is commonly called the Apostles Creed ought firmly to be observed and beleeved For they may bee prooved by most certaine warrant of Holy Scripture And because it may not bee supposed that our Church cites the authority of Athanasius but according to his owne meaning as he himselfe hath explained it if it were the meaning of Athanasius that Christ after His suffering descended locally into the hell of the damned it must needes bee that our Church accorded to his meaning And what the meaning of this Article in the Creed of Athanasius is we need not to doubt who have Athanasius himselfe to declare it in his Epistle of the incarnation of our Lord Iesus Christ against Apollinarius where hee prooves against his Heresie that there bee onely two parts of the humane nature in Christ a body which the grave received and a soule which went downe into hell the grave received that which was bodily hell that which was not bodily And by his reason you may yet understand his meaning better When the Creator saith he call'd man into question for his disobedience Hee decreed against him a double punishment For to the body He said Thou art earth and unto earth thou shalt returne But to the soule He said Thou shalt die the death And for this cause man being dead is condemned to depart to two places And therefore it was also necessary that the Iudge Himselfe that made this decree should also undergoe it that in the estate of man condemned shewing Himselfe free from sin uncondemned He might reconcile man unto God and restore him to perfect libertie In the same Epistle hee had said a little before that in hell He condemned death that Hee might every way perfect the salvation of man in our image which He had put on and in his fourth oration against the Arians hee saith that the powers of hell withdrew themselues being afraid at the sight of Christ. So the meaning of Athanasius is plaine that the soule of Christ did locally goe downe to hell and withall the meaning of our Church Now among these texts of Scripture by which this doctrine of Athanasius may bee warranted that text of the 1. Pet. 3.18.19 is most plaine especially as it stands in the Greeke Christ suffered for our sinnes that He might bring us unto God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 being put to death in the flesh but quickened in the Spirit by which He went and preached to the Spirits in prison Which Scripture must be applied onely to the manly being of Christ who Himselfe had set an example to His followers to suffer ill patiently which could be onely in His manly being For as God He could not suffer ill Beside His God-head mooves not by any locall motion as the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doeth signifie And moreover His divine spirit was no way quickned nor could be but He went and preached in that Spirit in which He was quickned which could bee onely in His humane spirit or soule in which having once suffered death He manifested His power to the disobedient spirits by taking to Himselfe the keyes or power over hell and death to shut in and keepe out whom Hee will Reuel 1.18 And although I deny not that the sence is true and good He was quickned by the Spirit that holy Spirit which Hee received not by measure yet I hold that this is not the native meaning of this place and the best printed copies of Stephan Plantin and others are with me Neither will the words naturally beare that change of In and By Neither did the reverend Noel Deane of Pauls and other like Him accord with them Neither is this the onely place of Scripture that prooves the locall descent of Christs soule into hell For that argument of Saint Peter Act. 2.31 whereby hee prooves the resurrection of Christ out of Psalm 16. because His soule was not left in Hell strangles these interpreters harder then Achelous was strangled in the hand of Hercules So that which Ionah the figure said of himselfe being by Christ the substance applied to Himselfe To be three dayes in the heart of the earth must bee as true in the substance as it was figuratively true in Ionah This is the confession of him that was holy as no man was Psalm 68.2 Thou hast delivered my soule from the lowest hell vers 13. as the Apostle speakes Ephes 4.9 10. He descended first into the lower parts of the earth and ascended above all heavens that Hee might fill all things So then the Scriptures not being of any private interpretation that is to set out the stories of private men 2. Peter 1.20 must have their highest and uttermost interpretation in Christ Now that this is the native interpretation of this Article and consequently the right meaning of the Composer or Composers of the Creed beside the texts of Scripture on which the Article is grounded it will bee further manifest by the Reasons 1. In a Catechisme the use of Tropes or borrowed speeches are not fit for the use of children and novices and such is the Creed or forme of the confession of our Faith as it is manifest Hebr. 6.1 And the suffering of Christ His Death Buriall c. is taken properly therefore His going downe also into hell Object If Christ went to the faithfull that were dead Object whose soules were in Paradise why doe you say to hell whereby is specially meant the place of the damned Answer Hee first went to the dead in Paradise as His promise was That the Thiefe should there bee with Him in Paradise Then to hell to take to Himselfe all rule all authority and power For God had put all things in subjection under His feet 2. If this Article He went downe to hell be not to bee referred to the soule of Christ after His death then have we no direction by the Creed to know what became of His soule neither are wee taught hereby whether He had a humane and immortall soule or no. So we are still left in doubt whether this Christ be the Saviour of the world But if this Article be referred to the state of Christs soule after His death then are we truely taught and informed against these doubts But that adulterate interpretation of His sufferings is excluded 3. And seeing our Lord Christ is appointed of God to bee the Iudge of the world and that as He is the Sonne of man it was necessary that our Lord should goe downe to hell both in regard of the justice and of the mercy which ought to appeare in His judgement of His justice that the enemies of mankind the devills may not torment them according to their cruelty and hatred of man but onely in justice afflict them according to the sentence passed on them according to the measure of their sinne and not beyond as it is said Luk. 12.47 and 48. The servant which knew his masters will and prepared not himselfe shall be beaten with
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
desire as farre as we finde the likenesse of our selves or of something in our selves therein But good is of divers kindes the first and lowest kinde is conditionall or civill as riches honour favour of great men authority which are good or ill according as they are used Secondly morall as the vertues and abilities of the minde and the fruits thereof Thirdly naturall which is in every thing and that either essentially in the perfection of the being whereto it is ordeined which every thing desires as the proper good thereof or specifically in respect of those proper effects which proceed from the essentiall forme inasmuch as every good thing imparts the goodnesse of it selfe as much as it may But the goodnesse of God comes not into accompt with these for although for that loves sake which he hath of goodnesse he were pleased to imprint certaine likenesses of himselfe in the creature yet this was not out of any need which he had of the creature without which he was and is infinitely happy in himselfe Psal 16.2 Therefore the creation onely manifested the goodnesse of God that the creature according to the measure thereof might be good perfect and blessed in him who is infinitely good in himselfe as is manifest by these reasons 1. It is proved Chap 2. that the being of God is infinite Hence it followes thus Whatsoever is equall to an infinite being must of necessity be infinite The goodnesse of God is equall to his infinite being for otherwise his being should be defective and ill if by his goodnesse it should not be wholly and infinitely good And if in any thing his being were defective then should it not be infinitely distant from not being and so his being should not be infinite but all these things are impossible Therefore the goodnesse of God is infinite 2. Being and Goodnesse are termes convertible inasmuch as every thing desires the perfection of it owne being as the proper goodnesse thereof But it is necessarie that some thing be chiefe and superexcellent in being as the cause of all other beings therefore also in goodnesse and this is most eminently true in God that his goodnesse is his being because it cannot be in him as a property proceeding from any forme he being utterly free from any composition nor yet by any superaddition or putting to of any thing vnto his being he being the cause of all and utterlie free from suffering any thing from without Therefore God is infinitely and essentially good 3. In the order of things being it is necessarie that something be supereminent and chiefe either good or ill which must of necessity be that which is the first and cause of all other things Good is a positive being and brings in perfection Ill is onely privative and puts nothing in being And seeing the excellencie of every effect is in the multitude of the likenesses thereof unto the cause if the first cause thereof be not supereminently good then that which is ill and privative shall be more actuall perfect and excellent than that which is good and every thing the worse it is shall be more like unto it and that which is worst of all shall be most like unto it and that which is most of all not being to wit that which is utterly impossible to be most actuall and perfect but these things are manifest contradictions and utterly impossible Therefore God the first cause of all is supereminently and infinitelie good 4. Whatsoever hath all the perfections of being in it must needs be infinitely good But God hath all the perfections of being in himselfe as being the cause of all Therefore God is infinitely good 5. And this is that goodnesse which our Lord would not suffer to be given unto any other There is none good but one even God Marke 10.18 But the representation of this infinite goodnesse is diversly imparted first without measure Iohn 3.34 To him that is the image of his being Hebr. 1.3 Then to them who of his fulnesse have received even grace for grace Iohn 1.16 Thirdly to every thing in the being thereof as I spake before Gen. 1.31 And hereby you may see the force of that argument which our Saviour uses Matth. 7.11 If you then which are ill can give good gifts to your children how much more shall your heavenly father give good things to them that aske him Seeing he is goodnesse it selfe and this goodnesse of God is the argument of so many Psalmes Praise ye the Lord because he is good for his mercie endureth for ever Psal 118.136 c. CHAP. V. That the wisdom of God is infinite EVery thing naturally seekes the preservation of it selfe in the being which it hath as the perfection and happinesse of it selfe and therefore first avoids those things that are contrary thereto as you may see in a greene sticke put into the fire how the water shunnes the heate as the greatest enemy it hath Secondly encreaseth it selfe by those things which it can make like and turne into it selfe as I have elsewhere shewed how every seed encreaseth by the earth and moisture thereof which cannot be but with a wehling out or choice of things that are homogeneous or of parts like thereto and a refusing of those things that are heterogeneous that is of unlike parts or of another kinde And over and above this every thing doth spread it selfe in that goodnesse which it hath upon those things that are capable thereof as it appeares in the effect of every medicine And nothing of all these things can be done but by a certaine degree of naturall knowledge inbred in every thing according to which it doth chuse or avoid those things which are within the compasse of that knowledge And this is seene in every thing simple or compound in things elementall minerall and vegetable But in things wherein life is more manifest by moving which we call Animall the fruits of knowledge and understanding appeare in farre greater differences of degrees as you may finde betweene the oyster or the snaile and the fox the horse or the elephant of which they write he may bee taught to know letters Plinhist nat lib. 8. cap. 3. Aquin. contra Gent. lib. 3. Cap. 57. what knowledge these things have of the Creator it is not easie to define See Plin. hist lib. 8. Cap. 1. But certaine it is that the whole creature hath a most earnest desire and hope to bee delivered from that corruption and change whereto it is subject Rom. 8.19 But that man though knowing nothing at all but by the helpe of things sensible was created to know and honour the creator by and for his knowledge is most manifest for otherwise the Creator should lose his honour which he might and consequently ought to have by the outward sences from things sensible And this was the condemnation of the world that thus knowing by the creature they did not honour him accordingly Rom. 1.17 Of how much sorer
being in this representation of God doth naturally will or desire the being of it selfe in all the perfections thereof So a God wils his owne being because his being is infinitely good powerfull glorious c. And if hee did not will his owne being He should be against his will and in that case be most miserable as being the chiefest of beings And seeing He is the greatest good that can be if his will should not Will such a being then were it defective and ill if any way opposite to the chiefest good But all these things are utterly impossible Therefore his Will is infinite And as these reasons confirme the infinity of His Will in his owne being So the Holy Scripture witnesses the ab solute freedome of his will in the creature as Psal 115.3 Hee doth whatsoever Hee will Iob. 23.13 He is one and who can turne him whatsoever His minde desires He doth 2. And concerning his Truth it is also manifest Truth is either reall that is in the being of the thing which elsewhere log sect 3.9 I call metaphy sicall or intellectuall that is where the understanding apprehends the thing according to the truth of the being and if it conceive it otherwise than it is then deceit or falshood is in the understanding onely or in the words the expression of the understanding but not in the thing as Agrippa makes it Comment in Artem brevem Lulli The reall truth is that whereby the thing is truly that which it is in what sort of being soever it is So that if the being of God bee infinite as was proved cap. 3. then it is necessary that his truth also bee infinite And this is that which God said of himselfe Exod. 3.14 I am that I am speaking of the truth of his infinite being Or you may take it thus Seeing every thing is that which it is by the truth of the being if the truth of God were not infinite then could neither His being nor His goodnesse nor any of those dignities which wee have before proved to bee infinite be such as they are proved to be and so all the impossibilities should of necessity follow But these things cannot be so Therefore it is most necessary that his truth be infinite Secondly seeing the truth of all understanding and of all speech is founded in the truth of the being of things If the truth of God were not infinite and answerable to his being but that his being were infinite and his truth finite the understanding could not be assured what to conceive truly of God neither could we know what we might truly affirme or deny concerning him and so our faith and hope in him should never bee setled neither could we bee assured of any truth either in Religion or any thing else For if certaine truth be not in Him much lesse in the things that are by Him so that all truth should stand onely in opinion and according to that idle fancie of the Scepticks But this as it is against all reverence we owe to God so is it against all reason and sense and those certaine truths that have hitherto beene proved Therefore the Prophet Psal 31.6 calles him the God of Truth in as much as all truth which can be in any understanding or uttered by any speech must be grounded in the being of things and all being is onely in Him and from Him And therefore he saith Psal 119.160 Truth is the beginning of his word So Psal 100.5 His mercy is everlasting and his Truth from generation to generation And Psal 107.2 The truth of the Lord endureth for ever 3. Happinesse is imputed to every prosperous successe in any mans undertaking and that not onely in the last end of his Aymes but likewise in all his meanes thereunto Blessednesse is only in the last end which a man proposeth as the Covetous blesseth himselfe in the multitude of his riches the proud in his honour and every Malitious man when hee can make his mischievous imagination to prosper But the Glory whereof I speake holds all that holy blessednes or delight which is in God by the superexcellencie of his owne being which if it bee not infinite then must it be either because there is a greaternesse in his being and a lessenes of His enioying of himselfe which cannot stand with the action of His Infinitie shewed chap. 10. or because he knows not his owne worthines which stands not within his wisdome or for some defect or other which cannot stand with the possibility of his perfection who hath in Himselfe all things that hee can desire Therefore his glory is infinite Moreover if no perfection can come to Him from without it must follow necessarily that he hath all possible perfections in Himselfe But it is plaine that no perfection can come to him from without who gave to all things their being and welfare Therefore his blessednesse or Glory is infinite As it is said Psal 104.1 O Lord my God thou art exceeding glorious thou art clothed with glory and honour And Apoc. 4.10 Thou art worthy O Lord to receive glory and honour and power And Reu. 5.13 I heard all the Creatures saying Praise and honour and glory and power be to him that sitteth upon the throne And Reu. 7.12 Praise and glory and wisdome and thanks and honour and power and might be unto our God forevermore Amen 4. And because God is one infinite being as shall by and by be more fully proved therefore the proposition of the first Syllogisme N. 1. may serve either for any one of all the dignities of God before spoken or for any other attribute properly given unto God as you shall find them in the holy Scripture as 1. Holinesse 2. Righteousnesse or Iustice 3. Mercy 4. Grace 5. Life 6. Light 7. Love or the like And because unto the proposition you may take which of these you will and I hasten forward therefore I will only bring some few authorities of the holy Scripture for every one of these And first Holinesse 1. Levit. 11.44 1 Pet. 1.15 Be ye holy for I am holy Psal 99.9 Exalt the Lord our God for the Lord our God is Holy And for this hee is called The Holy one of Israel Psal 71.22 74.41 2. Righteousnesse Psal 71.15 My mouth shall daily rehearse thy righteousnesse for I know no end thereof 3. Mercy Psal 103.17 His mercy is from eternity to eternity on them that feare him and his Righteousnesse on childrens children Exod. 20. Shewing mercy to thousands 2 Cor. 1.3 He is the Father of mercies This Mercy is the ground of many psalmes and in especiall of the 136. 4. Grace Gen. 6.8 But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. And Saint Paul in every Epistle wisheth Grace from God to the Churches so Saint Iohn Reu. 1.4 5. 6. Life and Light Psal 36.9 For with thee is the well of life and in thy Light wesh all see light 7. Love 1 Ioh 4.6
which have from time to time maintained this truth against all heresies And although it cannot bee denied but that even among the Heathens some of their wisest both Poets and Philosophers knew this mysterie by heare-say as they had received it from the Hebrewes as you may reade in Thom. Aquin. in lib. 1. dist 3. q. 2. and more at large in Struchus de peren Philos lib. 1. 2. and from them in Philip Mornay of the truenesse of Christian Religion Chap. 6. yet among the Hebrewes themselves except the Prophets and schooles of the Prophets this secret was not knowne or taught and that as it may seem lest the misunderstanding multitude might fall into the Idolatrie of many Gods therefore is this thing so taught in the holy text of the Old Testament that the wise onely might understand it for although the Prophets knew well enough that in the dayes of the king Messiah this mysterie should be knowne even to the Gentiles for of him it is written in the 40. Psalme vers 9.10 I will not refraine my lips O Lord thou knowest but I have declared thy truth and thy salvation I have not concealed thy mercy and thy truth from the great Congregation Yet because they knew they ministred those things of which they spake not to themselves nor to the people of their owne times but for us unto whom the treasuries of the riches of God in Christ were more fullie to bee opened therefore they taught according to the dispensation of the Holy Ghost who hath so from time to time opened the fountaines of knowledge unto his Church and hereafter will as the holy Church shall be able to receive it This glorious truth then being plainely discovered to us in the New Testament let us see with what diligence and faithfulnesse reason that servant of God doth wait on the authoritie of his Lord and how thereby a wee are summoned to hearken unto this truth for although reason could never have found it out yet being taught what the truth of God is herein it joyes to see the necessitie of that truth which it is bound to beleeve But because I have written somewhat to this Argument already which that you misse not I have caused to bee printed at the end of this booke I may be somewhat more briefe herein Onely the reasons I take up here together and adde such other supplies as seeme to be wanting in that treatise § 2. The word Father is taken either personally as it signifies the first Person of the blessed Trinitie with the relation to the Eternall Sonne or else it is spoken essentially of all the three Persons in the Godhead with respect of the creature which is created susteined and governed thereby Of this through his helpe we shall speake hereafter Chap. 13. but first of the first person of the holie Trinitie The Greeke Churches by the authoritie of the Apostle Heb. 1.3 for the severall distinctions of the Persons in the Godhead hold the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hypostasis which wee from the Latin call a Subsistence or severall substantiall being by it selfe But the Latin Church turned it Persona from an old word Persola because it meanes one onely being intire of it selfe for Solus is of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is whole in it selfe and entire with all the parts but yet is Persona a title of honour given unto men alone for they define it to be Rationalis naturae individua substantia that is an individeable substance of a reasonable nature and from thence it is translated to God and Angels A Person then of the holy Trinitie is an incommunicable subsistence in the Divine nature These words have their ground in the holy Scripture to which in this great Article of our faith wee must ever have recourse by reason of the many and strong heresies that have beene thereabout Trinitie Triunitie or a threefold being in one hath ground in that Text which is in Matthew 28.19 Goe teach all Nations baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Sonne and of the Holy Ghost But certaine it is that in our Baptisme wee bind our faith and allegiance unto God alone So 1. Iohn 5.7 There are three that beare witnesse in heaven the Father the Word and the Spirit and these three are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 one thing or one being By subsistence understand a substantiall or essentiall being not comming to or being in the Deitie by chance It answers to the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is different from substance nature being or the like termes that signifie any common or universall being for an Hypostasis meanes a peculiar being wherein the common nature is wholly and entyre as I said before and will say untill you understand mee For example the whole nature or being of man is understood in that word Man and so the Angelicall nature in that word Angell but Peter or Gabriel meane that particular person in which the common being is whole and entyre I meane so as that there is nothing essentiall in the being a man or Angell whereof Peter and Gabriel are not partakers essentially so wee understand the difference The being or essence of the Godhead is one individuall most simplie absolutelie and substantiallie one which infinite and undivideable being of the Godhead is yet neverthelesse in everie Person entyre and wholly so that nothing of the essentiall being of the Godhead is in one which is not in the other And therefore Iustin the Martyr and from him Damascen Dialect Cap. 66. and after them our sound Doctors of all sides agree that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or a subsistence is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that manner of being proprietie or reall relation which belongs to every one Person in the Holy Trinitie You may here not unfitly note the difference of these words Being Substance and Subsistence Being is that which is common to all things that are The word Substance properlie doth not so much import the verie inward being as that respect which it hath to the accidents that are therein Subsistence signifies that speciall manner of being which belongs to substances that are actually being If you will enquire further you may see what Thom. Aquin. hath writ hereto in Sent. lib. 1. Dist 23. qu. 4. or if you will the Introduct to log Sect. 4. Incommunicable that is peculiar proper or belonging to one alone so that one cannot be another The divine Nature is used 2. Pet. 1.4 and here meanes that being or substance wherein all the three Persons are essentially one and the same One God One I say not compounded or made of the three Persons but One most simple and perfect being in all the three Persons of the Godhead Now the name of a Father is most poperly given unto God the first Person of the Trinitie for of him is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all fatherhood of the families both in heaven and earth Ephes 3.15 because
alone which hath infected all hath beene the onely hinderance of all this good 4. The holy Scripture shewes the truth of this in Iob 14.4 Who can bring a cleane thing out of uncleannesse not one And Psal 51.5 Behold I was shapen in iniquitie and in sinne hath my mother conceived mee Rom. 5.12 By one man sinne entred into the world and death by sinne and so death passed upon all men for that all have sinned Ephes 2.3 Wee are all by nature the children of wrath And this is that taint of originall sinne which being bred in every mans bones will never out of the flesh And concerning actuall sinne you may reade those Scriptures which are cited by S. Paul Rom. 3. They are all gone out of the way they are altogether become filthie there is none that doeth good no not one c. from v. 9. to 18. CHAP. XVIII That there is a restoring of Man to a better life and further hope than that from which our parents fell BVt if the whole world be thus become guiltie before God is it for this end that the whole world may bee subjected to eternall death God forbid but as sin hath abounded unto condemnation so hath the grace and righteousnesse of God abounded much more unto everlasting life for as by the offence of one judgement came upon all men to condemnation so by the righteousnesse of one the free pardon came unto all men for justification unto life See Rom. 5. Chap. Therefore lest man at the sight of his owne perfections should sinne through pride unrecoverably as the devils it was permitted that Adam should sinne as hee did that a way might bee made for the justice and mercie of God to bee manifest and that man at the sight of his sinne might be humbled before his Creator and so received to grace The whole world then being liable to the justice of God by that sinne of our first father as hath beene shewed now it remaines in this place to prove that there is a possibilitie to returne to God in whose favour and acceptance onely is life and happinesse And for the more cleere proofe hereof let us first lay this sure foundation that all the workes of God and all the possibilities in the creature are knowne to him from all eternitie Secondly that to doe well and right and to withstand sinne and the temptations of the devill requires a positive strength and grace in the heart of man which grace man cannot take unto himselfe because no creature can be partaker either of being or of strength or any good but onely so far forth as it is imparted thereunto and where the want of strength is the effect of that want on all occasions must needs appeare So that since Adams fall man being not onely deprived of that strength to resist sinne which Adam had but also infected with a naturall corruption and inclination to sin which they call concupiscence man hath no helpe in himselfe to helpe himselfe upon which grounds the reason will follow thus If there be not a possibility of the restoring of man into the favour and grace of God from which hee fell by his sin then could not the justice of God be without great iniquity and injustice Let him be mercifull that we speake according to the manner of men that is according to that reason and understanding which he hath given unto men for the manifestation of his glorie and grace For if God in the infinity of his wisdome foreseeing that man being created would sin and yet would create him and for his sin utterly cast off the whole race of mankinde to destruction neither could any place of mercie bee found with him for which the creature could give him glorie neither could that justice be but with great injustice inasmuch as they that never were should without any desert be created to eternall punishment and they that had done the least sinnes nay they that had done neither good nor ill as they that die in their infancie should bee shut out to eternall death aswell as they that all their life time had followed all manner of sinne with greedinesse So also all the commandements of God tending to the amendment of life and all his threatnings and promises should be invaine So also all the endeavours of holy and devout men who through his grace strive to the masterdome of their owne wickednesse and all the constancie of them who have suffered for the profession of his truth and service should be unrewarded So vertue should have no advantage over vice in the difference of the reward But all these things are impossible therefore there is a restoring of man to that favour and grace of God from which he was separate by his sinne 2. If there were not a restoring of mankinde to that estate from which he is fal'n then the sin of man a finite creature should be more powerfull to the destruction of the worke of God who made man to everlasting life than the power wisdome of God should to the upholding of the creature in that estate wherein he created it So ill and sin things not being shold have preheminence for mischiefe above an infinite power and goodnesse for glorie and happinesse But this is impossible therefore as by sinne there was a generall wrack of mankinde so it is necessarie that there be a generall restoring powerfull and sufficient for the sinnes of the whole world avayleable and effectuall to all that beleeve it and shew the fruit of their faith by their strife against sinne and doing such good workes as God hath created that we should walke in them 3. Faith hope charity temperance and all other Christian and morall vertues are the worke of Gods Spirit in man who of himselfe is not able no not to thinke a good thought But it is impossible that the Spirit of God should worke in vaine or to no end in the heart of man to beleeve the forgivenesse of his sinnes and to hope for everlasting life c. or that God should not accept his owne worke in his creature which is ever for the good of the creature Therefore there is a restoring of man to those hopes of happinesse which he had lost 4. The continuance of the world and the creatures therein by a being of infinite power wisdome and goodnesse must bee to an end exceedingly good therefore there is a restoring of man that the effect of that goodnesse may appeare in his everlasting life and happinesse for if the continuance of the world bee for the multiplication of mankinde onely for satisfaction of the divine justice upon mankinde for his sinne then should it bee necessarie that the world were everlasting that the everlasting justice might receive everlasting satisfaction but so the greater power of the Creator in the longer continuance of the world should bee for the greater affliction and hurt of the creature so the infinitie of his power should bee
infinitely distant from his mercie and pitie the effect of his goodnesse toward his creature so he should have made the creature and the continuance thereof because he hated it not because hee loved it But all these things are impossible and against the dignities which wee have before proved to bee in God one infinite being Ergo. §. 1 From hence also it will appeare that the restoring is to an estate of further happinesse than the continuance of that naturall life in which and unto which Adam was at first created For if the advantage in the recoverie were not greater than the losse was by the sinne then had the sinne beene permitted to no end then had the losse been sustained in vaine and all those afflictions which mankinde hath ever since endured should be without recompence in the reward But it is impossible that God should permit sinne in man and the punishment thereof afflictions and death onely to set man in the same state wherein he was before for that had been to no end at all it had beene in vaine to suffer his owne justice to bee violated in vaine to give his Sonne to die onely to restore man to that state which hee had lost wherein hee might have been kept and all these inconveniences saved Therefore the recovery is with a superexcellencie of glorie and happinesse far above that which Adam lost 2. It is the glorie of the wisdome of God out of the greatest ill to bring the greatest good The greatest ill which the devill by sinne could bring upon man was the losse of his worldly life and happinesse and to make him liable to the wrath of God and so to eternall death therefore the infinite mercy and wisdome prepared so powerfull a remedie against this poyson of the old Serpent that the life and happinesse in this world was changed to that which is to be in eternitie in the heavens with an exceeding weight of glory which no words can utter neither can it come into the heart of man to conceive And this with that assurance of the favour and love of God in Christ from which neither height nor depth nor principalities nor powers nor things present nor things to come shall ever bee able to separate us Rom. 8.38.39 CHAP. XIX That the restoring of Man to the favour of God could not be by any meanes that was in man nor by any one that was man alone WHat hast thou O man which thou hast not received and if thou hast received that which thou hast of grace alone whereas thou could'st claime nothing of duty what is that merit of thine either of condignity or of congruity for which thou canst challenge either reward or acceptance is there not a bond of dutie and thankfulnesse to him of whom thou did'st receive it And if man have received of God his whole being and whatsoever he hath of outward blessings or inward graces how can hee give any thing to God which is not his owne 1 Chron. 29.14.16 So that whatsoever a man can doe which may seeme pleasing to God yet when hee hath done all hee must acknowledge himselfe an unprofitable servant because hee hath done onely that which hee ought Luke 17.10 But being besides in danger of the judgement of God both for his originall and actuall sinne shall hee bring for his ransome ten thousand rivers of oyle or the fruit of his body for the sinne of his soule Mic. 6.7 Oh madnesse of merit and satisfaction where are those workes of supererogation that treasurie of the Church by the pedling and sale of which that purple whore hath lived in pleasure and glorified her selfe But see the reasons of the conclusion 1. Every offender against an infinite justice must in justice either make an infinite satisfaction or else indure an infinite punishment But no finite creature either man or Angell can make an infinite satisfaction so then there is no returne to the favour of God by the mediation either of man or Angell 2. Where an endlesse debt is still increased there no payment can bee lookt for But man by his originall sinne being infinitely indebted doth still increase the debt more and more by his actuall transgression Therefore from man no amends can bee lookt for 3. No creation can bee without an infinite power as it hath beene prooved therefore much lesse can the restoring of the creature being fallen from the estate of Grace For in the Creation there was nothing which hindered the worke of the Creator But in the estate of sinne there is an impediment first in the corruption which is in the understanding and frowardnesse of the will turned away from God Secondly in the concupiscence whereby man is in thralled to the service of sinne c. Thirdly the power of the devill whereto a man is subjected by his sinne Fourthly the Iust sentence and wrath of God The soule that sinneth shall die the death O Man see what thou doest when thou doest sinne Can'st thou flee from thy selfe yet the devill will overtake thee Canst thou escape the devill yet the vengeance of God will surely lay hold on thee Therefore there is no Redemption or hope in him that is man alone 4 No man can pay for another that for which he is indebted himselfe But every man and every other Creature doth owe unto God whatsoever it is or whatsoever it can doe Therefore no man only man can supply toward God the want of another mans service much lesse make satisfaction for his sinne as it is said in the 49. Psal v. 7. None can by any meanes redeeme his brother nor give to God a ransome for him And if the injury were infinite and the satisfaction impossible to be made by a finite creature to which of the Angels shall man turne himselfe And there shall hee finde a further inconvenience For seeing the offence was made by man It is necessary that Iustice seeke satisfaction where the offence was made As an unity in number once broken cannot bee made up by the same parts into which it was broken Objections 1. But you will say a finite Creature cannot doe an infinite deed and therefore cannot commit an infinite sinne thereby to deserve an infinite punishment Answer The sinne is not esteemed according to the littlenesse of the Sinner but the infinity of the sinne is first in regard of Him against whom the sin was that is God whose infinite glory and Iustice was disesteemed therein Then in respect of the good of which man deprived himselfe by his sinne that was life eternall as the Father saith factus est dignus malo aeterno qui in seperimit bonum quod poterat esse aeternum Thirdly in respect of the manly nature dispoyled of grace and glory which nature by the blessing which Adam had received was multipliable into infinite multitudes of men In all which respects that sinne after a sort may well be said infinite 2. But good is more powerfull and active
deserts I find enemies yet will I pray for them Psal 109.4 For seeing we know that if we suffer with Christ we shall also reigne with Him shall we not pray for them that seale unto us the assurance of this hope Therefore shall this be among my chrefest joyes That the drunkards make songs upon me 5. It may further be objected from Iohn 3.17 That God sent not His Son into the world to condemne the world but that the world by Him might be saved And if He came to save the world how shall He judge and condemne the wicked to Hell fire seeing this is contrary to the end of His comming Answer First that is spoken of His first comming onely Secondly it is manifest by the verse before verse 16. that the world in this place signifies onely the faithfull in the world for whose sake the world is and continues For to these only God gave His only Son that they should not perish but have everlasting life And as Christ was once offered for these at His first comming so for these shall He appeare the second time to salvation Heb. 9.28 For the last judgment being but the confirmation of the sentence of their justification by the death of Christ and the putting of them in the actuall possession of those promises that depend thereon their sinnes are so covered as that b there shall not be any remembrance of them in the judgement For the worshippers that are once purged have no more conscience of sinne to their condemnation Hebr. 10.2 seeing the gifts and calling of God are without repentance And therefore as a countrey-man of ours saith well Ames Med Theol Cap. 41 This judgement in respect of the faithfull is essentiall unto Christ as He is the Mediator but in respect of the unfaithfull it is of power onely given Him by the Father not essentiall to His mediation but some way belonging to the perfection thereof because the Father hath committed all judgement to the Sonne Yet let me adde thus much that although the judgement of condemnation be not essentiall to Christ as the Mediator of reconciliation yet He being the great Steward of the house of God it is essentiall to Him as the Son of God to take vengeance without mercy on them that dishonour His Father and despight the Holy Spirit of grace which by the light of their consciences proclaimes their sin unto them which they will in no wise forsake §. 4 Sect. 4 6. The last question is with those mockers that say either in words or by their continuance in their wicked deedes where is the promise of His comming For since the dayes of Henoch who threatned that Iudgement Iud. 14. above 4500. yeeres are passed and yet the world continues and that which hath beene is even that which shall be neither is any thing new under the Sun Eccles 1.9 Moreover though for your reasons against the eternitie of the world Chap. 13. it may seeme the world is not eternall à parte antè but that it had a beginning yet is it not cleare but that it may be eternall à parte pòst and continue for ever in as much as the Creator cannot repent Himselfe to bee the work-master of so glorious a frame So not to continue it in that being which it hath and to doe good unto it as the Psalmist confesseth Psal 104. verse 31. The glory of the Lord shall endure for ever the Lord shall rejoyce in His workes And if all the creature being made was exceeding good Gen. 1. the destroying of so great a good cannot bee but a very great ill which is farre from that goodnesse by which it was created I answere That the Text of Eccles prooves not but that the judgement shall sit at last and the bookes of every mans conscience shall be open that the judgement may be acknowledged to be according to their workes And although the time seems to us to bee prolonged that the number of the elect may bee fulfilled that the patience and long-suffering of God towards the wicked may be manifest for their repentance that the desire of the godly and their longing for His comming may be inflamed Yet to Him the time is determined and can neither be longer nor shorter than He hath appointed onely that comming to judgement hath been proclaimed so long before that in all ages men remembring the judgement might avoid those things for which they should bee condemned So for those reasons wherby you would enforce the continuance of the world for ever it hath beene answered that it is for the greater good to man and the creature which was made for his use that this world should have an end that the creature might be freed from that corruption to which it is subject by reason of his sinne then that it should still continue Neither doth that text of the 104. Psalme prove any thing to the contrary For as the glory of God had endured in eternity before the world so shall it continue when neither the heaven nor the earth nor yet their places shall be found any more Reu. 20.11 And as for that glory of His which is manifest in the creature it shall bee more wonderfull and excellent in that worke of His recreation which the Cabalists call de Mercava when the creature in the world to come shall be brought to glory and be able to consider the super-excellency of His mercy and goodnesse than it is in this worke de Bereshith or state of creation in this present world And if the deprivation of this present being seeme to be ill because the being of the creature was good in the state of creation then the taking away of all this ill and misery which is since come upon the creature by reason of sinne and the restoring of it into an estate of happinesse without comparison better and surer than that wherein it was created must in both respects be a far greater good than either to have created it such as it was or to continue it in the present being Bring hither what you finde in the 18. Chapter § 2. But because it seemes not fully proved unto you that this race and stare of man-kind and the world with him must come to an end take with you a reason or two and thinke on them 1. It hath already beene shewed Chap. 13. that no kind of infinitie either of continuance of power of number c. can belong unto the world or to the creatures therein contained from whence the present doubt is easily assoyled 2. Also it hath beene proved before Chap. 15. that man was created innocent and our miserable experience shewes that wee are now subject to sinne and the punishment thereof death It hath likewise appeared that there is a restoring of man-kind to a better life than that in which man was created which cannot be but in the perfection of the whole man both in body and soule as it will appeare further in
their lives given as a prey Ezechiel Daniel and they that were signified by the basket of good figges Iere. 24.5 were carryed away for their good The Christians likewise were safe at Pella in the destruction of Ierusalem Euseb Ecclesiast hist lib. 3 Cap. 5. So He delivereth from the noy some pestilence Psalm 91.3 c. and in the dayes of famine those that wait on Him shall have enough Psal 37.19 So these things are testimonies unto us both that there shall be a judgement and that the godly shall be saved and the wicked condemned 12 And as if nature if selfe had imprinted the acknowledgment of this judgement in every mans mind so there was never any man c that confessed the resurrection but did withall confesse this generall judgement And therefore though every other Article of our Creed have been impugned by some hereticke or other yet never any gainesayd this I meane since those errours were stilled in the Apostles time See 2 Thess 2.1 2 3. But whether it be that every man acknowledging the justice of God as no man can confesse him to be God whom he doth not beleeve to be just and a rewarder of them that diligently seeke Him Hebr. 11.6 or whether it be that the testimonies of the holy Scripture are so cleare in this point as that they have stopped the mouthes of all heretickes the thing it selfe is most certaine to be as it may appeare by the texts of Scripture already cited and by these also that follow Psalm 9. vers 8. The Lord hath prepared His Throne for judgment He shall judge the world in righteousnesse He shall minister judgment unto the people in uprightnesse And Psalm 50. vers 3 4 5 6. God shall come A fire shall devoure before Him Hee shall call to the heavens from above and to the earth that Hee may judge His people c. Psalm 96.13 The Lord commeth to judge the earth Hee shall judge the world with righteousnesse and the people with His trueth As it is also Psalm 98.9 Eccles. 11.9 Rejoyce ô young man in thy youth c. but know that for all these things God will bring thee unto judgement And Eccles. 12.14 God shall bring every worke into judgement with every secret thing whether it be good or whether it bee ill Reade hereto 2 Pet. 3. Chap. from vers 7. to 15. and Reu. 20. Chap. from vers 11. to the end § 6. Sect. 6 Thus it being manifest that the judgement shall be it must also appeare that our Lord Iesus must bee that judge Whereto though I have said that which may be sufficient at the beginning of the Chapter yet because it is our speciall hope and comfort that He shall be our judge that was our Creator that hath so dearely bought us that hath been our Mediator that doth evermore preserue us from the power of the enemy let us both begin and end with this lest the conscience of our owne sinnes and the remembrance of that fearefull time should cause us not to long for that comming For if God be very terrible in the assembly of His Saints Psalm 89.7 how much more in that gloomy day when He comes to render vengeance with devouring fire before Him and to repay His aduersaries to their face and to passe on them that fearefull sentence that shall d never be reversed and from which there is no appeale But lift up your heads you that are little in your owne eyes and tremble at His words for that is the day of your redemption and God Himselfe will come and save you And because He is God He knowes the secrets of your hearts and sees your reverence and your feare before Him and your acknowledgment of your owne unworthinesse And because He is man and hath had experience of sorrowes and passed under the burden of unjust and cruell judgement and hath for us endured the Crosse and shame that we might be delivered from the wrath to come therefore lift up your heads and receive the reward of your faith and patience and the end of your hopes the eternall saluation of your soules and bodies 1. For if our Lord having suffered such things for us and having overcome in all His sufferings having ascended into heaven to be our continuall intercessor for us should not then give unto us that everlasting life which He hath purchased for us His sufferings and intercession should be altogether in vaine and our faith in Him which He hath wrought in us by His holy Spirit should be utterly void and those promises which Hee hath giuen us in His holy Word should faile of their trueth and performance But all these things are impossible And therefore our Lord Iesus shall come to give reward unto His seruants both small and great Revel 11.18 and to cast out the unbeleevers out of His kingdome 2. In things that are orderly disposed for an end nothing may be omitted of those things that are necessary for the attainement of that end The end of our Lords incarnation and sufferings concernes either God or man Concerning mankind euerlasting life in all happinesse and joy is that great end for which our Saviour was incarnate died and rose againe and shall raise us up at the last day And by His judgement of mercy and compassion on us shall deliver unto us the seisure and possession of that eternall happinesse Therefore our Lord Iesus shall be judge of the quicke and the dead Concerning God it is necessary that in His love to His Father and zeale to His honour Hee take vengeance on them that have offended the infinite justice and despised that mercy and pardon which hath beene offered unto them and still have continued in their sin and followed it with greedinesse Therefore in this respect also our Lord Iesus Christ shall be the Iudge of the quicke and the dead 3. And seeing our Lord Iesus hath undertaken that honourable enterprise viterly to destroy the workes of the devill it is necessary that He leave nothing unperformed which doth belong to the accomplishment thereof Therefore Hee shall judge those Angels which are reserved in chaines of darknesse unto that day and bring upon them that destruction which they sought to bring upon all man-kind And shall also reward those servants of His which have continued faithfull in His service whether they be Angels or men 4. None is so fit to judge betweene two as hee that hath interest in both parties and knowes the worthinesse of them both and that not onely in his understanding but also by his experience of them both But man-kind is to be judged for that which hee hath done contrary or according to the will of God Therefore seeing our Lord Iesus is very God and very man as it hath beene prooved Hee shall be the judge of the quicke and the dead 5. In every orderly and just judgement both the Iudge and the sentence ought to be manifest and knowne to all them that
as homo nata est Shee was borne man Serv. Sulp. ad Cic. So is man often used in English and therefore by the title of the most worthy the whole race of man-kind is here understood So that not onely they which are within the virge of the visible Churches and have the ordinary meanes of faith that is the word and sacraments are comprehended hereby but also such as have not those meanes as they that live in the Countreys of Panims and Gentiles yea and of the Pagans themselues all such as the Lord our God shall call Neither may wee presume to forbid them to come unto God who seeme denied of the outward meanes of knowledge as the deafe the blind the Idiots in as much as God the God of the spirits of all flesh Numb 16.22 can by His Spirit guide the will and informe the understanding as it pleases him Prov. 21.1 See further hereto Note a § 2. n. 4. on Chap. 32. And thus you understand what is meant by men and withall why the Church is called Catholike or Vniversall namely because it holds the number of Gods chosen which have beene or shall be called out from the rest of all the men of the world from Adam unto the last man that shall be borne as this Church confesseth unto Christ Rev. 5.9 Thou hast redeemed us unto God by thy blood out of every kindred and tongue and Nation and people The last circumstance is concerning the predestination of them that are in this Church for seeing none can be glorified but they that are justified in Christ neither can any one bee justified but such as are called and predestinate Rom. 8.30 and seeing that to the infinite wisedome of God all his workes are knowne and determined Act. 15.18 it is impossible that any one can be a member of this Church but onely such as God out of His eternall love hath predestinate thereunto Object But there is one God and Creatour of all Object 1 whose mercie is over all His workes and He hateth nothing that He hath made And therefore it may seeme that all are equally predestinate unto eternall life if all doe equally lay hold thereon Answere As the creature could not cause it selfe to bee So neither being corrupted by originall sinne can it change that being wherein it is See Art Eccl. 10. and seeing God alone doth worke in us both to will and to doe of his owne good pleasure Phil. 2.13 it is not in any man of Himselfe to lay hold on eternall life nor to endeauour any thing thereto no not so much as to will or desire it without the speciall worke of God in him who worketh all things according to the counsell of His owne will Ephe. 1.11 So man though made upright yet being originally corrupted and left to the hand of his owne will cannot cease to sinne And although God permit him to follow his owne wayes yet that permission is no cause of any mans sinne nor puts it any thing in the reprobate why he should sinne But in the predestinate it is not so For he renews them in the spirit of their mind unto sanctification converting their will and making them ready unto every good worke 2. Object Object 2 If then predestination be not of all men unto eternall life and yet that all men are in one and the same state of nature corrupted by the sinne of Adam It may seeme that God did predestinate and chuse out of the masse of man-kind those onely whom He did fore-see that they would bee excellent for their good works and so for their future merits sake adopted them to bee heires of eternall life Answere God is debtor to no man and where hee that gives is no way bound the gift can no way be accounted but onely of his free will that giveth so Predestination hath no other originall but onely the meere free-will of the Almighty God But if our works fore-seene were any cause of our predestination 1. How then could it bee of His mercy onely Rom. 9.16 2. How could it bee according to the good pleasure of His will Ephe. 1.5 3. How were it to the glory of His grace if the worthinesse of our workes foreseene had any right therein Ephe. 16 4. How were our boasting excluded Rom. 3.27 if they were the cause of our happines 5. And if our workes fore-seene be the cause of our predestination then also of all the consequents thereof as of our election calling justification and glorification But this is most false See 2. Tim. 1.9 Therefore also the former 6. Moreover what good workes can bee in man which God Himselfe doth not worke in us as the Prophet saith Esay 26.12 O Lord thou hast wrought all our workes in us 7. If God have created good workes that wee should walke in them and good workes acceptable to God bee found only in them that are predestinate and chosen to life it followes that good workes are fore-seene in us not as the cause but as the fruits and effects of predestination For if they can be no other than the effects of Gods grace in us they cannot be fore-seene as a cause of His grace towards us This objection is laid to them of the Romane Church but as farre as I have any acquaintance with them I find no such thing by them Tho. Aqu. contr Gent. lib. 3. Cap. 163. teacheth the contrary and gives his reasons The grace of God saith hee is an effect of predestination and goes before all humane merit 2. The Divine will and Providence are the cause of all other things For of Him in Him and for Him are all things Neither can it be accounted the doctrine of their Church for in the 7. Can. Sess 6. Cone Trid. where all the causes of the justification of man in the state of Nature are reckoned up efficient finall formall instrumentall the meritorions cause is put onely the suffering of our Lord who thereby made full satisfaction to God and merited justification for us And if wee be justified onely by the merit of Christ and not by any merit fore-seene in us then are we called chosen and predestinate onely in Him through the mercy of God who gratuitò of his owne free will doth wash sanctifie and seale us by the Holy Spirit of promise who is to us the pledge of our eternall inhoritance this is the effect of the Canon Object 3. But how is this Church Catholike or Vniversall if any man be shut out of it Or how is it said by S. Paul 1. Tim. 2.4 That God would have all men to bee saved if there be few that shall enter in at the straight gate Answere The common answere to that text of Timothy is that it is spoken not de singulis generum but de generibus singulorum that is that some of every Nation and degree amongst men shall bee saved not every man of every degree But I suppose that it is rather spoken in respect
the promise of making all things new Rev. 21.5 Es 65.17 2. Pet. 3.13 should also bee of none effect But all these things are impossible Ergo. It is necessary that there be a resurrection of the body and eternall life 12. Neither is the body nor yet the soule for it selfe but both the one and the other that both together may make one perfect man So the perfection and blessednesse of the whole man is more than that which can come onely to one part But if there bee not a resurrection of the body this greater blessednesse is utterly lost so that although the soule bee happie for ever yet the greater blessednesse of the soule and body together suffers eternall privation So the whole should be onely that one part may bee happie so the hope even of the faithfull should bee in vaine and their eternall happinesse onely in imperfection and so the punishment of the wicked But these things stand neither with the justice of God nor the trueth of His promises Therefore the body shall rise againe 13. And because this is our last hope and uttermost comfort in all our calamities and a speciall bridle to restraine from sinne it is fit that upon all occasions you should exercise your selfe to make this conclusion on whatsoever you thinke or whatsoever you heare out of the holy Scriptures For every promise and every threatning therein brings you to this that a reckoning must be given for all that which you have done in the body For if the body with the sences the servants of the soule either for sinne or righteousnesse should not live againe then the divine justice in reward and punishment should be defective but this is impossible The texts that are plaine you will understand by your selfe as that of Moses in Psal 90.3 Thou turnest man to destruction and sayest Returne ye children of men Some are a little further off which yet you may easily bring hither as Esay 38.18 19. The grave cannot praise thee They that goe downe into the pit cannot hope for thy trueth The living the living hee shall Praise thee as I doe this day Therefore the dead shall rise againe For seeing man was made to glorifie God in his body and in his soule and that his end cannot bee frustrate man must live againe that his mercy and justice may be praised both by the good and the bad Iannes and Iambres withstood Moses 2. Tim. 3.8 Therfore Moses Iannes and Iambres must come to judgement For it is a just thing with God to reward you and to punish them that trouble you 2. Thes 1.6.7 And if for your further satisfaction you will reade that which the Fathers have written you may take that which goes under the name of Iustine the Martyr in his questions of the Greekes the oration of Athenagoras concerning the resurrection of the dead Irenaeus lib. 5. cap. 4. c. his arguments for the most part taken from Athenagoras Theophilus lib. 1. ad Autolycum Origen 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 lib. 2. cap. 10. Reade also that excellent booke of Tertullian of this argument where you may see what his judgement is concerning the qualities of the bodies being raised and some objections to the contrary answered This Article the Iewes both Cabalists and Talmudists hold so firmely against that heresie of the Sadduces that they say That he can have no part in the world to come which denies the resurrection Lib. Sanhedrin Cap. Halet Neither is there any man that lives and sees the continuall course of nature in the digestion of the food that can deny that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the body of which Pythagoras and after him Plato speakes in Phaed. and most of all Saint Paul 1 Cor. 15.39 § 3. Yet so fearefull is the judgement which follows after the resurrection unto the Atheist that he searches all corners of cavills against it you shall take some of them with their answeres as I find them in Tertullian and Thomas Aquinas contr gent. lib. 4. cap. 80 and 81. Object 1. And first it is said 1 Cor. 15.50 Object 1 That flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdome of God Answer Till by grace it is made spirituall So not the substance of the flesh is there understood but the present estate thereof with the lusts and wicked desires which if a man doe mortifie by the Spirit he shall live Rom. 8.13 So in Iohn 6.63 The flesh profiteth nothing understand the fleshly-minded man which of himselfe knoweth not the things of God and those things which belong to sanctification and eternall life But concerning the being or substance of the flesh or body of man seeing it was tempered by Gods owne hand fashioned according to His jmage made the seat of the soule so excellent a being by which and with which the soule workes whatsoever it doth seeing in the holy Baptisme the flesh is wash't that the soule may be cleane seeing in the holy Supper the Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ is received by the mouth that the soule may be strengthened in God seeing our bodies are the members of Christ the temples of the Holy-Ghost and He dwells in them seeing our bodies are not our owne but Gods 1 Cor. 6. seeing they are the instruments of holinesse in all the workes of mercy in prayers in wholesome counsell almes deeds in indurance of sorrowes in fasting in imprisonment in martyrdome in death it is impossible that God should leave forlorne the workemanship of His owne hands the closet of His owne breath the masterpiece of His cunning the heire of His riches and the Priest of His religion and service to dwell in eternall death that He should not heale the wounds and restore those dead to life which have beene wounded and slaine for His sake And though the flesh in it selfe be weake and through sinne utterly lost yet seeing our Lord came to seeke and to save that which was lost and that He Himselfe hath borne our sinnes it is impossible that either the merit of Christ for us or the mercy and goodnesse of God should be in vaine Therefore the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together Esay 40.5 and from one Sabboth to another shall all flesh come and shall worship before me saith the Lord Esay 66.23 And I will powre out of my Spirit upon all flesh Ioel 2.28 And seeing the flesh hath these holy promises therefore the flesh shall rise againe that as both the flesh and the soule have sorrowed so they may both reioyce together Object 2. But the Prophets speake of the resurrection darkely and in figurative speeches onely Object 2 Answer Not onely but oftentimes so as they cannot be otherwayes meant And though they use figurative speeches yet no figure is taken but from somewhat that is properly and truely such Moreover the words are often such as admit no other meaning as in Iohn 5.28 29. The houre is comming in