment of CHRIST the Sonne of GOD. But the supposition that these defects if they may bee so called are the effects of originall sinne is false For man being that creature in whom GOD would shew the superexcellencie of His goodnesse wisedome glory c. Ephe. 3.10 It was expedient that he being to be brought to that height of happinesse and perfection whereto no other creature can attaine should have experience of all infirmitie or weaknes first from not being to the meanest degree of being and so from state to state till he have at last arrived vnto that state of perfection when God shall be All in all And because it was necessary that our Lord
body which should againe have beene scattered into that from whence it was taken as Apelles affirmed so had it beene to no end to take a body and therein to suffer the darkning of His divine glory if by that body no benefit had redounded to the creature But if you desire moe reasons hereto they that are brought in the Chapter for His suffering crucifying death and buryall may give you full satisfaction So the â—rrours that are yet remaining about the suffering of Christ are two one of the Theopaschites who held that the God-head of Christ did suffer while His body was nayled on the Crosse Aug. de Haer. Cap. 73. The other of the Patrispassians such as Praxeas and Sabellius who because they thought that as the Father and the Son were but one substance so were they likewise but one Person and therefore they affirmed that God the Father was incarnate and suffered Aug. de Haer. Cap. 41. But the former of these is sufficiently reproved by the doctrine of the 9. Cha. For if God be not any kind of matier nor a compound nor a formed body nor subject to any accident but that His being be most simple and pure as was there shewed by every one of these circumstances it will follow necessarily that God cannot suffer The later is refuted by all the reasons of the 11. and 23. Chapters And if you hold not your selfe satisfied by that which is brought in those Chapters and the answeres to the reasons of Sabellius Note d on Chap. 11. You may doe well to read Epiph. Haer. 57. and Tertullian against Praxeas For this very question whether God the Father was incarnate and suffered is the Argument of that Booke b That by His partaking of our sufferings He might c. It may heere not vnsitly be demanded for what causes Christ the Holy one of God should die for vs and how that death becomes availeable to free vs from the power of sinne of death and hell For answere Wee must first put that which was the first and principall cause of our salvation the eternall purpose of God which He purposed in Iesus Christ our Lord Ephe. 3.11 See Actes 2.23 And this not for any graces or workes fore-seene in us But according to the good pleasure of His owne will Ephe. 1.5 For He hath saved us and called us with an Holy calling not according to our workes but according to His owne purpose and grace which was given us in Christ Iesus before the world began 2. Tim. 1.9 And he that puts any outward cause or good workes fore-seene in us whereby God might bee moved to chuse us takes away the chiefe glory of his grace and makes him to bee lesse good So then the first cause of all the causes and meanes of our salvation in Christ is the free mercy and purpose of God the Father which because it is the first it must needes also be the chiefe cause seeing all other cames worke to that end to which they are ordered and guided by the first And because the Son doth nothing of Himselfe but what things soever He seeth the Father doe those also doth the Sonne likewise Iohn 5.19 Therefore secondly did the Sonne according to that eternall purpose of the Father offer Himselfe vnto His Father for man as a ransome and satisfaction for their sinne as it is said Psal 40.7 Loe I come in the volume of the Booke it is written of mee to doe thy will O God Heb. 10.7 For in Him onely is God well pleased Matth. 12.18 And this is that Eternall Gospel of the Lambe slaine from the foundation of the World Apoc. 13.8 For through the Eternall Spirit did He offer Himselfe without spot vnto God But if this offer of our Redeemer who offered Himselfe for vs had not beene accepted of His Father then had it beene of no availe for us Therefore in the third place it must appeare that God did accept this Sacrifice of His Sonne which is manifest first by this That it was the disposition and purpose of God Himselfe as was shewed in the first place and as it is said Heb. 10.10 By the will of God are wee sanctified through the offering of the body of Iesus Christ once for all Neither was God in this reconciliation of man-kind a willer or disposer onely but a worker also of our Redemption For God was in Christ reconciling the World vnto himselfe not imputing their trespasses vnto them 2. Cor. 5.19 If God then be for us who can be against us If He Iustifie who can condemne us who have the decree and will of God for our Iustification the offer and acceptance of Christ both God and man for our ransome and reconciliation and that offer was made by the eternall Spirit And this Spirit also beareth witnesse to our Spirit that wee are the sonnes of God Rom. 8.16 The second cause concernes the justice of God by which our Lord Christ died for vs. And it stond in this that He according to the will of His Father became our surety Hebr. 7.22 and bound Himselfe to make satisfaction for the sin of man which maâ— himselfe could not doe as it hath beene manifest before Chap. 19. Now iâ— this satisfaction of Christ the infinite Iustice was accorded with the infinite Love of God to the creature The infinite love appeared as was said before first in this that the Sonne was called and appointed to the performance of this glorious worke Hebr. 5. verse 4 5.10 Then in this that being performed it was accepted in our name and for our everlasting happinesse as it is said Iohn 3.16 God so loved the world that He gave His onely begotten Sonne that whosoever beleeveth Him should not perish but have everlasting life The infinite Iustice was manifest in this that the satisfaction of Christ was a full and perfect satisfaction according to the rigour of Iustice and that both in respect of the infinite value thereof and of the punishment which our Mediator endured The infinite value of the satisfaction was first in the Person that offered it For as the grieuousnesse of the injurie exceeded by the worthinesse of the Person of the Father that was offended So the value of the satisfaction exceeded by the worthinesse of the Sonne that maâ—e the amends And because the honour which was done to God herein is valued according to the worthinesse of the Person which worthinesse in Christ is essentiall unto him not accidentall as that of Aaron therfore the satisfaction also is essentially infinite and therefore abundantly sufficient in respect of the Person that did fulfill it For the satisfaction to an infinite Iustice was as fully made by the Person of the Sonne an infinite being than if the creature being finite even all Angels and men had suffered the torments of hell eternally Secondly the infinite value of the satisfaction appeares in the worthinesse of the thing that was offered For our Mediator having no greater nor better
the naturall desire of the soule no way sinfull the Deity infinite in power and in regard of the unity consenting thereto it must follow of necessity that our Lord was raised againe from the dead 5. Contrary causes must have contrary effects The devill by the sinne which he wrought in Adam had caused death to prevaile over life in all mankind Therefore Christ who came to destroy the workes of the deuill must cause life to prevaile over death But this could not be done in the members before it was perfected in the head Therefore Christ being dead must of necessity bee the first fruits of them that are raised from the dead And if it were necessary that Christ should first rise Ergo it was impossible that He should not rise See Log chap. 26.11.1 6. If Christ our Lord had not beene raised from death a then had it beene impossible that any of His beleevers should bee raised againe by the power and merit of His resurrection 1. And so the naturall desire of the soule to dwell with the body should be created in vaine 2. So the debt being paid the prisoner should ever be detained 3. So the afflictions of the Saints which they have suffered in body should be in vaine as cold hunger nakednesse reproach and shame imprisonment stripes yea and death it selfe willingly sustained for the love of God should be without reward But it were against the justice of God to cause the body and soule to suffer together and not to glorifie them both together 4. So also the death of Christ should not be meritorious and effectuall for the procuring of all that good which might and ought to come thereby both to Himselfe and all His beleevers For although the soules of the faithfull for the merit and full satisfactions sake of His death being separate might enjoy an eternall though not a full happinesse without the body yet the body should be left eternally to the power of death and so the workes of the devill should not be destroyed by Christ 5. So also the body should be created in vaine if to sorrow onely without the hope of happinesse 6. So God should lose His right in His creature if Hee were not Lord both of the living and of the dead both of the soule and of the body 7. So the one sinne and disobedience of Adam should be more powerfull to condemne mankind then the everlasting and most perfect obedience of the Sonne of God should be to save it But all these things are impossible And therefore Saint Paul saith Rom. 4.25 That Christ was delivered to death for our sinne and raised againe for our Iustification For if Christ be not raised againe then are we yet in our sinnes 1. Cor. 15.17 not that any addition was made by His resurrection to that satisfaction which He made by His death but because the resurrection of Christ is a sure and manifest proofe of His conquest over sinne death hell and all the power of the devill and that His suffering and death was a full and sufficient sacrifice whereby the wrath of God against sinne was fully satisfied so that we are now justified in His sight whereas if in the conflict of our Redeemer with death and hell He had been overcome then could we have had no faith nor hope that our sinne by His death had beene done away But now knowing that He hath overcome death and is returned to life againe in all the troubles and sorrowes of this life and in the agonies of death wee may be secure as the feet or toes that are lowest under the water may hope at last to come to land because they know that their head being above the water the body cannot be drowned 7. Now concerning that impossibility of Saint Peter it stands thus It is impossible that the Scripture being the declaration of Gods trueth made by Himselfe 2. Pet. 1.21 2. Tim. 3.16 should faile But it hath beene declared by the Scripture that Christ should be raised againe from the dead Therefore it was impossible that He should still be held under the power of death The text cited by Saint Peter is found Psal 16.10 to which you may adde the types of the old Testament whereby the death and resurrection of our Lord was signified as that of Noah Gen. 9. ver 20. c. When our Saviour being as it were drunken with the love of His Church and desire of mans salvation tooke our state upon Him and for us became subject to the death of the Crosse when being seene by the Iewes those Chumits in the nakednesse or infirmity of our estate He was set at nought by them that thought that their Messiah could not die Iohn 14.34 But when Noah our Rest and Comforter awaked out of His grave He brought on them that destruction which was foretold as the punishment of their hardnesse of heart and unbeliefe See Psalm 41.10 Dan. 9.26 So the Ram taken by his hornes in the bush Gen. 22. was the type of His death and Isaac taken alive from the Altar the figure of His resurrection Ioseph also taken out of the dungeon to be ruler over all the land of Egypt To the same purpose was the law of the two goates Levit. 6. the one slaine for a sinne offering the other sent alive into a land of separation to make an atonement for all iniquity transgressions and sinne of the people So by the two Sparrowes Levit. 14. He that was like to the solitary sparrow on the house top Psalm 102.7 shed His blood for the cleansing of our leprosie yet by the other that was sent alive into the open ayre His resurrection was figured Sampson the Nazarite asleepe in Gaza signified our Lord in the sleepe of death for the love of His Church yet waking and having opened the gates of death He carryed them away and ascended in triumph to the top of the mount Iudg. 16.3 And because the strong gates of death are carryed away we are assured that all they that sleepe in the dust of death shall rise to give an account of their workes Beside these types you have also the prophecies of the old Testament as Psalm 68.20 That to Him belonged the issues of death both to passE out of death Himselfe and also to bring out His from thence Esay also Chap. 53. after He had declared His sufferings and death proves His resurrection by His dividing the spoile with the strong Our Lord also foretold His resurrection Himselfe in Mat. 12.49 and Luk. 18.33 and the b infidelity of Thomas made it certaine unto all Vpon all which texts we may firmely conclude with Saint Peter that it was impossible that our Lord should be held in the bands of death 8. And why the third day was appointed for His resurrection a reason or two are rendered Hee rose not before that none might doubt but that He was certainely dead See the 27. chap. for His death and buriall Neither was it
but inductive therefore I referre you to the 11. Chapter before for further proofe of the Trinity of Persons in unity of the Godhead Returne then to where you left GOD is the first of beings and therefore eternall à parte antè for otherwise something should have beene before Him which should have caused Him to be but we consented to the contrary before And if He be the first of beings then nothing made by Him can be greater then He by whose power He might be brought to nothing And therefore He is eternall à parte post to endure for ever eternally And if God be the first of all beings then it is necessary that His being be most simple and pure as having nothing therein of any dependance of another unto whom either matier forme composition accident or any possibility to be either more lesser greater or other then He is can any way belong And if God be eternall it followes necessarily that He have infinite power to continue eternally But an infinite power cannot be but in an infinite being therefore His being is infinite And because nothing can be in His most simple being but that which is essentially Himselfe therefore infinitie must be His being and His being infinitie And if God be infinite in His being then it is impossible that any perfection of being should be wanting to His being for so His being could not be infinite And therefore Wisedome Goodnesse Trueth Glory and all other excellencies of being are in Him infinitely perfectly and eternally And because no abatement want or littlenesse can be in infinitie therefore is it necessary that all those perfections which are in God be also active or working in Him for otherwise they could cause no joy or happines unto Him so should they be unto him in want and defect and not in infinity Therefore it is necessary that all those perfections that are in God be not onely active in Him but also as infinite in their action as they are in their being lest a twofold being one in the greatnesse of being and another in lessenesse of action should be in God which is utterly impossible But because no action can be where there is no object to worke upon nor no infinite action where there is not an infinite object therefore it is necessary that there be an infinite object of all that glorious action which is in God whereby He works infinitely and eternally And this infinite object is that glorious Sonne of His love the image of Himselfe wherein all His perfection is actuated and expressed and that infinite action whereby the Sonne is Characterized Hebr. 1.3 Formed See Esay 43.10 or brought foorth eternally is the Holy-Ghost And because there can be no action where either the agent or object is wanting therefore is the Holy-Ghost most truely said to proceed from the Father and the Sonne And because I speake onely of that incommunicable action which is in God Himselfe from whence the difference of the three Persons doth arise therefore you must understand that as the action so the Persons also are in the Godhead essentially and that not onely because the action is according to the purity and perfection of the Divine being but also because all the termes thereof that is the Agent the object and the Action it selfe are infinite and eternall which cannot possibly be found out of the Godhead And thus in briefe you see it manifest not onely that God is but also that His being is infinite and eternall with all the perfections both of being and working and how from the infinitie of His glorious and eternall working the Trinity of Persons in the unity of the Godhead is concluded and consequently that the Holy-Ghost is God eternally proceeding from the Father and the Sonne For further understanding and proofe of all which things you may if you will as cause is reade any of the 12. first Chapters at the beginning Notes a IF the procession of the Holy-Ghost The heresies which have been about this Article of our Creed have beene many and great For the more necessary any trueth is to be knowne and beleeved the more damnable heresies hath the devill raised thereabout But as the heresies that were about our Lord Christ so these here may be brought to three heads The first concerne the person of the Holy-Ghost § 1. The second His being § 2. The third His properties § 3. § 1. Concerning the person of the Holy-Ghost Simon that eldest sonne of Satan would be all in all For he said that he gave the Law to Moses in mount Sina in the person of the Father that in the dayes of Tiberius he suffered in shew under the Person of the Sonne and that after he was that Holy-Ghost that came upon the Apostles in the shew of cloven tongues Thus saith Augustine Haer 1. But Epiphanius Haer 21. saith that he called his Punke Helena the Holy-Ghost for whose deare sake he transformed himselfe that he might come to her thorow all the heavens unknowne of his angels But this fellow presuming too much on the power of his devills while he tooke upon him to ascend into heaven againe he died of the fall and so the necke of his heresie was broken Manes a Persian the father of the Manichees erred the same heresie with Simon the Witch and gave out himselfe for the holy Spirit but being slayed alive by the King of Persia he found himselfe to be a body and not a spirit Hierax an Egyptian Monke affirmed that Melchizedek of whom you reade Gen. 14. was the Holy-Ghost Some there be that write concerning Montanus the Phrygian that he tooke upon him to be the Holy-Ghost But Eusebius lib. 5. cap. 14. and Augustine Haer 86. affirme that this heresie was onely thus much that he had received that Comforter which was promised Iohn 15.26 in greater measure then the Apostles and in this his followers the Cataphryges and with them Tertullian himselfe as it appeares by some of his writings did consent to him But Epiphanius in that 48. heresie cites the words of montanus thus I came neither Angel nor Ambassador but I am the Lord God even the Father Neither have these hereticks of old time onely so madded themselves but with us of late Wrightman gave out himselfe for the Holy-Ghost as Hacket before him would needes bee Christ But the discipline of Bedlem or Bridewell is fittest to teach such sencelesse people not to set their mouthes against Heaven 1. But that which all these hereticks affirme concerning the Holy-Ghost is utterly beyond all faith and possibility of being Of faith I say because neither Iewes nor Turkes which cannot beleeve a Trinity of Persons in unity of the Deitie can never be brought to thinke that two of these Persons should bee incarnate when they will not receive Him that was approved of God by so many miracles to bee God with us Neither can the Christians bee brought to beleeve that the Holy-Ghost
which I spake of before are in the Essence of God alone Now our spirituall consolation whereof the Holy-Ghost is said to be the Beginner is but an emanation or effluence from that Being which he himselfe is as the light of the Sun doth illuminate every bright body exposed to His light and yet imparteth not His being thereto You will againe object that Eternitie hath no beginning nor ending how then can Christ be both eternall and begun and how againe can He be equall to the Father whereas He being begotten of the Father the Father hath a prioritie before Him I answere that this beginning is that production or begetting which I before declared to have beene heretofore no other then it is now and shall be eternally as the Sun hath brought forth light since His creation and shall still bring forth light till the worlds dissolution For this action of God whereby He begetteth His Sonne is not a transient action to cause a passion in the subject and a repassion in the agent for in such the subject of necessitie should have beene existent before the action but this action is immanent and therefore of necessitie of the same nature with the same agent which agent because it is eternall therefore the production is also eternall and consequently the product and so of necessitie very God But you must ever remember what difference I made between the action of God infinite in power and therefore able to actuate the object and the immanent actions of our minde Now for the Prioritie or Posterioritie you may object I grant there is Prioritie among the Persons of the Godhead but of what kind not of Being for their Essence is one therein is none afore or after another neither is any one of the Trinitie more or lesse God then another not of time for they are all one Eternitie not of dignitie for they are all one Infinitie and the Sonne Himselfe being very God thinketh it no robberie to be equall with God But yet there is Prioritie and that of order onely for the Father is in order before the Sonne because the Sonne is begotten of the Father and the Sonne likewise is before the Holy-Ghost because the Holy-Ghost is the mutuall love betweene the Father and the Sonne and so proceeding from them both I will make a comparison unmeet for the matier of which I speak for to whom shall wee liken the Highest but yet meete to helpe your understanding When a man doth dreame and imagine things which are not there is you know the phantasie the phantasme or thing imagined or dreamed and the phansying or working of the phantasie about that object Now these three are all of one nature and are one after another onely in order and not in time For the particular phantasie of such an object is before the object and makes it to have an intentionall being then the object being the discourse of the phantasie followeth in order which neverthelesse was in time as soone as it obseruing ever the cautions that are to be obserued Thus have I very briefly showen not many reasons but rather how many reasons may be showen for this Christian assertion yet have I showen ynough to perswade any reasonable man to yeeld meekely unto the truth of that doctrine which is so evident both in the Booke of God and in every faithfull and true Christian mans confession and according to that discourse which is evident to every mans understanding Now give me leave to speake a little to those arguments which have throwen the most learned of the Iewes headlong to the feete of Christ to make them acknowledge that the Messiah must be both God and man I will not herein doe any thing contrary to that which in the beginning I protested that is not to compell you by authoritie of Scripture but to intreat you by reasonable perswasion to encline your eare to the truth But because I may not without injury to the cause leave altogether out such manifest proofe and without injurie also to your selfe who might thinke that I went about to sophisticate a true seeming untruth which would not abide the touch I will onely intend my finger to some very few of many thousands of axioms of the Scripture for this purpose and leave you to make the conclusion by your selfe hoping that the Iewes example may provoke you to follow them so far forth as they have followed the truth Exo. 13.21 it is said The Lord went before them c. Chap. 14.19 The Angel of God which went before them removed where Christ the Angel of the Covenant is called The Lord Iehovah Againe Exo. 15.3 The Lord is a man of warre His name is Iehovah therfore Christ is God and man who by this conflict upon the Crosse triumphed over Death and Hell as it is written in the Gospel The booke of the warres of the Lord. Againe Esay 9.6 Vnto us a childe is borne there is His Manhood and unto us a Sonne is given and they shall call His Name The mighty God And Esay 35. v. 4. Your God will come and save you Iere. 23.5 c. I will raise up unto David a righteous Branch and a King shall raigne and this is the Name whereby they shall call Him The Lord our righteousnesse And Ier. 33. v. 16. Iudah shall be saved and He that shall save her is the Lord our Righteousnesse Where the Name used is that great Name 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Iehovah which is never given to any creature Zac. 9.9 proves Him God and man What shall I cite unto you that of the 2. Psalme Thou art my Sonne this day have I begotten thee which place with many moe is brought in the Epistle to the Hebrewes to this purpose which is your question These authorities the Thalmudists who sticke onely to the killing letter and apparant sense of the law hold sufficient to put this matter out of doubt Now if leaving this outward sence of the Scripture wee should desire to know what is the quickening spirit thereof and should ransacke the treasuries of the Cabalists remembring that place of our Saviour Mat. 5.18 One jod or tittle of the Law shall not passe till all be fulfilled and should examine the question by the letters and pricks of the Scripture wee should more easily find an enterance then an end thereto Yet for a taste take onely the first three words of the Law 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 bereshith bara elohim which may not unfitly be thus turned In the beginning they the mighty God created And of that againe take the first 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 bereshith and see what it may signifie by that part of the Cabala which they call Notariacon 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 b. the first letter of ben signifieth the Sonne 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 r. the first of ruach signifies the Holy-Ghost 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a. the beginning of av is the Father 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 s.
the first of Sabbath importeth rest 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. the beginning of the ineffable Name of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and not there onely but even of it selfe it imports the Deitie For wee consider of things not obuious to our sences and understanding as if they were not and therefore this least of all the letters neerest unto nothing doth signifie God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 th the first of Ta. or Thom. is construed a Closet or a Depth Which construction if you put together according to the rules of that excellent Grammar of Divinitie with reference to that which followes may import thus much The Word the Spirit and the Father resting eternally in the Closet or unconceiveable abysse or as Paul calls it the inaccessible light of the infinite Deitie manifested their almighty power in creating the heaven and the earth Neither is it without a great mysterie that the Sonne is here put in the first place for In the beginning was the Word because the chiefe honour both of the Creation and restauration of the world is given unto Christ as the Apostle doth comment upon this text Coloss 1. And in another place In Him is all the treasure both of the wisedome and knowledge of God As Psal 104. v. 24. In Wisedome hast thou made them all For in Christ were all things together one infinite wisedome till in the Creation he made them severall according to their distinct Idea's Therefore saith the Apostle He sustaineth every thing by His powerfull Word that is the Son and elsewhere In Him Christ wee live and move after the Creation and have our Being before the Creation And for this cause doth Iohn begin the law of mercie and grace in the very same words wherewith Moses began the law of Iustice and condemnation In the beginning For wee know nothing of God neither of Iustice nor of Mercie c. but onely by Christ as he saith No man knoweth the Father but the Son and he to whom the Sonne will reveile Him And in another place No man cometh to the Father but by mee Now the Holy-Ghost is put in the second place because He is the mutuall love of the Father and the Sonne and as I may say the instrument of their actions both immanent and transient Goe forward now if you will to the next word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 bara you see it affords the same argument for the Tri-Vnitie by the three letters before explained and the number which is the singular Thinke not this a fancie neither reproach the divine Cabala as the ignorant Sophisters use to doe not knowing how above all other knowledges it doth aduance a mans meditation on high And to the present purpose they which know any thing in the holy language know that this sentence can no way agree in Grammaticall construction unlesse the singular verb 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 barà be thus made plural that it may have concordance with the plural 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Elohim And that these three persons are in the unity of their Being one may appeare by that which is Chap. 2. v. 4. where the name of their essence Iehovah is joyned to Elohim as if you would say the Gods Iehovah made the earth and the heavens You will aske why these letters 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 b.r.a. are twice put seeing in this precisenesse no such superfluitie should have needed I tell you that it is not done but to intimate unto us a most high mysterie For in the first place it imports that Eternall and Infinite Being of the Father the Son and the Holy-Ghost which they had before the worlds in their endlesse glory and felicity in that silence of the Deitie in that super-supreame Entity which is unto the Godhead perfect above perfection without any respect unto the creature It imports that Infinity that Eternity that Power that Wisedome which is above all things and gives unto it selfe to be such as it is that Nothing as the divine Areopagite seemes to speake which is before and aboue all things that may be spoken or thought without any respect of any emanation or effluence whatsoever And therefore followes that letter of rest 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that of unity 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and that of perfection 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Now in the second place it signifies the Deitie as exercised in the creature and therefore followes that Epithete Elohim which shewes that emanation of Power or Strength and is sometimes given unto the creatures Angels and men It were an endlesse thing to speake that of these mysteries which may be spokeÌ„ neither can I For the Law of the Lord is perfect and man is full of weaknes I have said so much as I thinke meete concerning the Tri-unitie Now a word to that point that Christ is God which although it appeare sufficiently in the Tri-unity before prooved by this anagogical doctrine yet to that second person in â—â—rticular is that which followeth Esay 7.14 it is said of Christ that His Name should be called Immanuel but in the history of the Gospel in Matthew and Luke both before His Conception and at His Circumcision He is called Iesus It is therefore meete that you know how Iesus is Immanuel or God with us The writing of the Name of IESVS is thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ihsuh though according to the rules of the pronunciation of that tongue Iesu and according to the ancient abbreviation following the Hebrew orthography IHS In which Name you see are all the letters of the greatest ineffable Name of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Iehovah with the interposition of that letter of rest 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 s. for then was God reconciled to the world then was everlasting righteousnesse brought in when the Word became flesh This is that glorious Name of which God spake by the Prophet Behold I will make my Name new in the earth For you see how of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is made 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is IESVS This is that Name which is meet for the Sonne of God alone and cannot be given to any creature because it is a Name of the Deitie as it is Heb. 1. It is that Name which is above all names in which the Angels and the righteous soules triumph at which the powers of Hell are agast and tremble to which the whole creature yieldeth meeke obedience This is that Name of which our Lord spake Father I have manifested thy Name unto men the Father 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Sonne 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For so long as the mystery of the Incarnation of God was hid so long that Name remained unsoundable but when the Word became flesh and dwelt amongst men so that the mysterie was reveiled then the Name which was before not to be pronounced was lawfully pronounceable That as the Word of life was to be seene with eyes and handled with hands so that glorious Name might