evil eye and rapacious hands than what is given to any other use or service whatsoever yea though it were to the service of Vanity Luxury or any other Lust he could not but heartily with that some of the Protestant Churches would seriously lay it to heart and approve themselves more and more Reformed in the cleansing and purifying themselves from any the least stain of Sacriledge from which yet so tempting is this Sin with the seeming advantages it presents they that call themselves Catholicks are not free neither yea even he that is peculiarly styl'd Rex Catholicus is wont to be accursed and excommunicated at Rome on Maundy-Thursday for detaining part of S. Peter's Patrimony as they are pleas'd to call it And it is as well known how much he abhorr'd any kind of Sacrilegious profanation of what is Relatively holy whether Times Places or Things Sacred as Bona Ecclesiastica the Sacred Revenues and the like and that in more than a few Discourses he hath largely asserted the Distinction between Things Sacred and Common and that therefore what is Sacred and consequently is become God's by a peculiar right should be used appropriately and with a different respect from things Common such an appropriation and discriminative usance of Holy things being a just testimony and expression of the respect and honour due unto Almighty God whose Name is called upon them The like Zeal he had particularly for Gods House his Worship and Service therein that all things might be done there 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 decently for the honour of God and to edification for the benefit of our Neighbour Which two Rules of the Apostle excellently score out the way and exactly contain even in external and indifferent things what course is to be taken as the Religious and Prudent Mr. G. Herbert hath stated the case who hath also in his Poem The British Church elegantly and fully express'd the very same Sentiments that our Author had touching the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of Gods House the keeping the mean between Superstition and Slovenliness between the painted looks lascivious gaudiness of the Church upon the Hills and the careless neglected dress of some Churches in the Valley Both our Author and this Good man were after Davids heart the man after Gods heart who thus breath'd forth his affection Domine dilexi decorem Domûs tuae and thought it unworthy that the Ark of God should dwell within curtains when as he himself dwelt in an house of Cedar nor was he of so ungenerous a disposition in Religion as to serve the Lord his God of that which did cost him nothing So agreeable is it to a Soul that is established with a religious and free spirit as well as it is agreeable to the Light of Nature That God the Best of Beings should be served and honoured with the Best Which was shadowed out of old in the Sacrifices and Drink-offerings In the Peace-offerings wherein God did feast with the people the Fat upon the inwards c. was Gods Mess his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Food All the Fat is the Lords and was therefore to be burnt upon the Altar and offer'd unto the Lord. Nor were the Drink-offerings to be of any sort of Wine but of Shecar the best Wine Num. 28. Nor had our Author herein any ambitious design to please men and thereby to advantage himself in the world as some that less knew him were apt rashly to impute unto him Time-serving for this just right was done to him in print by one better acquainted with him though of a different perswasion That he had many years before the Times did relish those Notions declar'd himself to the same purpose instancing in his Concio ad Clerum which particularly treated De Sanctitate Relativa Veneratione Sacra and to the same effect he had express'd himself in an early Specimen or first Draught of his Thoughts which he presented to the R. R. Bishop Andrews after he was newly made Fellow of Christ's Colledge 44. With his zeal for God's honour and Church decorum we may not unfitly joyn his mindful observance of the Apostle's Precepts Honour the King and Obey them that have the rule over you and submit your selves for they watch for your Souls as they that must give account and herein he shew'd himself a true Son of peace as we observ'd before and shall now farther add That he had so great a value and so hearty an affection for the Peace of our Ierusalem and in order thereunto for submitting to every ordinance of man for the Lords sake whether to be King as Supream or unto Governours as those that were sent by him that when he received notice of the evil that was then breaking forth out of the North to apply that of Ieremy chap. 1. who elsewhere complains in the same note Behold the noise of the bruit is come and a great commotion out of the North-country upon this intelligence of wars and rumours of wars his righteous and meek Soul was grieved within him and in a Letter of his written to a Friend within less than three months before his death he thus express'd his resentments concluding in a strain almost Prophetical If the Scotish business be no better than you write I pray God both they and others have not cause to curse the time at length when such courses were first resolved upon and that in the event the cause of Religion pretended be not advanced thereby as it is in Germany and no better I am firmly perswaded there will never come good of it God avert his judgments and make them wiser His reverential regard to the establish'd Government and Discipline of the Church was well known to them that knew him and they that knew not his Person may know it from his Writings these testifie of him how great a Lover he was of Unity Peace all good and decent Order and whatsoever might make for the beauty and strength the honour and safety of the Protestant Reformation both here at home and abroad as considering that those Characters of a Carnal and Unspiritual temper Envying and Strife and Divisions and the consequents thereof Confusion and Disorder would at once both weaken and dishonour the Protestant Cause and occasion the Grand Enemy to triumph who seeing much of his work done for him by those who would seem to be most averse from him while they bite and devour one another claps his hands saying Aha Aha Our eye hath seen it So would we have it But our Author thought it his becoming duty to study Obedience for peace and good order's sake and not to expose the Protestant Interest to danger and ruine 'T is true There were not wanting even in his days some who breaking themselves off from the Great Congregation were apt to say Lo here is Christ Behold he is in the secret chambers as if
erect Churches that is Houses for their Religion under a Pagan government in Persia and could they not under the Roman Empire The other Objection is from the Authors of Apologies against the Gentiles Origen against Celsus Minutius Felix Arnobius and Lactantius who when the Gentiles object Atheism to the Christians as having no Templa no Arae no Simulachra these Authors are so far from pleading they had any such that they answer by way of Concession not only granting they had none but which is more affirming they ought not to have and condemning the Gentiles which had Celsus saith Origen ait nos Ararum Statuarum Templorúmque fundationes fugere Origen denies it not but gives the reason Templorum fundationes fugimus quia ubi per Iesu Doctrinam comperimus quemadmodum colendus sit Deus ea nos evitamus quae sub pietatis praetextu opinione quadam impios reddant qui à vero per Iesum cultu aberrando falluntur qui utique solus est veri cultûs via veréque illud profatur Ego sum Via Veritas Vita Minutius Felix when Caecilius objects Cur occultare abscondere quicquid illud quod colunt magnopere nituntur Cur nullas Aras habent Templa nulla nulla nota Simulachra nisi illud quod colunt interprimunt out puniendum est an t pudendum brings in his Octavius answering thus Putatis autem nos occultare quod colimus si Delubra Arâ—s non habemus Quod enim Simulachrum Deo fingam cùm si rectè existimes sit Dei homo ipse Simulachrum Templum quod ei exstruam cùm totus hic mundus ejus operâ fabricatus eum capere non possit cùm homo latius maneam intra unam AEdiculam vim tantae Majestatis includam Nonne melius in nostra dedicandus est mente in nostro imo consecrandus est pectore Arnobius In hac consuéstis parte crimen nobis maximum impietatis affigere quòdneque AEdes sacr as venerationis ad officia exstruamus non Deorum alicujus Simulachrum constituamus ant formam non Altaria fabricemus non Aras He denies none of this but thus answers Templa quaerimus in Deorum quosusus aut in cujus rei necessitatem aut dicitis esse constructa aut esse rursus aedificanda censetis c. Lactantius condemns the Gentiles for having them Cur inquit oculos in coelum non tollitis advocatis Deorum nominibus in aperto sacrificia celebratis Cur ad parietes ligna lapides potissimùm quà m illò spectatis ubi Deos esse creditis Quid sibi Templa quid Arae volunt Quid denique ipsa Simulachra Who would now think that Christians had any Churches or Houses of worship in these Authors days This Objection indeed looks very big at the first sight but it is no more but a shew and we shall deal well enough with it For we are to take notice that these Authors all four of them lived and wrote within and after the Third Seculum was begun and the eldest of them Minutius Felix after Tertullian Origen after him yea why do I say after the Third Seculum was begun or within it whenas two of them Arnobius and Lactantius lived and wrote rather after it was ended and in the beginning of the Fourth Arnobius in the time of the Persecution of Diocletian Lactantius somewhat after him for he was his Scholar and dedicates his Institutions adversùs Gentes to Constantine the Great Now then remember what Authorities and Testimonies were even now produced for the Christians Oratories all that Seculum throughout not Probabilities only but such as are altogether irrefragable and past contradiction This they seem not to have considered unless they dissembled it who so securely urge these passages to infer a Conclusion point-blank against evidence of Fact As for example I will alledge no more but what is out of possibility to be denied or eluded Had the Christians no Oratories or Churches in Gregory Thaumaturgus his time Had they none in S. Cyprian's Had they none in the days of Dionysius Alexandrinus Had they none when Galienus released their To 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Had they none in those Halcyonian days whereof Eusebius speaks when the multitude of Christians was grown so great that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the ancient Edifices were no longer able to contain their Assemblies but that they were fain to build new and spacious Churches in every City from the foundations Had they none when the Edict of Diocletian came forth for demolishing them For all these were before that either Arnobius or Lactantius wrote Let those therefore who put so much confidence in these passages tell us before they conclude how to untie this knot and then shall say something What then will you say is the meaning of these passages and how may they be satisfied and this sâ—ruple taken off I answer The Gentiles in these Objections had a peculiar notion of what they called a Temple and these Fathers and Authors in their disputes with them answer them according unto it For they defined a Temple by an Idol and the inclosure of a Diety not of the Statue or Image only but of the Demon himself that is They supposed their Gods by the power of Spells and Magical consecrations to be retained and shut up in their Temples as Birds in a Cage or the Devil within a circle that so their suppliants might know where to have them when they had occasion to seek unto them and that for such retaining or circumscribing of them in a certain Place an Idol was necessary as the Centre of their collocation Thus much Origen himself will inform us in those his disputes against Celsus as in his 3. Book pag. 135. Editionis Graeco-lat where he describes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Temples and Idols to be places where Demons are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 enthroned or seated either having preoccupied such places of themselves 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or brought thither by certain Ceremonies and Magical invocations do as it were dwell there And again Lib. 7. pag. 385. in fin telling us that Demons 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sate in those kind of Forms and Places viz. Idols and Temples 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. either lodged and confined thither by Magical consecrations or otherwise having preoccupied the places of themselves where they are delightfully fed and refreshed for so the Gentiles thought with the nidor and savour of the Sacrifices I shall not need to produce the rest of his sayings to the same purpose let him that will consult him further in the end of that 7. Book pag. 389. and a little before pag. 387. in fin To this confining of Gods in Temples that so those that had occasion to use their help might not be to seek but know where to find them that also
touching the Necessity and Contingency of these Subordinate Causes That the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Coeli does beget in man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Temperamenti and this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Temperamenti begets 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ingenii in the way of direct and natural subordination But that here the Chain is broken off because 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ingenii does beget or produce 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Actionis in man only contingently and without any necessity And thus è contrà That 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Coeli does beget 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Temperamenti and the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Temperamenti begets 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ingenii This naturally as before But that this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ingenii should beget 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Actionis this is from no necessity because it is in mans power and liberty who is naturally ill-disposed yet through the emprovements of Art and especially by the Grace of God to become good or better as the Divine Goodness shall minister opportunity Which is as much as can be said in so few words and might determine the question to all judicious and knowing men concerning the power of the Stars and those Celestial Influences into and upon this inferior world where their Operations are genuine and natural and properly efficient and where they have their stint and their Nè plus ultrà nothing at all to do unless by a remote disposition which is properly no Cause at all This is enough also to vindicate Man born to Liberty and to command the Stars from that supposed vassalage whereunto the jugling Astrologers of our days would fain subject him and cast the credulous world into a Trance of blindness to believe Lies and Follies and gross Vanities for very Truth 16. But leaving the hot pursuit of Astrological fancies the busie idleness of some even to their old age he applied himself to the more useful study of History and Antiquities particularly to a curious enquiry into those Mysterious Sciences which made the ancient Chaldeans Egyptians and other Nations so famous tracing them as far as he could have any light to guide him in their Oriental Schemes and Figurative expressions as likewise in their Hieroglyphicks not forgetting to enquire also into the Oneirocriticks of the Ancients Which he did the rather because of that affinity which he conceiv'd they might have with the language of the Prophets to the understanding of whom he shew'd a most ardent desire His Humanity-studies and Mathematical labours were but Initial things which he made attendants to the Mysteries of Divinity and though they were Preparatives as he could use them yet were they but at a distance off and more remote to his aim for he had more work to do before he could be Master of his design A well-furnish'd Divine is compounded of more Ingredients than so For Histories of all sorts but those especially which concern the Church of God must be studied and well known and therefore he made his way by the knowledge of all Histories General National Ancient and Modern Sacred and Secular He was a curious and laborious searcher of Antiquities relating to Religion Ethnick Iewish Christian and Mahumetan the fruits of which studious diligence appear visibly in several of those excellent Treatises which have pass'd the Press particularly in his Apostasie of the Latter times The Christian Sacrifice his Discourses upon Daniel his Paraphrase and Notes upon S. Peter's Prophecy and in his great Master-piece those elaborate Commentaries upon the Apocalyps where the Fata Imperii i.e. the Affairs of the Roman State there predicted are to admiration explain'd out of Ethnick Historians and the Fata Ecclesiae illustrated with no less accuracy out of Ecclesiastick Writers His Writings best speak his eminent skill in History yet it may not be amiss to superadde upon this occasion the Testimony of a very judicious person and one of long and inward acquaintance with Mr. Mede and his studies we mean that forementioned ancient Collegue and Consocius of his Mr. W. Chappell who before his going into Ireland was heard thus to express himself That Mr. Mede was as judicious a man in Ecclesiastical Antiquities and as accurately skilled in the first Fathers of the Church both Greek and Latin as any man living 17. Unto Histories he added those necessary attendants which to the knowledge of the more difficult Scriptures must never be wanting viz. an accurate understanding of the Ichnography of the Tabernacle and Temple the Order of the Service of God therein performed as also of the City of Ierusalem together with an exact Topography of the Holy Land besides other Iewish Antiquities Scripture-Chronology and the exact Calculation of Times so far especially as made for the solving or clearing of those difficulties and obscure passages that occur in the Historical part of Scripture which the vulgar Chronologers have perplex'd and the best not fully freed from scruple And how great his abilities were for the Sacred Chronologie may appear to omit other proofs from that clause in a Letter of the then Archbishop of Armagh to him I have entred upon the Determination of the Controversies which concern the Chronology of the Sacred Scripture wherein I shall in many places need your help That great and laborious Work which this equally Learned and Humble Prelate was now entred upon was his Chronologia Sacra wherein he intended to confirm those dispositions of Years and accounts of time he had set down in his Annals of the Old and New Testament lately published by him This Work had exercised his industry for many years and he labour'd in it to the last minute of health he enjoy'd but he lived not to finish it Yet that the fruit of all his travels herein might not die with him so much as he had elaborated was published by the Learned Dr. Barlow Provost of Queen's-Colledge in Oxford whose great care and industry herein did deserve in this place an express celebration For such useful Labours justly entitle a man to the honour of being a Benefactor to the world 18. By the fruit of these Studies particularly by his happy Labours upon the Apocalyps and Prophetical Scriptures what honour our Author purchas'd abroad besides what he gain'd at home among men studious in this way and therefore capable of judging is evident by the many Letters sent him from Learned men in several parts expressing their own and others high esteem of his Writings As the above-mention'd Primate of Ireland Archbishop Usher who also acquainted Mr. Mede with the great esteem that another Archbishop in Ireland had for his accurate labours upon the Apocalyps The judicious and moderate Paulus Testardus Pastor of the Reformed Church at Blois in France who was so highly pleas'd with his Clavis Commentationes Apocalypticae as to take the pains amidst his other pressing labours to translate them into French designing the printing of them for the benefit of his Countreymen
but I fear that the maintenance thereof by Fallacy or Falshood may not end with a blessing Thus did he upon occasion express himself with a just reflexion upon some who pretending to Policy did prudently as they thought advise That for the better securing and advancing some Doctrines men should be born in hand that they were Fundamental and accordingly were to receive them as such But our Author who was a great lover of Truth endeavouring to judge and speak of every thing according to the truth of the thing and who always valued the Iacob-like Plainness and Simplicity of spirit a free Openness and Singleness of heart in any faithful Christian as an high Perfection look'd upon all such Practices with the greatest disgust and abhorrence and so will every one who is an Israelite indeed in whom there is no guile And yet though it be a most unworthy it has been nevertheless a too common and usual artifice among some of the divided Churches in Christendom to heighten Speculative Doctrines and such as are less weighty and sometimes doubtful and uncertain into Fundamental Articles especially when it is for the advantage of the party that they should be deem'd such But it had been infinitely better if the Moderation of the Church of England as to Articles of Religion had been imitated in other Churches for want whereof elsewhere Ex Religione Arsfacta est cui deinde consequens fuerit ut ad exemplum eorum qui turrim Babylonicam aedificabant affectatio temeraria rerum sublimium dissonas locutiones discordiam pareret as Grotius complains upon a like occasion in his De Veritate Relig Christ. l. 6. We might also briefly observe another Instance of his Prudence and that was as to the choice of the fittest and most seasonable Time for communicating Truth to others And indeed this was a point of Prudence which he would advise should be most carefully consider'd as being in his esteem half the work otherwise some Useful Notions might because they were Uncommon be rashly condemned before they were well considered and understood and there are none more ready to condemn than the half-learned and half-witted which are not the less numerous nor the less confident sort of men who stear not as he observed by Reason but by another Compass viz. Faction or Interest or Affection c. So true is that of the Comoedian Homine imperito nunquam quidquam injustius Qui nisi quod ipse facit nihil rectumputat Whereasmen of the greatest Reason deepest Iudgment and noblest Accomplishments are also men of the greatest Civility Candour and Ingenuity 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 34. And now having advanced thus far in the Description of his Vertues we may not silently or slightly pass over his Charity a Grace that was very eminent and conspicuous in him and so it ought to be in every Christian it being the peculiar Badge and Livery of Christ's Disciples as well as their indispensable Duty and necessary Qualification for their doing good here and their receiving a Reward hereafter And therefore to allude to that in 1 Cor. 13. although our Author had great skill in Tongues and had the gift of Prophecy and understood Mysteries and was also able to remove Mountains of Difficulties so as to make all become plain and smooth particularly as to the understanding of hard passages in the more Mysterious and Prophetical Books of H. Scripture yet notwithstanding all these Accomplishments had he not had Charity he had been nothing better nay he had been just nothing according to those two observable expressions in that fore-named Chapter 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 His Knowledge if alone might have been apt to puff him up but his Charity which accompanied it both disposed and enabled him to edifie and build up others in the most holy Faith in sound Wisdom and Understanding His Charity was of the right kind and could have approved itself such to those that were capable to judge thereof by all those Fifteen Properties mentioned in that Chapter as the sure Marks and proper Characters of the genuine Christian Charity But to insist upon so many particulars would be an unreasonable Excursion and an unmerciful usurping upon the Reader 's Patience And besides it is not very needful some of those Properties having been more or less spoken to already in some foregoing Sections To pretermit therefore his most endearing Sweetness and obliging Affability in converse with others his absolute Inoffensiveness either in words or behaviour towards all men his rare Communicativeness and singular Alacrity in imparting what he knew to those who were of a soberly-inquisitive Genius all which were the fair Fruits and excellent Effects of the true Christian Love we shall select only Two more General Instances whrein he express'd his Charity towards men for of that we are speaking and they were 1. His careful concealing or lessening of others Failings and Imperfections So far was he from making the worst of every thing as some do who without making any favourable allowances are extream in marking what is amiss And 2. His free relieving of the Necessitous So far was he from hiding his face and shutting up his bowels from the poor and needy in the day of their distress He was so perfect in the first instance that he would 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 speak evil of no man much less would he watch for their halting as one that rejoyced in iniquity Nay at such a distance he was from that evil but epidemical humour that he chose rather to speak well of those in whom he had only Hope for a ground of commendation Nor did he only conceal and cover the faults of others even of his Enemies as far as the circumstances would bear and in case it were not a greater Charity sometimes to disclose them but he would also avoid the company of such as he had observed to please themselves or thought to tickle ill-minded persons in passing unworthy censures upon other men And thus sometimes by silence sometimes by rebuke and when it was convenient by withdrawing from the place and company he declared he would have no share in the sin of those who endeavoured to shew their uncharitable wit in either disparaging the parts or vilifying the performances of others As for himself when his own name was concern'd he was signally Patient even another Moses for Meekness vir mitissimus he knew how to bear personal disrespects with an untroubled spirit nobly and meekly and thus according to that of Siracides he glorified his Soul in Meekness An instance whereof appears in his civil Reply to the Strictures of Dan. Lawenus which were not without some angry and unhandsome reflexions upon our Author The man had a long time been poring upon the Apocalyps and seem'd to envy him the praise due to him for his Apocalyptick Labours fearing belike that thereby Mr. Mede would increase and his
other yet can they not outwardly be discerned asunder by the eye for because they are incorporated into one external body the outside or visible dimensions which are seen are one and the same But when the Refiner comes and severs them then will each metall appear in his own out-side and his own proper colours whereby they are easily discerned a sunder one from the other Such must the State of the Church needs be when an Apostasie shall rise out of the bowels thereof and such do we affirm was the State of the Church of Christ in that great prevailing Apostasie from which we are separated viz. The purer metal of the Christian body was not outwardly discernible from the base and counterfeit while one out-side covered them both but when the time of refining came them was our Church not first founded in the true Faith God forbid but a part of the Christian body newly refined from such corruptions as Time had gathered as Gold refined begins not then first to be Gold though it began then first to be refined so our Church began not a hundred years ago to be a Church though then it first began to be a Reformed Church And is this any thing more than that which besel the Iewish Church in her frequent Apostasie Was the seven thousand that had not bowed their knees to Baal a visibly-distinguished Society from the rest of the body of Israel were they such as were outwardly known unto others who were not of their Communion nay were they known one to another yea to Elias himself I think no man will easily affirm it Yet were they a distinct Society joyned in the Communion of the same true Worship and in that respect separate from the rest of that Idolatrous body yet nevertheless as far as there was any thing which was found yet remaining for the external Regiment and Ceremonies it is most certain that they could not but be to the eyes of the world of one external body with the rest as receiving the same Circumcision and living under the same Priests and Ceremonies so far forth as any soundness in either of them remainded Nay do not our Adversaries themselves in their good mood grant us as much as we have said though it be because they cannot will nor chuse as is the Proverb For it is a thing chiefly to be considered and remembred in this Quarrel between them and us about the Visibility of the Church it is I say to be considered That when all granted and pleaded on both parts is well examined the point of difference between them and us is only this They hold the glorious Visibility of the true Church to be in present and the overshadowing of the light and eclipsing of the glory thereof under Antichrist to be yet to come at which time of his being in the world they grant and affirm more of the eclipsing and overshadowing of the true Church than we do for our hearts He that reads their conceits of Antichrist shall easily find this to be true For they hold that then the publick exercise of Christian Religion saying of Mass and all shall utterly cease until Antichrist's days be out this is their Tenet We on the contrary hold this clouding of the Church's visibility to have been already and the greatest glory in probability or at least some part thereof to be yet to come So that we both agree That in the great Apostasie the Churche's visibility and glory should cease but we say that this Apostatical time hath been already they say it is yet to come we say that that time was to last many ages they say that when it comes it shall be but three single years and a half Why then are they not ashamed to choke us with this Argument of the Churche's Visibility and glory as though the Church could never be without it when yet themselves confess that there is a time to come when the case will be such that the same Argument may be alledged against the true Church though it were theirs as is now alledged against ours This is too great partiality Seeing therefore the whole Controversie lies in this Whether the Churches great Apostasie be already past or in being or yet to come It is a great deal the quicker course for them and us to examine the condition and quality of both Religion by the Scriptures and not to distract our selves with every point of differences for every Error is not a part of this Apostasie But let us examine our Religion in that point alone wherein the Scripture it self places and limits the quality of this Apostasie namely that it should be Spiritual Fornication or Idolatry for Babylon is not called the Lier of Babylon the â—yrant of Babylon the Heretick of Babylon the â—urtherer of Babylon but the Whore of Babylon It is very like indeed that as Whores have commonly many other foul qualities so may the Spiritual Whore have also Yet as every ill quality of a Whore is not a part of her Whoredom no more is every Error of the Spiritual Whore how gross soever a part of Spiritual Fornication Let us therefore examine her by the Mark which God sets upon her and by that Abomination for which only in a manner if we observe the Scripture God did use to punish and wrathfully complaâ—n of his old people Israel though no doubt they had many other corruptions besides but had they been faithful in that one God could have winked at many other As we know a Husband if his Wife be faithful and true to him in that point which so nearly toucheth his jealousie he will the easier bear with other shrewish conditions Now if the Church of Rome be not an Idolatress or a Spiritual Whore prostituting her self to other gods to stocks and stones and many ways breaking her Faith to her one Lord and Mediator Christ Iesus by committing fornication with I know not how many other Mediators there never was a Whore in the world And certainly if the Church of Rome may herein be justified the Church of Israel had but hard measure to be condemned who could as truly plead that she never forsook the true God altogether only she would worship him in Calves and such Images as other her neighbour-Nations used to do and that though she was for variety yet she reserved the chief place for her Iehovah and in all other respects could as well as the present Roman Church excuse her practice in that kind And yet we know how she is branded by the Prophets for a Whore and not a simple fornicating Whore but an Adulteress and is threatened to be proceeded with and judged as those that break wedlock and shed bloud are judged to have bloud given her in fury and jealousie And such an Example of God's fury and jealousie hath he made them to all the world as no other people how great soever their Idolatries have ever equall'd or come near their sufferings
the true company of Believers could live under this woful state of the visible body and not be extinguished and by what Signs and Arguments we may fully conclude it was there all that time though I have given some taste of this last already yet you shall hear more of them both anon as my Text will give me occasion In the mean time I must tell you That there needed not all this stir about Visibility if our Adversaries were ingenuous For the difference between them and us is not so much about the point of Visibility as about the point of Time They hold the glorious Visibility of the true Church to have continued from the beginning until this present and the overshadowing of the light and eclipsing of the glory thereof under Antichrist to be a thing yet to come and when it comes they and the Fathers too say as much of the eclipsing of the Church as we do for our hearts For then they say the use of the Sacraments should cease no Eucharist no Mass no publick Assemblies yea all Ecclesiastical Iurisdiction should be extinguished Is not here enough Now on the contrary we hold the Clouding of the Churche's Visibility to have been already and a great part of the Glory thereof to be yet to come Both agreeing in this that in that fatal Apostasie the Churche's Visibility and Glory should cease But we say that time hath been already they say it is yet to come we say that that time was to last many Ages they say when it comes it shall be but three single years and a half Why then are they not ashamed to offer to choak us with this Argument of Visibility and Glory when themselves confess there is a time to come when the same Argument would be as well used against their supposed Catholick Church as it is now alledged against ours This is too great partiality Seeing therefore the whole Controversie lies in this Whether the Churche's fatal Apostasie be already past or yet to come it is a great deal the quicker course for them and us not to wrangle about Visibility but to examine the condition and quality of both Religions by the Scripture where we have as S. Peter speaks in the foregoing Chapter a most sure word of prophecy whereunto we shall do well if we take heed as to a light shining in a dark place And this shall suffice to have observed concerning the matter in general A General Defection or Corruption of the Church by false Teachers and damnable Heresies NOW I come to the Circumstance of this general description of the Churche's Apostasie namely The manner how these false Doctors should bring in these damnable Heresies which is not Openly but Privily For so the word here used for bringing in signifies who privily shall bring in damnable Heresies Not so that it should be observed and espied at the first but so by degrees and with such a mask of plausible pretences and good meaning that the Church was overwhelmed before it knew what it ailed Even as some diseases steal so upon a man that he never knew he was sick until he see himself past recovery and then perhaps he will begin to call to mind though too late at what time and by what means this sickness grew upon him This Observation therefore will furnish us with an Answer to another Objection of our Adversaries For if say they the Catholick visible Church altered so much from the Primitive sincerity of Faith and Christian worship as we say it did how comes it then to pass that it was no more observed and opposed by those who then lived For it is strange so great an alteration should find admittance with the general consent of all I answer out of my Text That it came in privily and so was not observed nor opposed till it was too late and that the Apostate Faction was grown too strong for the sound A fire we know if it be espied at the first may be easily smothered and quenched but if the cry rise not till all be on a flame no man then dare come near to help it So was the case here And yet in some Corruptions somewhat sooner espied than the rest as Worshipping of Images Transubstantiation the Pope's Godlike Supremacy the establishing of these was not without great opposition even to the changing of States and Kingdoms But here also the opposers came too late for these Heresies also were at the first brought in so privily that the Faction was not espied till it was grown too strong to be over-mastered by opposition THUS having seen the General part of this description both for the matter false Teachers and damnable Heresies and also for the manner they should be privily brought into the visible Church I come now to the Special part of the Prophecy which tells us in particular What kind of Heresies these should be of what sort which should so generally over-cloud the Church of Christ. And this our Apostle here sets forth by a twofold mark First They should be such as we read to have been amongst the Iewish people under the Old Testament There were saith he false Prophets among the people even as there shall be false Teachers among you This is a good ear-mark having so infallible history as is the story of the Bible to know it by For if this of Christendom were of the same stamp with that of Israel it cannot lie long hid from us which that it may not let us confine our discovery to these two heads First Let us learn what Heresies were those which the false Prophets of Israel brought in amongst them as we find it recorded in the Scripture for thither our Apostle sends us In the second place We will examine whether the Heresies of Christendom brought in by the false Doctors of Babylon be not exactly like them To begin with the first I cannot find in the Old Testament any other Heresies there recorded as brought in by false Prophets but only Idolatry and the worshipping of other Gods besides the true and living God I doubt not but the Iews had other Errors but this is that which so great a part of the Bible is taken up in forewarning of in relating of and in declaiming against it This is that we are sure the false Prophets had a hand in of the rest nothing that way is recorded This is that Moses forewarned the people of Israel of Deut. 13. 1. If there arise among you a Prophet or a dreamer of dreams and give thee a sign or a wonder 2. And the sign or the wonder come to pass whereof he spake unto thee saying Let us go after other gods which thou hast not known and let us serve them 3. Thou shalt not hearken to the words of that Prophet c. Here you hear of the false Prophets and what should be their Doctrine viz. Let us go serve other gods and worship them But if you ask whether
from this ancient Terumah of Thanksgiving and Prayer which I will briefly point at and so make an end 1. This Offering of the Fathers was before the Consecration the Mass is after 2. This was of bare and naked Bread and Wine the Mass of the Body and Bloud of Christ. 3. This was an Heave-offering of Praise and Prayer the Mass is an Offering of Expiation or a price of redemption for the quick and dead 4. This was an act of all the Faithful but the Mass is of the Priest alone DISCOURSE LII REVEL 3. 19. As many as I love I rebuke and chasten Be zealous therefore and repent THESE words are part of one of the Seven Epistles sent by Christ unto the Seven Churches in Asia namely an Exhortation unto the Church of Laodicea whose disease was Lukewarmness and want of Fervency in the matter of Religion and that accompanied with Security arising from presumption of Gods love through the abundance of his outward blessings bestowed upon them vers 17. That therefore which they abused as an Argument why they might be secure as being God's darling and so much beloved in my Text is retorted unto them as an Argument of fear of some Chastisement near unto them and even hanging over their heads For those whom God loveth he chastiseth Certain therefore it was that they should erelong feel the Scourge of God unless they should timely rouze themselves out of their lazy devotions out of the hateful and dangerous temper of Lukewarmness unless they should blow up the fire of Zeal to love and worship God with all earnestness and fervency in sum unless they would amend that grievous fault by Repentance for As many as I love saith Christ I rebuke and chasten be zealous therefore and repent It belongs not much to our purpose to enquire Whether those seven Epistles concern historically and literally only the Churches here named or Whether they were intended for Types of Churches or Ages of the Church afterwards to come It shall be sufficient to say That if we consider their Number being Seven which is a number of revolution of Times and therefore in this Book the Seals Trumpets and Vials also are seven or if we consider the choice of the Holy Ghost in that he taketh neither all no nor the most famous Churches then in the world as Antioch Alexandria Rome and many other and such no doubt as had need of instruction as well as those here named if these things be well considered it will seem that these Seven Churches besides their Literal respect were intended and it may be chiefly to be as Patterns and Types of the several Ages of the Catholick Church from the beginning thereof unto the end of the World that so these Seven Churches should Prophetically sample unto us a sevenfold Temper and Constitution of the whole Church according to the several Ages thereof answering the Pattern of the Churches named here For as in the course of Man's life diversity of ages hath diverse manners and conditions so was it to be with the Church of Christ Yea and as some Diseases are in regard of predominancy proper unto some men and not to others so is it with the Church All of these with their praises if good and remedies if evil are pourtrayed in these Seven Epistles unto the Seven Churches Nay not only the whole Church but even particular Churches have their Ages Manners and Conditions answerable unto the whole Body They have likewise their Infancy Youth Virility and old age with their several Constitutions Conditions and Diseases The first age and spring-time of both like unto Ephesus full of patience labour tolerancy and zeal The last and old age like unto Laodicea in abundance of all external things Lukewarm and neither hot nor cold That which the Poet saies of the disposition of old men Nullus Senex veneratur Iovem being more true of Churches as they grow old their zeal grows cold also So that in this regard my Text will not be unseasonable if the Times wherein we live be either the Last times as most men think or near upon the Last as no man will deny Howsoever since no Condition Temper or Disease is so proper to any one Age but that it is found sometime more or less in all So may this of Lukewarmness be with us what time soever of our age it be and therefore no question but we may in Laodicea as in a lively Example clearly read our own state and learn wisdom Without any longer Preface therefore I come unto the Words themselves which contain First God's rule Those whom he loves he rebukes and chastens Secondly Our and his Churches duty We must be zealous and repent Lastly The Connexion of these two Because those whom God loves he will rebuke and chasten for their sin especially Lukewarmness We must therefore be zealous and repent To begin with the first God's rule As many as I love I rebuke and chasten The words need no great explanation the two last I rebuke and chasten are rendred for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the first whereof 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I rebuke notes a reproving and convincing by Argument the second 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I chasten notes such a correction as Fathers give their children not to hurt them but to amend them which we use to call a discipling a punishment of discipline intended ad correctionem non ad destructionem So that the meaning is Those whom I love if after I have long reproved them and convinced them of sin by my Word and Ministers all be but in vain then I use to chastise them with my rod to afflict them with some scourge of my discipline even as a Father doth the child whom he loveth Come we therefore to the Observations these words afford us The first whereof is That God chastises his children out of love and for their good For all the actions of God towards those he loves must needs be out of love and whatsoever he doth out of love must be for the good of those he loveth Indeed men for want of wisdom often do out of love that which hurts as the Proverb is they kill with kindness But with God it is otherwise He wants not skill to know what is best for his beloved as men do and therefore as certain it is that his chastisements shall end with our profit as we are sure they spring from our sins The ignorance of this point makes many to err and with the friends of Iob to judge amiss of God's love and hate towards men But we must know that God hath two sorts of arrows Arrows of judgment and Arrows of mercy the first he shoots against those he hates Psal. 7. 13. Ps. 144. 6. the other he shoots at his own even those whom he loves and therewith he wounds them that he may cure them and such as these may apply to themselves the words of the Spouse in the
accustomed times of prayer there they used to resort immediately to this Coenaculum and there having celebrated the Mystical banquet of the Holy Eucharist afterwards took their ordinary and necessary repast with gladness and singleness of heart For so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 may be rendred for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and not domatim or per domos house by â— use as we translate it and so both the Syriack and Arabick render it and the New Testament as we shall see hereafter elsewhere uses it Moreover we find this Coenaculum called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the second verse of the same Chapter And for the phrase of Breaking of bread we know that the same a little before in the 42. verse is wont to be understood of the Communion of the Eucharist and by the Syriack Interpreter is expresly rendred by the Greek word Fractio Eucharistiae both there and again chap. 20. verse 7. according to that of S. Paul The bread which we break c. why should it not then be so taken here If it be then according to the Interpretation we have given this will also follow That that custom of the Church to participate the Eucharist fasting and before dinner had its beginning from the first constitution of the Christian Church A thing not unworthy observation if the Interpretation be maintainable of which let the learned judge It was an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Coenaculum also where the Disciples at Troas came together upon the First day of the week to break bread or to celebrate the holy Eucharist Acts 20. 7. where S. Paul preached unto them and whence Eutychus being overcome with sleep sitting in a window fell down 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from the third story or lost and was taken up dead Such a one seems also to have been the Place of the Churches assembly at Caesarea Cappadociae by that which is said Acts 18. 22. viz. That S. Paul sailing from Ephesus landed at Caesarea where 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 having gone up and saluted the Church he went down to Antioch Note he went up to salute whereby it should seem that the place where the Church was assembled was some upper place See Ludovic de Diea upon this place where he tells us that the AEthiopick translator so understood it rendring descendit Caesaream ascendit in Domum Christianorum i. Ecclesiam salutavit eos abiit Antiochiam Such as these I suppose were the Places at first set apart for Holy meetings much like to our private Chappels now in great mens houses though not for so general an use In process of time as the multitude of Believers encreased some wealthy and devout Christian gave his whole House or Mansion-place either whilest he lived if he could spare it or bequeathed it at his death unto the Saints to be set apart and accommodated for Sacred assemblies and Religious uses At length as the multitude of Believers still more encreased and the Church grew more able they built them Structures of purpose partly in the Coemeteries of Martyrs partly in other publick places even as the Iews whose Religion was no more the Empire 's than theirs had nevertheless their Synagogues in all Cities and places where they lived among the Gentiles In the First Century THIS being premised I proceed now as I promised to shew That there were such places as I have described appointed and set apart among Christians for their Religious Assemblies and Solemn address unto the Divine Majesty through every one of the first three Centuries particularly and that therefore they assembled not promiscuously and at hap-hazard but in appropriate places unless Necessity sometimes forced them to do otherwise For the Times of the Apostles therefore or First Century in particular which ends with the death of S. Iohn the Evangelist I prove it first from the Text I premised where is a Place mentioned by the name of Ecclesia not to be despised or prophaned with common banquettings at least from the authority of the Fathers who by their so expounding it give us to understand they thought it not improbable that there were such Places in the Apostles times For the further strengthening of this kind of argument Know also that Eusebius in that Discourse of his where he endeavours to prove that the Essenes or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which Philo describes were the first Christian Society of the Iewish Nation at Alexandria converted by S. Mark amongst other Characteristical notes as he calls them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or badges of Christianity however he were mistaken in his conclusion or inference alledges this for one of the first That they had sacred Houses called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Worshipping-Places that is Churches His words are these Deinceps ubi eorum domicilia quaenam essent descripserat nempe Philo de Ecclesiis in variis locis exstructis sic loquitur Est in quoque agro aedes sacra quae appellaâ—ur 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vel 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in quo illi ab aliis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 soli agentes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sanctae religiosaeque vitae mysteria obeunt N. B. nihilque eò vel cibi vel potionis vel aliarum rerum quae ad corporis usum necessariae sunt important sed leges oracula à prophetis divinitus edita hymnos aliáque quibus scientia pietas erga Deum crescat perficiatur Afterwards reciting some other customs and particular observances of their Discipline as their frequent assemblies in their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to hear the Scriptures read and interpreted the distinction of places for men and women Their manner of singing Hymns and Psalms by a Precentor the rest answering 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the extremes of the verses The Degrees of their Hierarchy like those of Deacons and Bishops and some other the like he concludes Quòd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That Philo wrote these things as one having knowledge of the customs at the beginning delivered by the Apostles is manifest to any one But whether that be so manifest or not this I am sure is That Eusebius believed the Antiquity of Churches or Oratories of Christians to have been from the Apostles times yea to have been an Apostolical ordinance or else he mightily forgot himself to bring that for an argument or badge to prove Philo's Essenes to be S. Marks Christians than which otherwise there could not be a stronger argument to evince the contrary to what he intended Now who could know this better than Eusebius who had searched into and perused all the Writings and Monuments of Christian Antiquity then extant for the compiling of his Ecclesiastical History and his Commentaries of the Acts of Martyrs now perished Add to this what â— a little before observed out of Bede De locis sanctis of a Tradition That the Church of Sion was founded by the
of Menander cited by Iustin Martyr in his De Monarchia Dei hath reference 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 No God pleaseth me that gads abroad None that leaves his house shall come in my Book A just and good God ought To tarry at home to save those that placed him According to this notion of a Temple these Authors alledged grant that Christians neither had any Temples no nor ought to have forasmuch as the God whom they worshipped was such a one as filled the Heaven and the Earth and dwelt not in Temples made with hands And because the Gentiles appropriated the name of a Temple to this notion of encloistering a Deity by an Idol therefore the Christians of those first Ages for the most part abstained therefrom especially when they had to deal with Gentiles calling their Houses of worship Ecclesiae or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whence is the Dutch and our English Kurk and Church in Latine Dominica 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is Oratories or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the like seldom 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Templa that appellation being grown by the use of both sides into a name of distinction of the Houses of Gentile Superstition from those of Christian Worship Which that I affirm not upon bare conjecture these Examples will make manifest First that of Aurelian the Emperor before alledged in his Epistle to the Senate De Libris Sibyllinis inspiciendis Miror vos Patres sancti tamdiu de aperiendis Sibyllinis dubitâsse libris perinde quasi in Christianorum ECCLESIA non in TEMPLO Deorum omnium tractaretis And that of Zeno Veronensis in his Sermon de Continentia Proponamus itaque ut saepe contingit in unum sibi convenire diversae religionis diem quo tibi ECCLESIA illi adeunda sint TEMPLA He speaks of a Christian woman married to a Gentile That also of S. Hierom in in his Epistle ad Riparium saying of Iulian the Apostate Quòd Sanctorum BASILICAS aut destruxerit aut in TEMPLA converterit Thus they spake when they would distinguish Otherwise now and then the Christian Fathers use the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Templum for Ecclesia but respecting the Temple of the true God at Ierusalem not the notion of the Gentiles That this Answer is true and genuine I prove first Because the Gentiles themselves who objected this want to the Christians neither were nor could be ignorant that they had Oratories where they performed their Christian service when they were so notoriously known as we saw before to the Emperors Galienus and Aurelian and a controversie about one of them referred unto the latter when also the Emperor's Edicts flew about in every City for demolishing them Why therefore do they object in this manner but because for the defect of something they thought thereto necessary they esteemed not those Oratories for Temples Secondly Because in that dispute between Origen and Celsus it is supposed by both that the Persians and Iews were as concerning this matter in like condition with the Christians neither of both enduring to worship their Gods in Temples Hear Origen speak Lib. 7. p. 385 386. Licet Scythae AfrÃque Numidae impii Seres ut Celsus ait aliaeque gentes atque etiam Persae aversentur TEMPLA ARAS STATVAS non candem aversandi causam esse illis nobis and a little after Inter abhorrentes ab ARARVM TEMPLORVM STATVARVM ceremoniis Scythae Numidae impiÃque Seres Persae aliis moventur rationibus quà m Christiani Iudaei quibus religio est sic numen colere Illarum enim gentium nemo ab his alienus est quòd intelligat Daemonas DEVINCTOS haerere CERTIS LOCIS STATVIS sive incantatos quibusdam magicis carminibus sive alià s incubantes locis semel praeoccupatis ubi lurconum more se oblectant victimarum nidoribus Caeterùm Christiani homines Iudaei sibi temperant ab his propter illud Legis Dominum Deum tuum timebis ipsi soli servies item propter illud Non erunt tibi alieni Dii praeter me Non facies tibiipsi simulacrum c. Lo here it is all one with Origen to have Templa as to worship other Gods as it was a little before with Minutius Felix his Octavius if you mark it to have Delnbra Simulacra Yet certainly neither Celsus nor Origen whatsoever they here say of the Persians and Iews were ignorant that the Persians had their Pyraea or Pyrathaea Houses where the Fire was worshipped though without Images or Statues also that the Iews had both then and also formerly their Synagogues and Proseuchae in the places and Countries where they were dispersed and once a most glorious and magnificent Temple or Sanctuary Ergo by Temples they understand not Houses of prayer and religious rites in the general but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Places where Demons were incloistered by the position of an Idol or consecrated Statue And here let me add because it is not impertinent what I have observed in reading the Itinerarium of Benjamin Tudelensis the Iew namely that he expresses constantly after this manner the Oratories of Iews Turks and Christians by differing names those of the Iews he calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. Houses of assembly or Synagogues the Turkish Mosquees 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Houses of prayer but the Christian Churches because of Images yea that renowned Church of S. Sophie it self he called always 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 BAMOTH the name of the Idol-Temples in the Old Testament which we translate High-places This I note for an example of that proneness in Religions of a contrary Rite thus to distinguish as other things so their Places of worship by diversity of names though they communicate in the same common nature and use Thirdly That the Answer I have given to these objected passages is genuine I prove Because some of these Authors acknowledge elsewhere that Christians had Houses of Sacred worship in their time As namely Arnobius whose words were as pressing as any of the rest yet in the self-same Books acknowledges the Christian Oratories by the name of CONVENTICULA or Meeting-places by that name endeavouring I suppose to express the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The place is about the end of his fourth Book adversùs Gentes Quòd si haberet vos saith he aliqua vestris pro religionibus indignatio has potiùs literas he means the Poets absurd and blasphemous fictions and tales of their Gods hos exurere debuistis olim libros demoliri dissolvere Theatra haec potiùs in quibus infamiae numinum propudiosis quotidie publicantur in fabulis of this their scurrilous dishonouring of their Gods upon the Stage he had spoken much before Nam nostra quidem scripta cur ignibus meruerint
away from Israel and v. 3. it is said in general and Israel joyned himself to Baal-Peor Again in the same Chap. v. 9. it is said Neither let us tempt Christ as Some of them also tempted and were destroyed of Serpents and verse 10. Neither murmure as Some of them also murmured this Some was a great Some indeed even all the people save Moses Ioshua and Caleb whereof is said Numb 14. 1. And ALL the Congregation lifted up their voice and wept and v. 2. And ALL the Children of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron and the WHOLE Congregation said unto them Would God that we had died c. wherefore they were as largely punished all of them dying in the wilderness Ioshua and Caleb excepted These places of many will suffice to shew that the word SOME in my Text intends not to extenuate the number of Apostates as implying they should be but Few but only shews they should not be All For where the Apostates are but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Some there Some also are not Apostates but excepted from the common Defection wherewith the rest were miserably overwhelmed The Observation therefore which this TINE ' 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 SOME affords us is That the true Church of Christ was never wholly extinguished nor the light of his Gospel ever quite put out no not in the greatest darkness that ever was to overwhelm it By the true Church of Christ I understand That holy Society and Company of Believers which as they accord and are joyned together in one common Faith of all Divine Truths needful to Salvation so are they also free from the fellowship of such enormous abominations and mortal errors as destroy and overturn it This is that Society whereof by the grace of Almighty God we glory to be the members This that Society which in the Primitive times grew and flourished This that Society which when the times foretold of the Churche's Eclipse came and the Great Apostasie had overspread the face thereof was indeed much impaired indangered and obscured but never was totally extinguished but continued even under the Iurisdiction of the Man of sin yea in Babylon it self where he had this Throne For doth not Christ at length say Apocal. 18. 4. Come out of her my people How could they come out thence unless they had been there or how should Antichrist sit in the Temple of God 2 Thess. 2. 4. unless God's Temple were even there where Antichrist sate As a few living embers in a heap of dying ashes As a little Wheat in a field overgrown with weeds As the Lights of the heaven in a firmament overcast with clouds As a little pure Gold in a great mass of dross and mixed metal such was the faithful Company of Christ in the Apostate body of Christendom the Virgin-Church in the midst of Babylon But will our Adversaries say This is not sufficient to make you the true Church of Christ because some of you have always been but you must prove also that you have alwayes visibly been For the true Catholick Church must not only never have been interrupted or extinguished but it must have been a Society visibly known unto the world and not as Embers in the ashes but as a burning and shining Flame But this Objection deserves no answering because our Adversaries howsoever they would dissemble it do but play upon the present advantage which they think their own Church hath in this point above ours Otherwise when they forget the contention they have with us and are in a calmer mood they can be pleased to deliver other doctrine which if they would be so ingenuous as always to remember we needed not such a stir about the point of the Churche's Visibility For the difference between them and us hereabout is not so great as they would make it seem They themselves and the Fathers also teach That when Antichrist cometh the Visibility of the Church shall be eclipsed nay they affirm more than we usually in that case require For then they say the use of the Sacraments shall cease no Eucharist no Mass no publick Assemblies yea all Ecclesiastical Iurisdiction shall be extinguished But here lies all the difference they hold the glorious Visibility of the true Church to have continued from the beginning unto this present and the overshadowing of the Light and Eclipse of the glory thereof under Antichrist to be yet to come We on the contrary maintain the clouding of the Churche's Visibility under the Man of sin to have been already and some part of the Visible splendor thereof to be yet to come Both agreeing in this that in the fatal Apostasy the Churche's Visibility and Glory should cease but we say That time hath been already they say It is yet to come we say That time of darkness was to continue many ages they say When it comes it shall last but three single years and a half Seeing therefore the whole Controversie lies in the point of Time Whether the Churche's fatal Apostasie be already past or yet to come it would be much the shorter and quicker course for both them and us to decide this Controversie To examine the condition and quality of both Religions by the Holy Scripture where we have also as S. * Peter speaks a most sure word of Prophecie whereunto we shall do well if we take heed as to a light shining in a dark place Now though this Answer be sufficient enough for the Objection of our Adversaries yet for the better understanding and clearer insight into the matter questioned we will further consider Whether and in what manner or measure our Church may be said to have been Visible during the prevailing Apostasie and in what respect again it was not Visible and in both agreeable to the State of the true Church under the frequent Apostasies of Israel First therefore we must know that by A Visible Christian Society in this Question is meant A Society or Company of Christian Believers joyned together in one external Fellowship and Communion of the same publick Profession and Rule of Faith Vse of Sacraments and Ecclesiastical Iurisdiction For these make the outward form and as it were shape of the Church whereby this Society is discernable from other Societies of men So that a Society by this outside severed and distinguished from other Societies is a Society visible and conspicuous to other Societies of men The question therefore is Whether that holy Society of Believers before mentioned who accorded together in one Common Faith with us of all Divine Truths needful to Salvation and kept themselves free from such enormous abominations and mortal errours which we now disclaim as utterly annihilating that Common Faith Whether such a Society as this has been in all Ages joyned and distinguished by such a common out-side from other Companies either of men in general or Christians in special or in shorter and perhaps plainer terms thus Whether the Society of men of our
Exue calceamenta tua de pedibus tuis locus enim in quo stas terra sancta est 2. Of Propriety when a thing being dedicated or consecrated to the Divine Majesty the propriety thereof becomes so his as it is no longer ours For thus to be God's is to be his in a peculiar manner and not as other things are For otherwise it is true The whole Earth is the Lord's and the fulness thereof the world and those that dwell therein Of this Holiness any thing is capable that is capable of peculiar Relation unto God Persons Places Time and Things and is that which the Greek properly calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Latine Sacrum whence we say Loca sacra Tempora sacra Personae sacrae Res sacrae Loca sacra as the place above-said where God communicated himself to Moses as Temples and Churches in which N. B. both these relations concur both of Divine Presence and Divine Propriety for it is both God's House as being dedicated to his Name and the place also where God is wont to be present with the Sons of men in his Word and Sacraments Tempora sacra as the Lord's Day and other holy and Festival times Personae sacrae as our Priests and Clergy Res sacrae any thing besides these which we offer and dedicate unto God If any shall except that in the Old Testament indeed this Holiness had place but in the New there is no such thing I would encounter him thus If any place under the Gospel may be more peculiarly the place of Divine Presence than every place if any thing under the Gospel may be more peculiarly God's than every thing Then hath this kind of Holiness place in the New Testament as well as in the Old Sed verum prius Ergó By this you may judge what I think of D. B. his assertion That Temples were holy only in the holy use of them If his meaning be they are holy no longer than during such use would he say that Ministers are sacred Persons only whilst they are officiating in preaching praying and celebrating the Sacraments and at other times nothing differing from Lay-men would he say that the Lord's Day is Holy only for the time that Divine Service continues and no longer Par enim est ratio I confess I heard one not long since preach so in our S. Mary's Pulpit you may guess to what end But he was not aware that by this assertion he blew up the foundation of his own Tenet concerning the reverence due to Churches and Altars Eadem enim est ratio Loci Temporis sacri quia utrumque sanctum est neutrum prophanandum sed omnino sanctè habendum est i. e. prout convenit sanctitati But it is ordinary with men who make passion and studium partium the rule of their Iudgments thus to cut the throats of their own principles Here therefore I would desire you to consider and weigh this Proposition That a Place may be said to be Holy in respect of relation to Divine Presence not only where God is in such peculiar manner actually present but where he is wont to be yea or had wont to be therefore Daniel prayed toward Ierusalem etiam cùm jam dirutum concrematum jaceret Templum neque Arca foederis ampliùs ibi exstaret yea even there where he hath once been in some illustrious and extraordinary manner Witness Mount Tabor which only for the glorious Transfiguration of Christ thereon having never had any other Divine relation is by S. Peter 2 Epist. 1. 18. termed the Holy Mount This voice saith he which came from Heaven we heard when we were with him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Be it so that Sacraments are no longer Sacraments than in the use of them yet are they Holy as long as they are for that use 2. Whether 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 may be rightly called Solium Christi I expected no scruple at that speech For if the Holy Table be Sedes corporis sanguinis Christi why not Solium Christi what is Solium but Sedes nempe Regia And is not the Body of Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hence Antiquity called the Holy Table 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the place where it stood 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The first in that place you mention for Altars standing in the middle of the Quire It is in a Panegyrick Oration made at the dedication of a sumptuous and magnificent Church built at Tyre in the days of Constantine recorded by Euseb. Hist. Eccl. lib. 10. cap. 4. Editione Graeco-lat p. 282 283. the structure and garnishing whereof the Panegyrist there at large describing and amongst the rest the Seats erected in the Quire for the honour of the Clergy he adds 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and having placed the most Holy Altar in the midst 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that it might not be accessible to the multitude 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he compassed it about reticulati operis cancellis ex ligno fabricatis adeò ad summum solertis artificii elaboratis ut mirabile intuentibus praebeat spectaculum That of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for the place where the Holy Table stood is to be found in Theod. Histor. Eccles. lib. 5. cap. 17. in that famous story of Theodosius and S. Ambrose where Theodosius after his absolution coming up into the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and there staying after he had offered to receive the holy Eucharist as he used to do at Constantinople for this was at Milane S. Ambrose admonisheth him to go out 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. Quoniam interiora ista ô Imperator solis sunt Sacerdotibus pervia reliquis verò omnibus inaccessa neque tangenda These two places I thought not unfit to cite that it might appear how far the conceit of the Ancients and ours differ in this point 3. How in the New Testament God or Christ our Lord can be said to have his Throne or place of Presence in our Churches and Oratories when they are not by Divine as were the Tabernacle and the Temple in the Old Testament but Humane appointment and without any such Symbolum as the Ark there was I answer To erect or set apart a Place for Divine Worship and the exercise of the Rites of Religion is juris naturae and approved by God from the beginning It began not with that Tabernacle or Temple made by God's special appointment to Moses Abraham Isaac and Iacob erected places of Divine Worship wheresoever they came and pitched their Tents without any special appointment from God tanquam nimirum ex recepta consuctudine generis humani Noah buâ—lt an Altar so soon as he came out of the Ark. Iacob vowed a Place for Divine Worship by the name of God's House where he would pay the Tithes of all that God should give him Moses Exod. 33. 7. before the Ark and that glorious Tabernacle were yet made pitched a Tabernacle for the same purpose without
Dominus docuit offerri in universo mundo purum Sacrificium reputatum est apud Deum acceptum est ei c. The evidence of this was such as forced Hospinian Hist. Sacrament lib. ◠c. 6. to say Iam tum primo illo seculo viventibus adhuc Apostolis magis huic Sacramento quà m Baptismo insidiari ausus sit Daemon homines à prima illa forma sensim adduxit and Sebastianus Francus Statim post Apostolos omnia inversa sunt Coena Domini in Sacrificium transformata est Now Sir if I was loth to pass so harsh a censure as some do upon the First Fathers and Church Christian and could not be perswaded but that which the Catholick Church from her infancy conceived of the Eucharist should have some truth in it and accordingly endeavoured to find out that ratio Sacrificii therein such as might be consonant both to the Principles of the Reformed Religion and unto the Scripture of the New Testament yea perhaps found therein not quoad rem only but quoad nomen also did I merit to be irrided for having found out I know not what Mystery of a Sacrifice now-a-days a Mystery in my sense to all the Christian world When all men are at a seek and one cries I think I have found it shall he be chidden therefore Sir I can remember when you understood me more rightly and interpreted my freedom with much more candour To tell you true therefore I am somewhat suspicious lest the air of Cambridge did you some hurt But let that pass That which I wrote to you concerning this Mystery especially in my Second Reply was for the most part little other than Testimony of matter of Fact If it were false testare de mendacio if true cur caedor Yet one thing more It is no time now to slight the Catholick consent of the Church in her First ages when Socinianism grows so fast upon the rejection thereof nor to abhor so much the notion of a Commemorative Sacrifice in the Eucharist when we shall meet with those who will deny the Death of Christ upon the Cross to have been a Sacrifice for sin Verbum intelligenti There may be here some matter of importance Lastly You may remember how much I desired to be spared from any farther writing or answering upon this argument because I knew it was a nice and displeasing theme and such as I should have no thanks for Now I see I am become a Prophet and that when I looked not for it And thus I have done with this business which hath made me so much work The Censure I gave of the Declaration of the Palsgrave's Churches was not in respect of the matter but the manner of handling as the term of laxe shewed And before I had seen it I heard that Censure given of it by one that wishes the Palsgrave's Churches and their Doctrine as well as I know any Is I erred in my judgment there is an end I use not to be often faulty in rashness that way And this shall teach me to be more wary hereafter If I had had any suspicion of misconstruction I could in this kind have held my tongue with as much ease as any man What my Lord of Armagh's opinion is of the Millennium I know not save only that I have not observed him neither when I gave him my Synchronisms nor in discourse thereabout after he had considered them to discover any opposition or aversation to the Notion I represented thereabout The Like Mr. Wood told me of him after he had read his papers nay that he used this complement to him at their parting I hope we shall meet together in Resurrectione prima But my Lord is a great man and thinks it not fit whatsoever his opinion be to declare himself for a Paradox yet the speeches I observed to fall from him were no wise discouraging He told me once he had a Brother si bene memini who would say He could never believe but the 1000 years were still to come Now for Mr. Potter's Discourse I confess I came to the reading thereof with as much prejudice as might be having been cloyed with so many vain and fancisul Speculations about that mystical Number that I had no stomack to any more of them Which was the reason to tell you true that I shewed no more desire or eagerness to have a sight of your Exscript notwithstanding your commendations and offer of the same For I was loth to be put to give my Censure which I doubted according to former experience must be in sequiorem partem But when I was a little entered thereinto◠and began to perceive the Grounds whereon he meant to build I found my self presently to altar and to anticipate in my mind with much content what he aimed at before I could come to read it and longed not a little to find it well proved and to fall out accordingly That which wone me was the way to reduce Ezekiel's and S. Iohn's so differing measures of the New Ierusalem unto the same and so as both should allude to the Measures of the Ierusalem that was in being As soon as I found this I was not a little glad to see that made fecible which I before took for desperate and as it is ill halting with Criples I began presently to wish O that the Number of the Beast might have the like success for the designing of his See of Rome Concerning which and the compleat 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of both Numbers when I found such Testimonies produced you may guess how I was affected namely That if it be not a Truth which I was very willing to believe it is the most considerable Probability that ever I read in that kind And thus with many thanks for your kind communication thereof unto me even when you had found me not to long for a sight of it I commend you and your learned meditations to the Divine blessing and so I rest Christ's Coll. Aprill 1637. Yours Ioseph Mede Diversum sentire bonos de rebus iisdem Incolumi licuit semper amicitiâ Eusebius De laudibus Constantini p. 492. Edit 1612. Quis praeter Christum Servatorem cunctis totius Orbis terrarum incolis sen terrâ seu mari illisint praescripserit ut singulis septimanis in unum convenientes Diem Dominicum sestum celebrarent I know not whether the Tractators of this argument have observed this passage or not Graeca sic habent 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 See the Vanity of man's life When I began this Letter Dr. Whaley your good and religious Friend was in health Before I had finished intermitting some few days I heard he was fallen suddenly sick and soon after that he was recovering Now when I was about to seal my Letter upon the opportunity of a Friend 's going to London I hear he is departed this life and the Bells are yet ringing out for him I expected not to have been the
Father and the Son together is worshipped and glorified against Macedonius This is the Creed we say at the Communion in our Church That of Athanasius yet more enlarges that of Nice as doth that of Chalcedon also the Article of the Son against Eutyches Were it not fit therefore that we should tread in their steps and frame our Confession or Symbolum in like manner to wit not making the Form of our Confession wholly new but taking the former Creeds or some of them for our ground to enlarge their Articles with such further additions and explanations as the state of the Times requires that so our Confession might be the Creeds of the Ancient Church specified only to the present condition of the Churches and no other Thus we should both testifie to the world our communion and agreement with the Ancient Catholick Church a matter of no small moment that we may not seem to have made a new Church or Religion as we are charged and yet withal distinguish our selves from the Sects Heresies and Apostasies of the Times To which end it were fit the words of the Ancient Creeds should be retained as much as could be and for the more easie reception thereof that the additions and insertions should be made in the express words of Scripture as near as the nature of the composure would suffer it and not otherwise As for the meaning of them their application to the several Articles would specifie it as far as were needful to the end aimed at by such a Confession Compare the Creeds of Nice Athanasius and Chalcedon with that of the Apostles and you will understand my meaning And consider that in such a business as this we must not be too much in love with Methods of our own devising though perhaps they seem better but follow that which all the Churches will most easily yield unto and cannot except against I believe our own as may by some passages be already guessed would hardly be brought to subscribe to any other Form than of such a mould Take this also before I conclude That my meaning is not we should do as the Council of Trent hath done by adding Twelve more Articles to the Creed but that our Additions should be inserted into the several Articles of the Ancient Creed as subordinate to them and farther Explanations of them Which those of Trent indeed could not well do those which were added being the most of them incompatible and inconsistent with the former Articles according to the true and original meaning of the same and therefore not to be incorporated with them I send you home the Consultation I will keep the Discursus a while longer For Comenius his Praeludium I thank you but I have not had leisure to consider so much of it as were needful to give a censure I believe such a thing is fecible but for the way Hic labor hoc opus est So with my best affection I rest Christ's Colledge Aug. 14. 1637. Your assured Friend Ios. Mede EPISTLE LXXXIX Mr. Hartlib's Letter to Mr. Mede for a sight of his Papers about the Millennium Worthy Sir I Had occasion to exchange some Letters of late with Dr. Twisse In his last he writes thus unto me As for Regnum Sanctorum Christi in terris Resurrectic prima c. Passages there have been between me and Mr. Mede thereabouts and I am but his Scholar therein and I know full well you are so well acquainted with him that you may have any thing from him who is my Master in this I have yet no liberty to take into consideration the matter of Fundamentals neither have I any affection to it as finding no sure footing in that argument Thus far he I pray let me reap the fruit of his confidence in the enjoying of those Papers which have passed between you on the fore-mentioned Subject Truly I shall count it a great favour if you shall be pleased to communicate them and having perused them I will be careful to return them safely into your hands with my hearty thanks Thus craving pardon for my freedom I take my leave remaining always Worthy Sir London Octob. 19. 1637. Your most assured and willing Friend to serve you S. Hartlib EPISTLE XC Mr. Mede's Answer with his judgment upon a Discourse arguing from some Politick Considerations against the composing a Fundamental Confession Mr. Harlib I Answered not your first Letter because I had not wherewith to satisfie you For that which Dr. Twisse says he had of me concerning the Millenary opinion the grounds and stating thereof was only in Letters between him and me whereof I kept no Copies and now it would be tedious to me to renew what I then wrote In conference I could do it with ease but writing is very tedious to me and my notions and wit too die presently when I intend my mind to express them by writing Concerning the Paper you now send what judgment should I give but that I like it not It favours methinks of too much averseness from that business I believe you think so The Gentleman whosoever he be seems himself to be one of those he speaks of that hath in his eyes to preserve his own opinions from iudemnity But if every man do so what hope of conciliation Besides the matter aimed at in this business is not that either side should presently relinquish their opinions of difference but only take notice that notwithstanding these differences both sides do so far agree in other Points that they may and ought to acknowledge each other as Brethren that so their Affections being united and exasperation abolished they might be the better disposed and fitted to judge of the Points of difference between them And whereas he objects That such Points being declared not Fundamental would lose part of their strength and be shaken this inconvenience would be recompensed in that the Opinions of the opposite party will suffer as much and so what we lose at home we should gain abroad Howsoever it seems to me no very warrantable policy That for the better strengthning and propagating a Truth men should be born in hand that the belief thereof is Fundamental when it is not that is that a Truth should be maintained by a Falshood I cannot believe that Truth can be prejudiced by the discovery of Truth but I fear that the maintenance thereof by Fallacy may not end with a blessing I would know whether the Author of this Letter thinks that the Lutherans and Calvinists agree not in so much as is necessary unto Salvation If they do would not a Confession composed of such things wherein they agree contain all things necessaria cognitu ad Salutem and yet no necessity that this or that particular Tenet should be defined by such Confession to be or not to be Fundamental I would know also whether he thinks it fit that particular Churches should have particular Confessions whereunto their Members should profess their assent
sufficeret Herodian Frumenti summam primus adauxit Lampridâ— de Alexandro Oleum quod Severus populo dederat quódque Heliogabalus imminuerat integrum restituit c. The colour of the Horse Black fits the severity and strictness of Iustice yea Severus his person both for countrey and quality Sed non est tanti The Fourth State was remarkable for concurrence of War Famine Pestilence This for ten years together as it is plain in Story The Index the Fourth Beast the first Emperour of this State Maximinus Thrax being of his Quarter Imperator ab Aquilone Thus the first Four Seals of the Six as being of unequal times and easy for their qualities to be confounded in the accommodation it pleased the Holy Ghost therefore to distinguish them by their several references to the Four Beasts but the other Two have no such need the Character of their qualities will sufficiently serve to sever them The Fifth State therefore which we may count from Aurelian Ann. 270 or 268. for thereabouts the former ended unto Constantine is notable for the Tenth Persecution by Diocletion the greatest that ever the Ethnick Caesars raised against the Saints of Christ in regard whereof the rest were but as Flea-bitings This is typified by the Cry of the Souls under the Altar How long O Lord Holy and True dost thou not judge and avenge our bloud on them that dwell on the earth And they had promise of present hearing as soon as their Fellow-servants which were yet behind should come in which was not to be long after The Sixth Seal is Terrae-motus a great Earth-quake That intestine Change of the Roman State begun with Constantine and was fully settled with the death of Iulian about the year 364. For an Earthquake implies not a Destruction but an extraordinary Alteration and Change of the face of things As an Earthquake changeth the positure of the Earth by exalting Valleys and depressing Hills turning the Chanels and courses of Rivers and such like And was there not here the whole Politick Government as well as Religion altered the Imperial Seat removed the distribution of Provinces Offices and Governments new moulded c Was not the former State of the Empire turned topsie-turvy when the low and trampled Valleys arose into Mountains and the haughty Mountains were laid as low as the Valleys And if the Roman Gods be any of the Stars or Hills here mentioned we need not go farther for an Exposition of this Earthquake and the shock it caused in the world The SEVENTH SEAL or Seven Trumpets The Seventh Seal or Seal of Trumpets brings forth the Ruine and miserable Downfall of the Roman State This is that which the Martyred Saints in the Fifth Seal prayed for How long O Lord Holy and True dost thou not judge and avenge our bloud upon this cruel Empire They were answered that some more of their Brethren must yet suffer as they had done When they were once come in then should the cry of their bloud be avenged upon that bloudy State This now comes to be accomplished And therefore when the Seventh Seal was opened and the Trumpets were to sound Christ the Angel of the Covenant offereth those Prayers of the Martyrs in a golden Censer upon the golden Altar before the Throne that they might come into remembrance before God And no sooner was the Incense of their Prayers ascended but instantly the Seven Angels come forth with their Seven Trumpets to sound alarm for the Empire 's Dissolution For though Iosiah were a good King and made a Reformation yet must the bloud shed by Manasseh needs be avenged upon the Kingdom of Iudah So although the Roman Emperors were now become Christians yet would not God forget their former slaughters of his Servants but require their bloud at the hands of that Empire The Epocha or beginning of these Trumpets was about the year 365. Now was the Censer wherein the Martyrs Prayers were offered thrown down to the Earth and there were Thundrings and Lightnings and an Earthquake the meaning whereof may be otherways expounded but was here even literally fulfilled in that stupendious Earthquake described by Ammianus Marcellinus l. 26. c. 14. Horrendi tremores per omnem Orbis ambitum grassati sunt subitò quales necfabulae nec veridicae nobis antiquitates exponunt Paulò post lucis exortum densitate praviâ fulgurum acriùs vibratorum tremefacta concutitur omnis terreni stabilitas ponderis c. Now the Trumpets began to sound which Ammianus c. 5. tells so happily as if he meant to be an Expositor Hoc tempore saith he velut per universum Orbem Romanum Bellicum canentibus Buccinis excitae saevissimae Gentes limites sibi proximos persultabunt Gallias Rhaetiásque simul Alemaâ—ni populabantur Sarmatae Pannonias Thracias diripiebant praedatorii globi Gothorum c. Of these Seven Trumpets the first Four are lesser ones and fall chiefly upon the West and made way for the rising of the Antichristian State of the Beast or Kingdom of the False-Prophet The last Three are greater and more terrible and more lasting and therefore distinguished from the former by the name of WOES verse 13. The First Trumpet which lights upon the Earth was that terrible furious and bloudy Hail-storm of the Nations of the North which Ammianus told us of even now without intermission harrying spoiling burning and wasting the inhabitants and Citizens of the Empire great and small young and old from the year 365 almost 45 years but not yet by setling therein impairing or diminishing the Roman Dition The Second which fell upon the Sea was the bloudy rending and destruction of the Amplitude of the Roman Iurisdiction in the West from the time viz. Ann. 410. when Alaricus sacked Rome and was occasioned by the swelling and burning ambition of Stilico who called in the Goths hoping when the waters were thus troubled to have made his Son an Emperor The Third Trumpet brought Lapsus Hesperi the fall of the Western Caesar which after the death of the third Valentinian When Gensericus with his Vandaels had again sacked Rome fell by degrees out of the Orb of Sovereignty though blazing a little as a Candle before extinction By the fall of this Star the Rivers and Fountains suffered the power of the Roman Presidents Ministers and Courts of Iustice failing in the West for want of their wonted influence from that Star the Western Caesareate being extinct in Augustulus resembled by reason of the then bitterness and sorrows by a falling Star called Wormwood vers 11. The Fourth Trumpet brings darkness upon the Roman Firmament by an Eclipse of the Sun Moon and Stars in the third part thereof when in the Wars of the Greek Emperors with the Kings of the Goths in Italy the remaining light of Rome's Majesty in the West was quite put out after the year 542 the long-continued succession of the Roman Consuls ceasing the Roman
the Ancients 383. the same with Holy Table 389. the Altar of the true God called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of an Idol or false God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 391. anciently but one Altar in a Church and in one Diocess 326. whether it may be called Sulium Christi 824. anciently it was the place where the Prayers of the Church were offered to God 844 363 819 America The first Gentile inhabitants and the late Christian plantations there 800 Ananias his Sin was Sacriledge 116. how this Sacriledge is described 117. the aggravations of it 118 119 Angels The conceit of Dionys. Areopag of 9 orders groundless 40. Angels present in the Iewish Temple and our Churches 344 c. their presence an argument for a reverent behaviour there 346. where they keep their station there is Gods Shechinah or special Presence 343 c. Angels are in Scripture put for those over whom they preside 459 471 495 514 527. Good Angels not envious at the advancement of mans nature by Christ 90. nor grieve at the good of others 91 See more in Archangels Antiochus Epiphanes not meant by the Little Horn in Daniel 733 753. the Calamity under him for 2300 evenings and mornings Dan. 8. 14. whence it is to be reckoned 659 Antichrist meant by the Little Horn in Dan. 8. 10. 714. how he is a Counter-Christ and his Coming a counter-resemblance of Christs Coming 647. The Saracen and Turk not the Great Anâ—ichrist 644 c. who primarily meant by the Antichrist and the many Antichrists in S. Iohn's Epist. 664 900 Apocalyps is Daniel explicate as Daniel is Apocalypsis Contracta 787. the subject matter of it 756. it contains the Fares of the Church till Christs second Coming 440 917 918. it is properly the Prophecy of the Church of the Gentiles 575 880. a particular argument for the Divinity of the Apocalyps 853. the authority of it doubted of by whom 602. the admirablâ—â— prophecy in Scripture 582 Apostasie implies a Revolt from God and Christ by Idolatry 625. where it was expresly foretold in the Old Testament 666. it was to be a general one 648. but not such an absolute one as wholly to renounce Christ 645 c. 651. the two man Apostasies of Israel in Ieroboam's and Ahab's days describâ— d 242 The Apostles age when â—ended 360 To appear before the Lord what 260. all the Males of the Iews to appear bâ—fore the Lord thrice a year but the Women were exempted and why 261 Ara and Altare how they differ 392 Archangels their number Seven proved from Scripture and Tradition 40 c. 908. represented by the seven Lamps in the Temple 833 c. their Office twofold 43 Assurance not a Cause or Instrument but a Consequent of Iustification 309 310. Obedience is the way to Assurance 310 Astrology the Authors judgment of it 601 B BAalim what and whence so called 630 Babel's Tower the confusion and number of the Languages there 275 c. Babylon in the Apocalyps is Rome Pseudo-Christian 523 c. not New Rome or Constantinople 922. why called the Great City 484 912. and the Great Whore 523 643. what 's meant by her Golden Cup and the Name in her forehead 525. the twofold ruine of Babylon 489 Baptism called by the Ancients Signaculum Gods Seal or Mark 511. from what Analogy Water was used in Baptism to be a sign of Regeneration or the New birth 63. that by Water in Baptism is figured the H. Spirit not the Bloud of Christ. 62. 63 Bâ—ptisteries were anciently without the Church 330 Bath Kol Gods Oracle and Answer from Heaven accompanied with Thunder 458 c. Beasts in the Prophetick style signifie States and Kingdoms 780. the seven Heads of the Beast have a double signification 524 922. the Beast with Ten Horns what 498 499. the Beast with Two Horns what 505 Blasphemy is put for Idolatry 502 503 To Bless hath a threefold notion in Scripture 83 Blessing sometimes in Scripture signifieth a Gift or Present ibid. Body when a dead Body begins to corrupt 52 Bread signifies sometimes in Scripture all necessaries of life 689 Breaking of Bread put for the Communion of the Eucharist 322 Breast-place of judgment why so called 184 The Bride 's making her self ready for the marriage of the Lamb. 912 Burnt-offering what and why offered daily 287. it had annexed to it a Meat-offering and Drink-offering and was accompanied with Peace-offerings 371 C TO be Called is To be 445 465 Calling of the Gentiles See Gentiles Canaan or Palestine divided into three Provinces 100. its Husbandry and Harvests 297. its Breed of Cattel in the Spring and at Autumn ibid. this Land was promised to be given for an inheritance to Abraham Isaac and Iacob and not to their Seed only 801 c. a figure of Heaven 249 c. the Iews cast out of their own Land by the Romans who yet used not to carry other Nations captive what implied thereby 250 Captivity The three chief Captivities or Dispersions of the Iews 75 76. Three steps or degrees of the Babylonish Captivity 659 Catholick Epistles See General Ep. Cerriâ—i why mad-men were so called 29 30 Changing of Times and Laws what it implies in SS 737 Cherub and Cherubim whence so called 567. their form 917. why the Curtains of the Tabernacle and Walls of the Temple were filled with pictures of Cherubims 345 Chiliasme See Millennium Christ his solemn Preaching began not till Iohn Baptist had done his and why 97. his Death and Resurrection foretold in the Law Prophets and Psalms 50. 51. his Vniversal Kingdom and the Glorious state of his Church is yet to come 196 c. He is to be received whole not only as Priest but as King 308. He is given to us for an Example of life 157. How he is to be imitated 158 The Christian Sacrifice See Sacrifice The true Church of Christ never wholly extinguished 649. in what sense it was either Visible or Invisible under Antichrist 136 137 649 c. Churches or Places for worship in the first Century 323. in the second Century 326 in the third 329. Reasons to prove this 333. Objections answered from p. 334 to 339. at first the sacred meetings were in some Vpper-rooms set apart for Religious uses 321 322. Salute the Church at his House how to be understood 324. That Christians had such Places for Sacred worship was known to the Gentiles 332. To erect and set apart Places for Divine worship is from the instinct of Nature 340 c. A Land without such Places for Religion was counted Vnclean 341. Churches are to be magnificent and decently adorned 406 407 408 Circumcision the Verba solennia used therein 53 54 Clean Heart See Heart Clergy Clerus why so called 15 182. Their obligation to a special demeanour and differing kind of conversation from the Laâ—ety 15 181 182 Clouds Christ's Coming in the Clouds whence the phrase is borrowâ—d 754 764 788 Coenaculum Sion or Church of Sion
herein f I wonder sacred Fathers that ye demur so long about opening and consulting the Sibyll's books as if ye were treating or debating this matter in the Christians Church and not in the Temple of all the Gods * Hist. Eccl. l. 7. c. 29. Gr. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Thus was Paulus with great disgrace cast out of the Church by the Secular power b How shall any one be able to express those infinite multitudes of Christians assembling in every city those famous meetings of theirs in their Oratories or Churches and therefore they not being content with those smaller Churches which before they had those their ancient Edifices not being large enough to receive so great a number took care to erect from the very foundations fairer and more spacious ones in every city * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c The Penitents the Hearers the Catechumens or Learners and Probationers in Christianity and the Believers Wheresoever Ten men of Israel were there ought to be built a Synagogue Maiâ— in Tâ—phillah c. 11. Object 1. Answer Object 2. * No Temples Altars Images a Celsus saith Origen affirms that Christians decline the building or setting up of Altars Images and Temples * Lib. 8. contra Celsum b We do indeed saith Origen decline the building of Temples not for the reason which the Gentiles suppose but because we having learnt by the doctrine of Iesus Christ How God is to be worshipped and served we think our selves obliged in conscience to avoid and abstain from all such things as under a prerence and colour of Piety do make men really impious namely those who have erred and gone astray from the true way of worshipping God by Iesus Christ who alone is the way of worshipping God aright according to that most true saying of his I am the Way the Truth and the Life c Why do the Christians keep such ado to conceal and hide that whatsoever it be which they worship Why have they no Altars no Temples no Images unless that which they worship and keep so close were either worthy of punishment or shameful a Do you think that we conceal what we worship because we have neither Temples nor Altars But I beseech you What Image should I make for God whenas if we well consider it Man himself is the lively Image of God What Temple should I build for him whenas the whole world made by him is not able to contain him And whenas I who am but a man have a large habitation and room enough to be in shall I think to enclose and confine so Great a Majesty within one little House Tell me Is not God better sanctified in our Mind and Heart and where can we better prepare an habitation and consecrate a place for God than in the bottom of our Souls in the inmost of our inward man * Al. laxiú◠* Advers Gent. l. 6. b Herein ye are wont to charge us with most hideous impiety and irreligion viz. That we neither build Sacred Houses or Temples to perform the Offices of religious worship in nor make any Image or Representation of any God nor build any kind of Altars at all * See the Difference between Altare and Ara in the Treatise of Tlâ— Name Altar * See the Difference between Altare and Ara in the Treatise of Tlâ— Name Altar c For what use of the Gods should we desire to have Temples for what necessary purposes do we affirm these present Temples to be built or do ye think Temples should be built anew * Institut adversus Gentes lib. 2. cap. 2. d Why do ye not lift up your eyes to Heaven and invocating the Gods by name sacrifice openly and in publick Why do ye rather look to walls and wood and stone than look up thither where ye believe the Gods to dwell What then can Temples mean what do Images or Altars signifie Answer * Worshipping Places Acts 7. 4â— * According to this notion of Templum Tertull. cap. 15. de Idololatria Si Templis renunciâsti 〈◊〉 feceriâ— Temâ— plum januâ—â— tuam Et de Corona mil. cap. 11. Exâ—ubabit nempe Christiâ—nus pro Templis quibus renaâ—ciavit coeuabit ilâ—â— ubi Apâ—stolo non placeâ— id est in Idoko 1 Cor. 8. 10. a I wonder sacred Fathers that ye demur so long about opening and consulting the Sibyll's books as if ye were treating or debating this matter in the Christians CHURCH and not in the TEMPLE of all the Gods b Let us propound the case and suppose as it often comes to pass that the performance of these different Religions may fall out upon one and the same day wherein thou being a Christian must go to the CHURCH and he thy Husband a Gentile must at the same time repair to the TEMPLES a That he either destroyed the Churches of the Saints or else turned them into Temples b Although the Scythians the Numidians in Africk and the irreligious or Atheâ—stical Seres as Celsus characterizes them besides other Nations yea and the Persians too cannot endure TEMPLES ALTARS and STATUES or IMAGES yet is not their and our averseness from these things founded upon the same Grounds and Considerations And a little after saith Origen Among those that are averse from worshipping the Deity in and by ALTARS TEMPLES and IMAGES the Scythians Numidians and the irreligious Seres and the Persians also go upon other Grounds and Principles than the Christians and Iews who hold it utterly unlawful to worship God after that manner For none of those Nations is averse from erecting and setting up Temples Altars and Images upon this account as being apprehensive of that unworthy Hypothesis and notion of the other Gentiles who supposed that the Demons were enclosed and shut up fast in certain Places viz. Temples and Images being either confined thither by Magical Spells or else having preoccupied such places of themselves where they did greedily feed and feast themselves with the Nidour and Savour of the Sacrifices But now Christians and also the Iews are utterly averse from such things out of a conscientious respect to that in the Law Deuter. 6. 13. Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God and him only shalt thou serve as also in obedience to that in the Decalogue Thou shalt have no other Gods but me and again Thou shalt not make to thy self any Image c. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 * So with Tertullian in the places before alledged in the margin Renunciôsse Templis dicitur qui Idolis * Strabo li. 15. in appeud ad Herodot Theodoâ—et li. 5. c. 38. Yea seâ— de 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nâ—naeâ—e in Elymaide Persidis 1 Mac. 6. 2. 2 Mac. 1. 13. ‖ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a If there were in you any zeal for your Religion any just indignation against what doth manifestly
to this if you please that which Eusebius relates of this Emperor to wit that when Paulus Samosatenus being deposed by the Council from his Bishoprick and Domnus chosen in his room would not yield up the possession of the Church 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the matter being brought before Aurelianus the Emperor he decrees that it should be given to those of the Sect unto whom the Bishops of Rome and Italy should send Letters of communion Sic demum Paulus saith Eusebius à seculari potestate summo cum dedecore ex Ecclesia expellitur For that by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is here meant the Christians Oratorie or House of Sacred assembly at Antioch and not the Bishop's house as some would have it appears both because Eusebius elsewhere so uses it as namely Lib. 8. c. ult Lib. 9. c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as also because he expounds himself presently by Ecclesia when he saith Sic Paulus summo cum dedecore à potestate seculari ex Ecclesia exigitur For surely he meant not that he was by the secular arm cast out of the Church as Church is taken for the Company of the Faithful but as it signifies the Place of Sacred assembly where this Paulus kept possession after he was deposed for Heresie by the Council But what need we trouble our selves thus to gather up Testimonies for the latter half of this Seculum I have one Testimony behind which will dispatch it all at once yea and if need be depose for the whole also It is that of Eusebius in his eighth Book Hist. Eccl. in the beginning where describing those peaceful and Halcyonian days which the Church enjoyed for many years from the time of the Martyrdom of S. Cyprian unto that most direful persecution of Diocletian and how wonderfully the number of Christians was advanced during that time he speaketh on this manner Quomodo quisquam infinitâ illos hominum turbâ frequentatos conventus coetuúmque in singulis urbibus congregatorum multitudinem illustrésque in Oratoriis concursus describere valeat Quorum causa quum in Antiquis illis AEdificiis satis amplius loci non haberent vel antiquis illis AEdificiis handquaquam amplius contenti amplas spatiosásque in omnibus urbibus ex fundamentis erexcrunt Ecclesias Lo here how in those Halcyonian days Christians had not only Churches or Houses of worship but such as might then be called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ancient Edifices which how far it may reach let others judge Secondly That the number of Christians being grown so great that those ancient Fabricks were no longer sufficient to contain them they erected new and more spacious ones in every City from the foundations And all this testified by one that himself lived and saw part of those times These sacred Edifices Diocletian and those other surrogated Emperours which continued that direful ten-years Persecution begun by him commanded by their Edicts to be every where demolished as we may read in the same Eusebius at large The like whereunto seems never to have happened in any of the former Persecutions in which they were only taken from the Christians but again when the persecution ceased for the most part restored unto them as in the former Persecution they were by Galienus under the name of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Worshipping Places And thus I think I have proved by good and sufficient Testimonies That Christians had Oratories or Churches that is appropriate Places for Christian worship in every of the first three hundred years I am well assured whosoever be judge long before the days of Constantine I will add to these Authorities two or three Reasons why they must in all likelihood have had such Places First Because it is certain that in their Sacred assemblies they used then to worship and pray towards the East which how it could be done with any order and conveniencie is not easie to be conceived unless we suppose the Places wherein they worshipped to have been situated and accommodated accordingly that is chosen and appointed to that end Secondly Because of their Discipline which required distinct and regular Places in their assemblies for the Poenitentes Auditores Catechumeni and Fideles and therefore argueth they met not in every place promiscuously but in Places already fitted and accommodated for that purpose Lastly Because they had before their eyes an example and pattern in Proseucha's and Synagogues of the Iews from whom their Religion had its beginning which though as contrary to the Religion of the Empire as theirs yet had places appropriate for the exercise thereof wheresoever they lived dispersed among the Gentiles Who can believe that such a pattern should not invite the Christians to an imitation of the same though we should suppose there were no other reasons to induce them but that of ordinary convenience Answers to the OBIECTIONS I Come now to answer the Objections brought by such as maintain the contrary opinion which are two First say they It is not likely no not possible they should have any such Places living under a Pagan and persecuting State and Empire I answer This Objection is already confuted by matter of Fact For it is to be noted that the greatest and most cruel Persecutions and the five last of the Ten fall within the third or last Centurie in which that Christians had Oratories or Houses of Christian worship we have before proved by most indubitate and irrefragable Testimonies But if in this why not as well in the former Ages wherein the Persecutions were as no more in number so far less bitter For it is to be taken notice of That these Persecutions were not continual but as it were by fits and those of the two first Centuries of no long durance so as the Churches enjoyed long times of peace and quietness between them Besides why should it seem to any one less credible that Christians should have their Oratories or Houses of worship under the Roman Empire whilest the State thereof was yet Gentile and opposite to the Faith of Christ than that they had them in the Kingdom of Persia which never was Christian For that they had them there as old as the days of Constantine Sozomen testifieth Lib. 2. c. 8. The occasion of the demolishing whereof by King Isdigerdes and of that most barbarous persecution of the Christians of those Countries for thirty years together about the year 400. Theodoret relates Lib. 5. c. 38. namely that one Audas out of an indiscreet and unseasonable zeal though otherwise a vertuous and godly Bishop having demolished the Persians Pyraeum or Temple where the Fire was worshipped and refusing to build it up again as was enjoyned him the King thereupon mightily enraged caused all the Christians Oratories or Churches in his dominions to be demolished likewise and that horrible Persecution before mentioned to storm against them Could the Christians find means and opportunity to