world Iohn 1. I see no cause why reason that especiall and principall gift of God to mankinde should not be serviceable to the principall and especiall end for which man himselfe is created that is his drawing neere unto God by faith in him for the excellencie of every thing is in the excellencie of the End for which it is And that common sence and reason have their especiall use in things pertaining unto God it is most manifest For all our knowledge proceeds from meere ignorance first knowing words by their meaning then things by sence and experiments from whence the reason ascending by enquirie into the causes comes at last into the knowledge thereof and so unto the chiefest and first cause wherein alone it findes rest And seeing man alone of all the visible creatures is framed and formed of God unto this search by the outward sence and reason to finde the wisdome and power of God in the creature that so honouring him therefore as he ought he might be made happie thereby if it bee no way possible by reason and discourse to come to this end then should God want of his honour by some of those meanes by which it might be given unto him then should the creature bee failing to man in the speciall use which he should make thereof to God then should reason the chiefe facultie of our soule and principall meanes of our knowledge have beene given unto man in vaine that is as sence is to the beasts onely for this life if it were either no helpe at all or an unfit or an insufficient meane to know that which is most necessary and worthy to bee knowne and yet obscure to stirre up our industrie that as faithfull servants we may improve those gifts wherewith God hath intrusted us See Luke 19.1 And so the purpose of God should be frustrate both in the inferiour creature and in man and that in their chiefest and uttermost end See Prov. 16.4 But these things are impossible and therefore wee are commanded Deut. 6.5 to love and serve the Lord our God with all our heart the seat of reason 1 King 3.12 with all our soule the seat of the will and understanding in heavenly things and all our affections there stiled by a word of vehemencie or excesse And thus doe we fulfill the counsell of the wise Pro. 3.9 to honour the Lord with all our substance that is whatsoever is ours without or within as sence reason understanding affections and will But still you say that reason is an unsufficient meane and unable to bring us to the knowledge of those things which we are bound to beleeve for else the Heathen which know not the Scriptures might have known the truth of Religion as well as we Ans There be divers kinds of questions about every subject as I shewed Log Chap 3. Now the conclusion or Article of our faith by the Atheist or Infidell or weake Beleever being made a question the reasons brought are to prove onely that the conclusion is true not alwayes why it is true for there be many conclusions in our faith which cannot be knowne and proved prioristicè as they speake that is by their immediate and necessarie causes seene and understood in the effects necessarily following thereon for then that humilitie which ought to be joyned with our faith should bee without reward but yet the foundation of our faith is sure because the Spirit of God which understands the things which are of God hath revealed in the Scriptures whatsoever is necessary for us to know or beleeve concerning God thus posterioristicè or by way of induction are all the Articles of our faith approved by reason so that our faith and hope are not of things impossible but such as are true and necessarie to be Moreover if there bee but one God one Lord of all one faith the onelie way to come unto God Ephes 4.6 as it is plaine there is but one Mediatour 1. Tim. 2.5 without whom none can come to the Father Iohn 14.6 It cannot be denied but that the same glorious faith which we are taught in the holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testament excepting onely the historicall circumstances thereof as names and times as that the Mediatour Iesus was to bee borne of a Virgine Mary and to suffer death under Pontius Pilate c. must be that very same faith by which all the Saints of God were saved for above two hundred and fifty yeers before there were any Scriptures written And therefore that although this faith was delivered and reverently embraced by the faithfull before the Law of Moses who also so delivered it as that they could not looke unto the â—nd of the law 2 Cor. 3.13 Yet they who either received it not by tradition as most of the Gentiles or understood it not in the Law as few among the Iewes did beside the Prophets must of necessity through the light of reason alone hold with us some maine and fundamentall points according to which if they lived in obedience they might finde mercy for that whereof they were ignorant as it is said Act. 17.30 that God oversaw or neglected the ignorance of the time before Christ For if the representative Priest by forein bloud found forgivenesse for himselfe and the ignorances of the people concerning all punishment in this life how much more might the everlasting high-priest by his owne offering of himselfe finde eternall redempâ—ion for their ignorances who sought mercy of God although they knew him not by whom they did obtaine it yet might they therefore assure themselves to obtaine it because they could not seek forgivenesse but by his Spirit who framed their hearts to seeke it and therby gave them an earnest or pledge that they should finde it Compare herewith Rom. 10.18.20 Ioh 14 6. Now those maine points of which I spake which by the light of reason they might know are these First that ther is a God infinite in goodnesse in glory in wisdome in power as it is manifest Psal 19. Rom. 1.19.20 and elsewhere Secondly that this God the maker of all things according to that goodnes made every thing to an end infinitly good â—s farre as the creature could bee capable thereof And that therefore the happinesse of man could not bee in this life short and miserable but that his hope must bee for hereafter And therefore thirdly that hee must needs perswade himselfe that hee was immortall and that there was an immortall life at least as appertaining to his soule Fourthly because a mans wretchednesse is for the most part from him selfe in the unlawfulnesse of his owne ill deeds which proceed from the bitter fountaine of his affections and ill desires tormenting himselfe therefore hee must needes confesse his sinne against himselfe and know that hee that finds himselfe so displeasing to himselfe can no way hope that for his owne worthinesse hee can any way bee acceptable unto God and that therefore he
of God and the Son of man and againe Ioh. 3.13 Hee that came downe from heaven is the Sonne of man and againe Ioh. 3.13 He that came downe from heaven is the Sonne of man which is in heaven For hee that ascended is even Hee that descended Eph. 4.9 Moreover it is said Heb. 9.14 That Christ by his eternall spirit offered himselfe without spot unto God But if the humanity of Christ be another person beside the deity then he offered not himselfe but that other person of the humanity by whose death our reconciliation was wrought and so not by his owne bloud but by the bloud of another person should hee have entred into the holy place So God should not have sent his owne Sonne into the world that the world by him might be saved contrary to that which is Heb. 9.12 Ioh. 2.16.17 But he that is mighty to save even Iehovah our king hath saved us Esay 23 22. and that not with forraine bloud but by his owne offering of himselfe hath he purchased for us eternall redemption This then being the great mystery of our salvation that God was manifest in the flesh 1 Tim. 3.16 That God is one with us Matth. 1.23 That that holy thing which was borne of the virgin is the Sonne of God Luk. 1.35 it may appeare how detestable that heresie of Photinus and his predecessours was who made our Mediator the Sonne of man by nature and the Sonne of God by adoption only and how dangerous this consequence of Nestorius is who of that one Mediator betweene God and man 1 Tim 2.5 would make two persons If you desire to know the growth of this heresie and the other positions of the Nestorians you may reade M. Broerewoods enquiries chap. 19. § 9. Arius and his followers held that Christ was truly man so that be might truly be called the Sonne of the virgin Mary borne in time as concerning his manly body and the Sonne of God as being the first begotten of every creature and so the most excellent creature created by the will of God the Father before all times and ages but not coeternall with him because there was a continuance when he was not and therefore was hee not say they 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or coessentiall with the Father because hee was created of that which was not from which Errour these Arians were also called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This poysonous fountaine overflowed afterward into divers streames For the halfe Arians of whom Acatius was chiefe held that Christ was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or of the like being with the Father by nature but others said that this likenesse was not in nature but only in will and powerfull working Whereupon Asterius is by some affirmed to have said that Christ was the vertue only or a creature indued with the power of God other heretickes againe as Aetius and his scholler Ennomius said that Christ was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or of another manner of being unlike to the Father both in nature and will and hence arose the errour of the Dulians who thought him onely the servant of God in the worke of the creature and so of the Bonosians who held him to bee the Sonne of God onely by adoption And although this Hydra might seeme to have beene nipt in the head by the writings of Athanasius and other learned men of former times and especially by the first Councell of Nice Anno 327. and other that followed afterward yet never was there any heresie in the primitive Church that went on with that violence and strength or that caused more trouble and persecution as being confirmed by divers Councels and set forward by the authority of sundry Emperours And for the continuance thereof it hath been such as that unto this day not onely among the Turkes but ever in the Church of Christ if at least they may bee said to bee of his Church who falsly denie unto him the truth and excellencie of his being some have beene found from time to time even since the clearer light of the truth hath shined that have maintained this heresie of Arius in whole or in part as Socinus Gittichius David the Hollander Servetus Neuserus and with us Legat Mannering and others In Polonia also and Transylvania they swarme as you may reade in Wents à Bud. pag. 229 c. But say you is it possible that an heresie so foule as this is taken to bee should continue so long and be upheld by Councels and maintained by Emperours and justified by learned men except there were both reason and authority of Scripture for it For as no man is wilfully ill but by the errour of his judgement betweene good and bad so no man doth erre wilfully but onely by mistaking of falshood for the truth Answer Saint Paul saith that there must be heresies and this I suppose should come to passe because men would not be content to learne the doctrine of Christ and his truth according to the simplicity of the truth as he had taught it in the holy Scriptures whereunto if men would take heed and trie the truth as they ought the things of God by the word of God matiers of Religiâ—n by the rule of Religion that is the holy Sâ—ripture alone so many heresies had not sprung up For mans understanding so long as it doth follow the true guide thereof the revealed truth of God it cannot deceive nor be deceived But if it will presume to be guide and make the truth of the Scriptures to follow it it is impossible not to stray and so by the just judgement of God men also grow hard and obstinate in their owne errours not onely to resist the truth but also to persecute it as these Arians did very grievously at severall times But see their reasons and their authorities 1. The Godhead is in the Father wholly or else hee cannot bee perfect God and if the Deitie be wholly in the Father then can it not be in the Sonne nor in the holy Ghost Answer The word wholly is equivocall or of doubtfull meaning for wholly may signifie as much as with all the parts but this cannot belong to that which is infinite or wholly may signifie onely and so the proposition is false or it may meane asmuch as perfectly and so the proposition is true but the consequence is false for the Deitie is wholly and perfectly in all the persons alike 2. He onely is the true God that is prayed unto by the Mediator But God the Father onely is so prayed unto therefore God the Father onely is the true God I answer If we worship the Godhead in the nature or being of God we worship one onely being in the three Persons But if we worship the persons we worship them in the vnitie of the Godhead that is acknowledging every person to be God And this is that Father that one God whom we pray unto by that one Mediator of God and man the
profitable labours deserve more prayses And though I have stood all day in the market because no man hath hired mee yet seeing I would as fame have the penny as he that hath borne the burden and heat of the day I would not bee idle But because the knowledge and study of heavenly things and the meanes whereby the soule may bee saved concernes all men alike even Amos among the herdmen of Tekoa asmuch as Azariah the Priest in the Temple of Ierusalem And that every one as he hath received so is hee bound to make account of his talent Therefore although the burden I confesse was more fit for a man in the strength of his memory and understanding and too heavy for mee now wasted in seventy yeares with age sicknesse and continuall paines yet I trusted in him that directed my heart to take it up that hee would give mee strength in some sort to beare it But concerning those men that have laboured herein before me although I praise their paines yet I thinke them nor fit for every mans use Aquinas according to the greatnesse of his active understanding in his bookes against the Gentiles hath moved an endlesse number of questions of which as it seemes to mee many are very needlesse and impertinent to this my purpose and would draw an English Reader into a maze out of which hee could hardly winde himselfe Raimund de Sabunde though his writings be easie and quicke yet his matiers are scattered and not according to that method which I intend Savanarola wanders up and downe meanes well saith something out of Thomas but in his Triumphus Crucis as in all the Schoolemen and so in both the former very many things are left our which most necessarily belong to this our purpose and many things brought in which are not here at all questioned Mornay though he deserves much praise for his great reading and his plaine and easie stile yet beside that which hee perswades concerning some few questions here moved hee referres us to the Scriptures for proofe of the rest A most certaine proofe indeed and above all other with a Christian but my purpose is to adde an overplus of proofe to the perswasion which the Christian hath and to justifie his faith against all adversaries not by authority of Scripture onely which with Heretickes Turkes and Infidels is of small regard Moreover that which he perswades is by reasons in a manner altogether inductive which kinde of proofe although it bee more usuall in the Scriptures than any other and is of force sufficient with them that hold the principles and maine grounds of Religion for whom only they were written and not for them who are without Rom. 15.4 yet with infidels or adversaries inductive arguments are of small force except they be layd downe with their supposition as I call it log cap. 14. For otherwise the understanding hath no foundation wheron it may stay it selfe And he that in matiers of faith brings in reasons which are not of force to compell the understanding to yeeld to the truth gives occasion to infidels and Atheists to scoffe at Religion and leaves the wavering minded more unsetled than before As I knew a young Scholar who reading Euphues refuting his Atheist by such slight inductions and arguments onely probable became much perplexed in his minde till it pleased God by his light to settle his understanding The reasons of Raimund Lully and his manner of arguing gives more full satisfaction And hee it is from whose enlightned Spirit I borrowed most because hee onely of the rest hath written particularly to almost all the Articles of the Creed yet that treatise hath great need both to be cleered and of supply And although for examples sake in his art generall and inventive hee handle some of the questions yet while he strives therein to shew the use of his art rather than the truth of the things hee proposeth his reasons with great confusion and exceeding difficulty to bee understood as it will easily appeare to him that reades him But to yeeld that I tooke my light from those illuminate doctors Aquinas and Lully for I seeke not mine owne praise but the manifestation of the truth of God and the joy and comfort of the Christian soules among mine owne nation was the light theirs is not reason the common light of every man which can either finde it out or see it being found is the light in a Church his light that made the windowes thorow which it shines what interest hath he therein more than any stranger that injoyes the light yet knowes not the mason But if my knowledge of the mason that is my reading of Aquinas make the reasons his then his reading of Aristotle shall make the reasons Aristotles from whom hee hath gathered his reasons some where whole and entire every where from his principles And so if my reasons gathered from the practise of Raimunds art or from his owne practise bee therefore Raimunds reasons because he delivered that excellent art then the light shall be the Masons But if they for their goodly buildings made Bay windowes to let in much light And I for my low yet sure built house have made but casements and loopeholes yet so disposed them as they may let in light enough to lighten every corner of my little roomes Let everie one that is pleased come in and enjoy the benefit of the light and thereby behold the truth of God and rejoyce in His light And when hee understands the reasons let him account them his owne either to strengthen himselfe and others thereby against misbeleefe and doubting or especially against such as shall either wilfully or ignorantly withstand the truth And if I for my long and great study earne not so much as the name of a diligent translator or an Abridger or a gatherer hereby yet if any man gather either profit or content I shall be glad for the paines that I tooke herein brought unto me an abundant reward And having thus defended my selfe I will tell you for what reasons I have at last taken heart to discharge my selfe of my former promise First of all when in the earnest thought of these things I found that the holy religion of the Christians howsoever tryed by Scriptures or by the cleere evidence of understanding had such light and manifestation of the truth therein as that all the darkenesse of hell could not dimme it I confesse I had such assurance of joy therein that I judged I ought not to conceale it alone For what greater joy can any man have in all the miseries and discontents of this wretched life than to know and see that his hopes proposed for a better life are such as cannot faile then to see the exceeding mercy of God such as that hee requires nothing to bee beleeved for which hee doth not abundantly satisfie the understanding if it will enlarge it selfe and desire to be satisfied Is it nothing that the
mouthes of all Hereticks are stopt hereby I meane not every difference in opinion to be an heresie no not in an Article of Faith but there is not any heresie in any maine point but by the strength of reason alone it may be overthrowne as it will hereafter at large appeare Besides when the Christian Religion is found to be so reasonable and to stand on such sure * Fundamenta ejus in montibus Sanctitatis i. Scriptura sacra et ratioris Psal 87.1 Foundations as that it only is able only worthy to binde the conscience of a reasonable man whereas all other religions or rather false worships although examined in themselves onely by their owne principles are found to be false and against common sense what triumph is this of a Christian over all Heathens and misbeleevers that will they nill they if they will bee men and stand to reason they must confesse that the Christian religion is onely true And seeing the world hath beene called to the marriage of the Kings Son Luc. 14.16 c. First by the voyce of nature declaring the wisdome and power of God in the creature and that they that were so called would not come because their mindes were set on earthly things Secondly by the Law but the Iew who sought righteousnesse by the Law would try what his five yoke of oxen that is his keeping of the Ceremoniall Law contained in the five bookes of Moses could doe and so would be excused Thirdly by the Gospell but the carnall Gospeller and false Christian could not come because he is marryed to pleasure and worldly lusts what remaines but that they who are yet strangers and walke in the broad wayes of sinne and the by-paths of their owne inventions should by reason that servant of God bee compelled to come in And seeing the time cannot bee farre off that all the nations of the earth are to bee called to the knowledge of Christ For great shall his name be from the rising of the Sunne to the going downe of the same Psal 103.3 What hinders that the truth of Christ bee taught according to common reason whereto every man doth listen For it cannot bee but that all Idolatry and false worship all heresies and dissentions about Religion must then cease when the truth is taught in the evidence of that Spirit whereby every man is guided For as God made man reasonable so doth hee command nothing to bee done which in true reason is not the best nor require any thing to bee beleeved which in true reason is not most true You will say is there no difference then betweene faith and reason yes very great For Reason is busied in the proofe of some generall conclusion which is to bee held for a truth and so received of every man but faith is the application of that conclusion to a mans owne selfe As if it be concluded that because Christ being so conceived and so borne had no sin and therefore he suffered not death for himselfe but to save them that should beleeve on him faith applies this generall conclusion thus but I doe beleeve and therefore I shall be saved Now this application is not made by reason but by the speciall instruction of the Spirit of God in the heart of the beleever although it were inferred upon such a conclusion as was proved by reason I have not endevoured herein to heap up arguments by numbers but by weight and therfore have I let passe all reasons from forrein autority and all that were but likely onely and of small importance neither have I brought any one but such as seemed to mee sufficient of it selfe to confirme the question The reasons here used are for the most part from the goodnesse power wisdome and other dignities of God because the questions are concerning the things of God and no arguments can be of greater force and more immediate then such as are drawne from the verie being or immediate properties of the things in question they are handled by necessities and impossibilities to shew that all things that are and are not stand for the truth of the promises of God to us that by all meanes wee might have strong hope and comfort in Christ And though I sometimes bring one argument for divers conclusions yet it is not therefore of lesse force no more than a good toole is of lesse worth because it serves for divers uses I have studied for plainenes as much as I may and therfore have I sometimes handled the same reason both affirmatively and negatively that he that cannot take it with one hand might hold it with the other for that purpose also are divers reasons brought though all satisfying as I thinke yet perhaps all of every one not equally understood but he that understands all may upon these grounds or the like bring many other to the same purpose and give glorie to that infinite mercy which hath so fortified this glorious truth which hee hath bound us to beleeve with such walles bulwarkes ravelings and counterscarpes of reason that all the power of hell all the batterye of Atheists Turkes Iewes and other adversaries shall never bee able to overcome it And because a little light is soone lost if dispersed as in the Starres called Nebulosae and those of endlesse number and distance in the milkie way I have proposed the reasons together in as short and few words as I can that the light of the reason may more easilie appeare For oftentimes while men desire to enlarge themselves the reason vanishes into words The autorities of the sacred Text I bring as need is that the Christian may see whence the Article of faith in question is taken and whereon it is grounded and that in the proofe thereof I bring no other doctrine than the holy Scripture doth teach Let no man carrie my words or meaning awry for although in this search of causes and reasons other conclusions offered themselves yet I held it not meet to propose any other things than the holy Church of old thought fit to be held as sufficient for the saving faith of Christians conteined in the Creed which is called the Apostles as being gathered from their writings and that according to that order as it is therein delivered yet with such prefaces and notes as the necessitie of the things did drive me unto leaving those other things to the higher speculation of them whom God shall vouchsafe to enlighten for their further progresse from faith to faith from knowledge to knowledge till all the holie Church come to bee partakers of those things new and old that are kept for her in store when she shall come unto the fulnesse of the measure of the age of Christ that is the perfect knowledge of all those things which our Lord in his time taught his Disciples who were not able then to beare them till they had received the light of the holy Spirit from above If any man learned bee
pleased to read in this booke let him forgive me the harshnesse of my speech being to teach the unlearned in English a language not taught that nicetie of words whereby to expresse the difference of things which I easilie hope he will doe because hee knowes that the infinite differences of things do much exceed the sharpnesse of our understanding and yet the subtiltie of mans understanding doth goe farre beyond the rudenesse and scarcitie of all words and speech The Treatise whatsoever it is with all humilitie and reverence I submit unto the undefiled Spouse of Iesus Christ my dearest mother the Church of England and if I have done any thing herein which is pleasing to God or usefull to his Church let the glorie bee given to him by whose onelie mercie and favour I have beene enabled to performe it But let his holie Church graciouslie pardon whatsoever is herein amisse through my weakenesse or errour And if any thing bee offensive let it by her censure be as if it had never beene written or thought of Alexander Gil. Reader BEcause the Printers are unwilling to be troubled with notes on the sides therefore the authorities and references are put in the leafe th s marked ooo but seeing the words and their meaning are perfect in themselves beside those references you may passe over all such places without hurt to the sence except you thinke good to try it by the authoritie Ianuary XXXI 1634. PErlegi uniuersum hoc opus cui titulus The sacred Philosophie of the holy Scripture laid downe as conclusions c. quod continet in toto paginas 492. aut circitèr in quibus reperio nihil sanae doctrinae aut bonis moribus contrarium quo minùs cum utilitate publicâ imprimi queant ita tamen ut si non intra quinquennium typis mandentur haec licentia sit omnino irrita Guil. Haywood capell domest Archiep. Cant. THE ENTRANCE to the Treatise LUKE 12.57 VVhy even of your selves judge ye not what is right THe principall virtue of mans soule is Reason unto whose power the soule would have every thing subject if it might because that is the Standard to trie the truth in the knowledge whereof principally the soule is delighted But because arguments alwayes appeare not by the weight of which reason may try the truth the soule is content to beleeve or unbeleeve such things as it cannot trie by reason either for the credit of the author or for the desire which it selfe hath that they should be so or not so The first degree then of the powers of the soule above reason is faith but because the soule is loth to bee deceived therefore will it not alwayes come so farre as to beleeve or discredit a thing but is content to hold it in opinion and yet upon a more sleight view to suppose something to be or not to be true or false for a time for a man may suppose that to be of which he will not entertaine an opinion that it is yea and have an opinion of that which he doth not constantlie beleeve yea and beleeve that for which he cannot give a sound proofe that it is So that faith opinion and supposition are of larger compasse one than another and all of greater circuit than reason Yet because the imagination that lovely Dalilah is ever serviceable to reason her Samson though never faithfull and because there is nothing in any of these three which the imagination dares not be busie with therefore by the helpe of imagination reason enquires into the workes of all these using thereto saying and gain-saying likelyhood and unlikelyhood and arguing on every side till it come to a conclusion in which it will rest at least for a time And as every minde or soule is more noble and excellent than another for there are many more degrees of excellencie in spirituall substances than there bee in bodily so doth it exercise it selfe in the most hard and excellent things And to set all other matters aside for all other are farre beneath the knowledge of God and the assurance of our faith in him which is our present search let us see by what degrees we are come unto that taske which we have undertaken Religion is a band or tyall of the conscience in things pertaining unto God in respect of the excellency of the reward to them that doe well or of the punishment of them that doe ill for there was never any religion true or false but it was set in the service of some God whom the worshippers beleeved to bee just in rewarding both good deeds and bad and that not only in this life but much more in another where they perswaded themselves the soule was immortall as one of their false prophets truely said Virtus recludit non meritis mori Coelum Seing then that religion as every other thing that is reasonably undertaken proceeds from the knowledge of the End and that all religion doth suppose an everlasting happinesse or punishment to the soule in immortality excepting only that of the pestilentiall Sect of the Sadduces who though they confessed God yet thought that the promises and threatnings of the Law stretched no farther than to this life only and therefore denied the resurrection the soules immortality Angels Devils It might seeme that I who enquire of religion according to the discourse of reason might hold it sufficient to lay downe the reasons of the positive Doctrine without any mention of heresies or contrarie opinions and that I ought first to enquire See Chap. 39. whether there be any such happinesse at all as is supposed in the life to come See Chap. 40. Secondly whether the soule be immortall and so capable of eternall happinesse Thirdly whether the soule although immortall doe remaine a separate and an entyre being by it selfe or whether when it departs out of the body it doth not returne into the Chaos of life as a drop of water falling into a river for if any one of all these points faile that is if there be no happinesse at all after death or if the soule enjoy it not because it dyes or if that happinesse be not peculiar and entyre to the soule by it selfe and in it selfe then the end of all our religion is utterlie frustrate But for the present they shall be onely as postulata or suppositions the proofe shall appeare hereafter in the Article of Everlasting life And concerning heresies I confesse that in this disputing age wherein men will rather seeme to know that they may oppose the truth than willingly to submit themselves thereto I had great doubt in my selfe whether by the remembrance of them I might not give occasion to such as itch after opinions to be tainted with these stinking ulcers or at least cause a doubting or falling away of them that are weake when they consider the diversities that have been and still are concerning religion But when I remembred the saying of S.
27.5 and Acts 1.18 and 20. Secondly from the chiefe accessaries in the murder prophesied concerning Herod and Pontius Pilate Psal 2.2 fulfilled Luke 23.12 Acts 1.26 27. And concerning the Priests and Scribes it was prophesied Gen. 49.6 fulfilled Matth. 26.3 Mar. 15.11 Luke 22.2 Thirdly from his friends forsaking Him foretold Psal 38.11 Zach. 13.7 compared with Matth. 26.56 27.55 what can the Infidell Iew or Turke now say for their unbeleefe when by all these arguments and all things else whatsoever were prophesied of Him our Lord bath beene approved to bee that Saviour that was to come into the world yea so approved by the rule of the Law Deut. 18 22. and their owne expositors Moimony in Iesude hatorah cap. 10. that even because they beleeve not therefore is our Lord Iesus that true Prophet that was to come Because hee foretold both their unbeleefe and the punishment thereof Therefore beside other circumstances and proofes in this abundance not necessary to bee remembred take for another argument the unbeleefe of the Iewes and the destruction of their citty and scattering of that nation as the punishment of that unbeleefe Their hardnes of heart and incredulity was prophesied Ps 118.22 Es 6.9.10 c. 8.14.15 c. 52.1.2.3 The scattering of the whole nation is prophesied Lev. 26. vers 27. to 40. Deut. 28.64 Hos 3.4 9.17 The destruction of the cittie and Temple was foretold Dan. 9.26 and by our Lord himselfe Luk. 19.43.44 ch 21.20 with the continuance of that desolation Luk. 21.24 And of this their unbeleefe and scattering of the Nation and desolation of Ierusalem the Iewes themselves and all the world with them are witnesses unto this day If you desire further conferring of the Texts of the old Testament with the new you may reade Tertul. lib. 3. et 4. adversus Marcionem 11. To the death and sufferings of our Lord whereby wee are redeemed unto God the Father Rev. 5.9 wee may also adde the death and sufferings of his Saints as it is written Psal 44. vers 11. to 23. compared with Rom. 8.36 For even from Abel to Isaacke and so forward they that have beene borne after the flesh have persecuted them that have beene borne according to the Spirit Gal. 4.29 And although these persecutions have beene more common and grievous at some time than other as it may appeare by the bookes of the Maccabees and the ten persecutions of the primitive Church foretold Reu. 2.10 yet that rule holds and still shall till that King doe come that shall reigne in Iustice that all that will live godly in Christ must suffer persecution 2 Tim. 3.12 For whether it bee that God by afflictions and persecutions doth try the constancie and patience of his servants and exercise their faith in his promises or whether by trouble and persecution hee will teach them not to looke for their portion in this life or to make them more conformable to the death of his Sonne that they may also bee partakers of his resurrection or that the reward of their afflictions may bee with an exceeding waight of glory or that in the life to come they may by comparison inioy the fullnesse of their happinesse in more thankefullnesse and the perfection of love to the author thereof or that the devil may in Iustice punish such as forsake his obedience for by the taint of originall sinne wee all became his vassalls and God is not uniust no not to the devill himselfe and therefore suffers him to afflict them whom he himselfe will comfort Ioh 1. Reu. 2.10 or whether the devil to keepe his owne vassals in firme obedience doth more eagerly persecute the truth this is a sure conclusion that from Abel to this day the truth of the Religion of Christ and the obedient and faithfull professours thereof have ever beene persecuted whereas all Idolatry and superstition of how different kinds soever hath beene and is freely exercised From whence the reason will follow thus If the Religion of Christ and the faith in him have onely beene persecuted by the devill and his Instruments even from the beginning of the world untill now then the faith in Christ is onely the true faith and Hee the onely Saviour of the world But the first is true by the testimony of the holy Scripture and all those histories both ecclesiasticall and prophane that write any thing concerning this matter and the practice of the Turkes at this day doth approve it Therefore the Faith in Christ is onely the true faith and He the onely Saviour of the world 12. To this argument of the sufferings for the faith of Christ you may take another from the heresies that have beene thereabout For as a malitious enemy besieging a Castle impregnable poisons the fountaine of which the defenders must needs drinke so the faith of Christ being that onely fountaine of life by which we are sustained in our spirituall warfare hath by the malice of the devill beene troubled g with all kindes of heresies which the devill could possibly forge by the wits of his Instruments whereas in all the false worships that have beene in the world no questions nor dissentions have beene but every man wandred as hee was led in the darkenesse of his foolish heart And yet in all these heresies through the gratious direction of the Spirit of Christ and the light of his word the true faith hath prevailed according to his promise Math. 16.18 That all the devils that passe in and out at the gates of Hell shall not prevaile against it From whence you may reason thus That faith which onely hath beene attempted by all manner of heresies to bee corrupted thereby and yet hath stood uncorrupted and unreproveable in the True Faith But the Christian Faith onely is such Therefore the Christian Faith onely is the true Faith and consequently our Lord Iesus is the Saviour of the world seeing in Him onely wee looke for redemption 13. And this is that pole of the Loadstone whereto we may bee directed by every point within the compasse of the holy Scripture And these pointers that follow are sufficient to shew it Act. 2.36 Let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God hath made that same Iesus whom ye have crucified both Lord and Christ Act. 4. v. 10.11.12 There is no salvation in any other for there is no name under heaven given among men whereby wee must be saved save onely the name of Iesus Christ of Nazareth whom God hath raised from the dead Act. 16.31 Beleeve on the Lord Iesus Christ and thou shalt be saved and thy whole house Act. 17.3 Paul opened and proved that Christ must needes have suffered and risen againe from the dead and this Iesus whom I preach unto you is the Christ Act. 18.28 He mightily convinced the Iewes and that publikely shewing by the Scriptures that Iesus was the Christ 1 Cor. 3.11 other foundation can no man lay than that is laid which is
the scorching flame and endlesse misery But can a finite creature make treble satisfaction for an offence against an infinite justice or if it could can perfect justice require it or can a man be more mercifull then God or pity the creature more than He or is His just doome to be dispenst withall or dare any Saint undertake for one condemned who without mercy were in the same condemnation But it seemes she speakes as she had learned by tradition or which is confest by most that her Oracles have been corrupted And it seemes that some men have beene of this mind as you may see in Thom Aquin in Sent lib. 4. Dist 46. q. 4. Yet if the question were rightly stated and examined according to reason the affirmative might seeme more probable than that opinion which they father upon Saint Origen that the devills also shall be saved at last But because it is not fit in this grammar of Christian Religion to trouble the vulgar eares with paradoxes you may perhaps find this question handled in that booke which is intituled Arithmetica sacra In the meane time he shall further me much therein that shall truely teach me the true and uttermost meaning of the Iubile ARTICLE VIII ⧠I beleeve in the Holy-Ghost CHAP. XXXIII § 1. THe word Ghost in English our true speech is as much as athem or breath in our new Latine language a Spirit The metaphoricall use of it as it signifies a qualitie as wee say the Spirit of meeknesse of jealousie of pride or that spirit of 7. devills which troubles and overturnes the state of the world which God doth hate above all other Psal 10.3 I meane the spirit of covetousnesse hath no place here nor yet the word spirit as it may meane any being elementall as we speake of the winde or any subtile steame raised from a moist body nor yet as it signifies those created ethereall spirits which wee call Angels but onely as our Lord speakes Iohn 4.24 God is a Spirit which as it is spoken of the God-head essentially so heere wee confesse that wee beleeve in the Holy-Ghost or Spirit that third Person in the glorious Trinity our God our Sanctifier our Comforter eternally one with the Father and the Sonne unto whose faith and service onely wee are baptized as our Saviour commanded Matth. 28.19 Goe teach all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father the Sonne and of the Holy-Ghost As fast as our heavy-footed reason can follow our faith I have in the 10 11 and 12. Chapter and Notes thereon already shewed the distinct substances of the three Person in the unity of their essence so that it seemes there is nothing in this place needfull to that point but onely to bring those Scriptures which doe directly prove the God-head of the Holy-Ghost and that Hee doth proceede from the Father and the Sonne For the first you may take these Texts 1. Iohn 5.7 There are three that beare witnesse in heaven the Father the Word and the Holy Spirit and these three are one Actes 5.3.4 Why hath Satan fill'd thy heart that thou shouldest lie unto the Holy-Ghost Thou hast not lyed unto men but unto God Mark 3.29 He that shall blaspheme against the Holy-Ghost hath never forgivenesse but is in danger of eternall damnation Therefore the Holy-Ghost is God Take hereto texts brought Chap. 11. § 3. num 9. By all which Scriptures it is manifest that the Holy-Ghost is God coessentiall with the Father and the Sonne and therefore to be worshipped and glorified with the same glory with them And that He doth proceed from the Father and the Sonne these texts doe make it plaine Iohn 15.26 When the Comforter is come whom I will send unto you from the Father even the Spirit of trueth which proceedeth from the Father Hee will testifie of mee And Iohn 16.7 If I depart I will send the Comforter unto you Rom. 8.9 He is called the Spirit of God and the Spirit of Christ. Gal. 4.6 Because yee are sonnes God hath sent the Spirit of His Sonne into your hearts crying Abba Father See Rev. 5.6 and Iohn 20.22 Hee breathed on them and said Receive ye the Holy-Ghost By which it is manifest that the Holy-Ghost proceedeth from Him And this is that Holy Spirit that dwelleth in us and that not onely by His graces and gifts in us nor onely as God every where present that worketh all in all but also as in those Temples which He hath sanctified for His perpetuall dwelling as it is said 1. Cor. 6.19 Know yee not that your bodie is the temple of the Holy-Ghost which is in you Neither doth the Holy-Ghost onely dwell with them whom He hath sanctified unto Himselfe but together with Him both the Father and the Son as it is said Iohn 14.16 I will pray the Father and Hee shall give you another comforter even the Spirit of trueth that Hee may abide with you for ever And againe verse 23. If a man love mee hee will keepe my wordes and my Father will love him and wee will come unto him and make our abode with him And thus is the Tabernacle of God with men and thus doth He dwell among them Therefore let us remember that precept Eph. 4.30 Not to grieve that Holy Spirit by our willfull sinnes whereby wee are sealed to the day of redemption For if any man defile the Temple of God him will God destroy 1. Cor. 3.17 This is the seale and pledge of our eternall hope For if the spirit of Him that raised up Iesus from the dead doth dwell in us He shall also quicken our mortall bodies by His Spirit that dwelleth in us as I shewed more fully Chap. 17. § 4. num 2. Neither indeed were it any assurance of hope or comfort to know and beleeve that God the Father created all things by Iesus Christ and that Christ the Sonne of God died for the sinnes of men for so much the devills acknowledge except wee did also know and beleeve that the fruite and effect of that redemption did belong to every beleever in particular and that in the eternall purpose of God wee were created unto this hope And this faith and knowledge is wrought in us only by the Holy-Ghost as you may read Iohn 16.13.14 and Eph. 1. from verse 17. to the end Neither yet could wee have sure consolation in this witnesse of the Holy-Ghost unto our hearts except wee did certainely know that this Holy-Ghost which witnesseth these things unto us were God who cannot lie Whereof wee have full proofe by those graces which Hee worketh in us as first the knowledge of the trueth then faith to beleeve it then as living water doth he wash our consciences from sinne then as another Evangelist speaketh doth Hee as fire inflame our hearts with the love of God a hatred of sinne and a desire to walke in newnesse of life and although wee be daily assaulted by the world and the devill
differences are found But although in that booke set out in folio by Robert Stephan 1550. the differences I thinke are not fewer then the divers readings in the Old Testament yet are they not such as make any change of the sence at all except such as all will confesse to be the fault of the writer as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom. 12.11 and these are very seldome found Then concerning that which some others bring for the vulgar edition of the Latine to be authenticall if upon better view they will be content where it is faulty or doubtfull to examine and correct it by the Greeke copy we shall not need to spend any time about it So the onely opposition is from Mahumed who although he speakes more then can be look't for from an aduersary concerning Christ and commends His disciples and other penne-men of the New Testament as men Holy True and Faithfull followers of their Master yet he saith that the Christians which were after them corrupted their writings And that it may appeare what spirit set this mutinous souldier a worke he denies that which is the ground and foundation of our redemption saying That Christ was neither the Sonne of God nor yet that He was crucified for us See Cusa Cribr Alchoran lib. 1. cap. 3. I have already prooved that our Mediator must be God Chap. 21. And likewise that our Saviour was crucified for us Chap. 27. N. 2. And if the reasons there delivered be of force to proove the conclusions then doe they sufficiently refute this falshood of Mahumed and if this Forger had wit to understand it we say no other thing of Christ when according to the Scriptures we call Him the Sonne of God then Mahumed himselfe saith when according to the selfe same Scriptures he calls Him the Word of God For though Sonne in the Scripture be of large signification As sonnes of the quiver for arrowes Lam. 3.13 Sonnes of Sion that is citizens there Psal 149.2 Sonnes of the wedding 〈…〉 chamber that is the bridegroomes friends Matth. 9.15 and many such like in which the word may seeme to bee vsed metaphorically yet is the word properly and truely spoken of every effect that is homogeneous although there be no generation betweene a male and a female as the branches are the daughters of the Vine Gen. 49.22 and the sparks are truely called the sonnes of the cole Iob 5.7 So in that which the mind or understanding of man doth view the name thereof the word the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the ratio under which it is conceived and the expression thereof is likewise the Son of the understanding and much more in that eternall and infinite understanding of God in the view of His owne being shall the character or actuall expression of that infinite being be truely called the Word or Sonne of God 1. But it cannot be true which Mahumed saith concerning the writings of the Apostles that they are corrupted For as in all other so in the particulars the Testaments doe both agree and it hath been prooved before that the bookes of the Old Testament doe still remaine in their integrity 2. Neither can the trueth in these two points concerning Christ which had been professed 600 yeeres almost before Mahumed was borne which so many Christians in all their persecutions had so constantly sealed unto with so many thousands of their bloods shed in every corner of the world be defaced by a new devised forgery of Mahumed 3. Moreover what can be more absurd and witlesse then to say or thinke that the Christians would falsify the Scriptures in these two points for which above all other things their Religion was hated by the Infidels and themselues so deadly persecuted because they held Him to be God that had died as a man and affirmed that He had risen againe whom they confessed to have died on the Crosse Neither doth he accuse the Christians in these two things only but also that they had defaced his name and memory out of that promise which our Lord made to His disciples concerning the Holy-Ghost For Mahumed would be he by whom they should be led into all trueth Mars Fic de Christ Rel. cap. 36. and out of him Hugo Grocius de Rel Christ lib. 6. But Mahound you never declared what things should come as the promise of the Holy-Ghost doth stand For as you disclaime miracles so where you speake beside the text of the Scripture you utter onely your owne errours 2. Moreover this promise was made to the Apostles and to bee fulfilled in them especially by whose ministery the word was to proceed from Sion among the Gentiles which was never promised to be preached by Mahumed or his theeues of Arabia 3. Beside that glorious gift of the Holy-Ghost the manifestation whereof by speaking with tongues and working miracles had ceased in the Church long before Mahumed was borne insomuch that Aug. 200 yeeres before him had profest that he that would not then beleeve without a miracle Magnum ipse miraculum est And therefore that tricke of the whispering Dove the lie of the Camel that spake to him in the night and that piece of the Moone that dropt into his sleeve as they came too late as they were to no end and without witnesses so are they against his owne profession that he came not with miracles 4. And againe if our Lord had made any such promise as might concerne him the Christians who ever reverenced His word were bound by that promise to reverence the memorie of Mahumed and to expect what further light or manifestation of the trueth hee would bring to the Church But his doctrine brings in againe those weake and beggerly rudiments of the law circumcision and the difference of meats directly contrary to Christ and the doctrine of His Apostles who teach the fulfilling and utter abrogating of all these ceremonies by Christ And yet in those ceremonies of meats and drinkes there is such a dissension about Wine as that his followers cannot agree unto this day His doctrine of many wives though tollerated for a time by Moses in in that hard-hearted people of the Iewes yet is contrary to the doctrine of the Prophets Mal. 2.14 15. of Christ and His Apostles By all which things it may appeare that Mahumed ran when he was not sent which he himselfe if his sencelesse followers could see it doth confesse in that he doth utterly forbid them to question any thing in his Alchoran or to dispute about his religion but to follow it in blind obedience And whether the wares be counterfeit which you must buy unseene every man may judge And these reasons against Mahumed in particular with the rest that are against Simon Magus and his competitors in the Note on Chap. 23. § 1. are sufficient to proove that our Lord made no such promise of Mahumed to come as he did dreame and therefore that the Scriptures of the
it hath power to convert the soule that it is sure that it makes the simple wise Psal 19.7 And therefore are they not the messengers of Christ but rather the ministers of Satan who under any pretext of falling into heresie of hardnesse to be understood or the like with-hold the laytie from the reading of the Scriptures It is not denied but that many things therein are hard to be understood yet that one thing which is needfull Luk. 10.42 That mystery of the knowledge of Christ which was kept secret since the world began is now made manifest by the Scriptures of the Prophets to all Nations for the obedience of faith Rom. 16.25.26 1. For seeing the instruction of God must be of all such things as are above our knowledge and yet of such things as are most necessary for us to know if nothing be more necessary for us to know than the meanes of our delivery from sinne and death by the merit of Christ it is necessary that one needfull thing be made manifest unto us by the Scriptures of God that every one may know and come freely to the fountaine of living Waters But what helps a fountaine that is sealed up Therfore it is necessary that our redemption by Christ be cleerely plainely and for every mans understanding taught in the holy Scriptures 2. Most of the arguments of § 2. are easily brought to prove that the Scriptures are easie to bee understood 1. For what comfort or hope could wee have by them if wee understood them not 2. How is our memory helpt by that we know not 3. How are wee confirmed in our most holy faith and religion by that wee understand not 4. How should wee understand those high mysteries so farre beyond our apprehension as the Trinitie of Persons in Vnitie of the Deitie c. but that the Holy Scriptures have made them easie unto us 5. How should wee know the danger and punishment of our sinne or the reward of our obedience if the Scripture did not fullie instruct us therein 6. You may also bring hither the reasons in § 4. I need not repeat them nor teach a child how from the sufficiencie of the Scripture he may proove their easinesse to be understood See there Object 1 Object 1. But doth not Saint Peter 2. Epistle 3.16 say that in Saint Pauls Epistles as in the other Scriptures there are some things hard to bee understood Answere Though some things be hard yet the fundamentall points of our Religion as the articles of our faith and the rules of a Christian life are plaine and easie to bee understood therein and these are the things by the knowledge and performance of which wee may hope to have everlasting life Object 2 Object 2. But it is not the word of the Scripture that the unlearned and unstable wrest the things which they understand not to their owne destruction Nay did not the Hereticks though many of them learned peruert the Scripture to the supportance of their damnable Heresies And were it not better that they had never read the Scriptures than that they should read them with so great danger both to themselues and to others as it hath appeared by the heresies that have beene sowne in the Church Answere If I seeme to give you a sullen answere yet reprove it not if it stand with the trueth It is said 1. Pet. 2.9 That Christ is a stone of stumbling and a rocke of offence to the disobedient but to them that obey the trueth elect and precious But should Christ therefore not have come to redeeme His Elect because some shewed themselves unworthy of eternall life Therefore if the Gospel be uneasie or hid it is hid to them that are without whose eyes the God of this world hath blinded that they should not perceive the trueth Therefore as Christ redeemed the elect prayes for the elect not for the world but for them whom God had given him out of the world Iohn 17.9 So the benefits which are peculiar to the Church of which the true understanding of the Scripture is one belongs to them who with an honest and pure heart receive the word and bring forth fruit with patience But it is true that even to those many things are yet unknowne and some things doubtfull and this by the dispe sation of God 1. To avoid wearinesse in the reader 2. To stirre up our diligence and further inquest 3. That wee may aske wisedome of God and not trust to our owne understanding 4. That in the high and gâ—eat mysteries of God wee should hold our selues contented with that knowledge of them which God hath vouchsafed to give us in His word and such conclusions as doe necessarily follow thereupon But if the Scriptures be able indeed to give wisedome to the simple to make Children wise to saluation through faith in Christ if they give instruction in righteousnesse and make the man of God perfect and throughly furnished to every good worke 2. Tim. 3.16.17 then doubtlesse are they for every mans reading for the perfect and him that is throughly furnished for children and for the simple for all ages of men and women Ho every one that thirsteth come to tâ—e waters Come buy Wine and Milke without money or price Es 55. verse 1. Of the Scriptures Jnterpretation § 7. ANd if the Scripture be for every ones reading then certainely for euery ones interpretation privately to his owne understanding according to the measure of his capacity For the interpretation of any word or writing is nothing else but the declaration of the native and true meaning thereof whether it be literall and that either simple or figurative or mysticall and that either allegoricall morall or anagogicall But that ought not to bee taken for the true meaning of the Scripture which every one according to his private fantasie is able to wring out but that onely is the true and lawfull interpretation thereof which doth offer it selfe according to the meaning of the words with due consideration of the argument or purpose of the text which is gathered by that which goes before and that which followes after And this interpretation is especially to be hoped from them who having knowledge of the Hebrew and Greeke wherein the Scriptures were originally written have made it all their studie and delight truely to understand them for their owne soules health and the instruction of others But that wee bee not overswayed by any opinion which wee may have of their learning or mightinesse in the Scriptures let nothing be taken for a true interpretation of the Scripture which is dishonourable to God contrary to any Article of the faith or any of the ten Commandements or the petitions of the Lord prayer or any received doctrine which is plainely taught by other places of Scripture Secondly nothing which is contrary to common reason and understanding or repugnant to civill custome and good manners 3. No man knoweth the things of God but
reasons for the assurance of everlasting life you may adde to them that are in the Chapter before And above all reason the holy promises of God which cannot faile as Iohn 3.16 God so loved the world that He gave His onely begotten Sonne that whosoâ—ver beleeveth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life Titus 3.7 Wee are made heires according to the hope of everlasting life Matth. 19.29 â—v ry one that hath forsaken houses c. or lands for 〈◊〉 shall receive an hundred fold and shall inherit everlasting life Pâ—al 37.18 The Lord knoweth the dayes of the upright that their inâ—â—râ—tanâ—e shall be for ever Psalm 23. I shall dwell in the house of the Lâ—â—d for ever And that the ioyes of heaven are eternall it may appeare by the torments of the wicked that are in hell of both which see Matth. 25. from vers 31. to 46. And therefore the Apostle concludes Rom. 8.18 That the afflictions which are of this present life are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall bee revealâ—d For those things which God hath prepared for them that love Him are such as neither eye hath seene nor eare hath heard neither have thâ—â— entred into the heart of man to conceive 1 Cor. 2.9 And concerning the assurance of this joy let the same mind be in us which was in Saint Paul Rom. 8.38 39. I am perswaded that neither death â—or life nor Angels nor principalities nor powers nor things present nor things to come nor height nor depth nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Iesus our Lord. For it is just with God to give unto His Sonne having fully satisfied His justice for the sinne of man to give to His Sonne I say according to the merit of His desert that glory and honour and immortall joy which is due to Him therefore which joy for the infinite merit of His Person being both God and man must likewise be infinite And because Himselfe is God blessed for evermore and hath eternall glory and happinesse and a Name which is above every name that is named in this world or in the world to come therefore hath Hee not any need of this purchased glory which is due for His sufferings but that glory is reserved for them that are called of His grace to be partakers thereof And because a finite creature cannot be capable of infinite glory at once intenâ—ivè that is according to the infinite measure thereof therefore is it bestowed extensivè that is in the externity or continuance thereof wherein man is carryed from glory to glory by the Spirit of the Lord 2 Cor. 3.18 Neither is it for any man to thinke that this glory which Christ hath purchased by His obedience should be setled on that humane nature which He assumed in the Incarnation For that hereditary or native glory which He had as being one with the Father was abundantly sufficient to glorifie that tabernacle wheresoever He was pleased to dwell as He saith Ioh. 17.5 And now ô Father glorifie thou Me with thine owne selfe with that glory which I had with thee before this world was So it appearing both by reason and authority of the holy Scripture that this happinesse which we doe beleeve in eternall life is to be eternall as the life is that first doubt which was first * In the 〈…〉 Chapterâ— proposed in the entrance is fully satisfied The other two questions concerning the soule you shall heare by and by § 2. The heresies that have been concerning this Article though they be divers yet two especially are needfull to be examined One of the Chiliasts which thought that after the resurrection the kingdome of Christ was to flourish 1000. yeeres in this world taking that Scripture which is in Revel 20. for proofe thereof The other is that which they lay to St. Origen That all the reasonable creature even the most wicked among men yea the very devills themselves after their sins by loâ—g torments have been purged out shall be restored to joy and happines in the kingdome of heaven and againe after a long time shall fall to their former sins againe and so returne to their ancient punishment and this say they shall be the revolution of all the reasonable creature both good and bad for ever 1. But this is contrary to the trueth of the holy Scripture For no creature either man or Angel can approach to God or come to heavenly happines but onely such as God doth love and whom He loves He loves unto the end Iohn 13.1 because in Him is neither variablenesse nor shadow of change Iam. 1.17 2. Moreover as none can be partaker of heavenly joyes but such as are interested therein by Christ seeing no man commeth to the Father but by Him Ioh. 14.6 if there should be any falling from joy it would seeme to argue an insufficiency of the merit of Christ which cannot stand with the infinity thereof 3. Besides if God willed this eternall revolution of the creature from extreame joy to paine and from paine to joy then were we not taken into the state of sonnes and heirs of glory yea coheirs with Iesus Christ Ro. 8.17 but to the state of bond men which should have so much happines as we were able to purchase by our indurance of afflictions and torments 4. So the justice of God should not be infinite if it might be satisfied by a finite creature 5. And if any satisfaction to God could have bin made beside that which was by the death of Christ then that of Christ had beene needlesse and in vaine But all these things are impossibilities Therefore there is no such revolution from one state to another as this opinion fained to Origen after his death when hee could not answer for himselfe would bring in But though Origen were a Saint yet was he a man and so might have his errours CHAP. XL. Amen ⧠The third supply Concerning the questions incident 1. Whether the soule of man be immortall § 1. 2. Whether there be one common soule of all men § 2. 3. That the holy Religion of the Christians is onely true and none other beside it § 3. 4. How faith is said to justifie § 4. Whether the soule of man be immortall § 1. IT is not the doubt that any Christian can make whether the soule of man be immortall or no. For when God hath come downe from heaven and hath taken upon Himselfe the being of man when He hath beene borne and died to make satisfaction for the sinne of man can any one that beleeves this make a doubt whether hee have an immortall soule or whether immortall life doe belong to him both in soule and body Therefore is not this question proposed for the Christians sake but by way of defiance against the Atheist and such godlesse people as say in their hearts There is no God no soule no life
there to be confused as a drop of water falling into a River For the soules being separate from the bodies have their severall degrees of perfections whereby they are distinguished as 2. from 3. so as they cannot be the same as 2. cannot bee 3. 5. Moreover both that unitie and this confusion of soules would utterly take away all justice in reward and punishment of their deeds which they have done well or ill in this life 6. The uttermost happinesse of man is the adequation of all his faculties in that which is the perfection of goodnesse that is that he love that which hee understands and that he have power to performe it for otherwise his understanding would bee the originall of paine and sorrow unto him if he should know that which were good to be done and should not have power to effect it But if there were a confusion of all soules or their understandings when they are separate from the body that universall unitie or confusion of soules would cause a lesnesse or abatement in the glory and end of the understanding and consequently an abatement of mans love to the Creator seeing the greatest understanding could not aduance the meane and low understanding of fooles and ignorants but contrariwise in that confusion should by them be abased But this is contrary to the nature of the understanding of the will of perfect love c. Therefore impossible to bee 7. The excellency or greatnesse of every thing hath the greatest concordance with being as the littlenesse or meannes of being inclines to not being and hath some agreement there-with From whence it will follow of necessitie first that if there bee one common or universall soule or understanding which is divideable into very man this division takes away that universall unitie For how can it be one in number if it be divisible yet not materiall or bodily but that excellencie which is in the common soule by that infinite division among so many millions of men is brought almost to not being Secondly there must be different understandings of all men both living and dead that the excellencie of all trueth may find some understandings by which it may bee apprehended 3. Seeing nothing is truely beloved which is not first knowne or understood the love and that understanding which man hath of God by this division suffers such detriment as cannot bee made up againe For the soule being parted among all men alike one cannot love nor understand more than another So neither the excellency of one man can be more than another nor the glory or happinesse of one man more than another 8. Common experience and the difference which is in men shewes the position to be false and foolish and so let it go branded You may see what Cusa brings to this question Idiotae lib. 3. cap. 12. And Tho. Aquin. contra gent. lib. 2. cap. 73. and the decree of the Lateran Councell Sess 8. Object But you will say If the soules of all men be onely of one kind and that their difference is onely in number then this difference of the soules must arise onely from the bodies to which they are allyed from whence these inconveniences must follow necessarily First that the soules of men are materiall formes for the particular being of every thing depends upon that from whence it receives the individuation So that the soule of man depending on the body and having the originall of the particular being from the body either it dies with the body as the soule of the beast or if it remaine after the body yet seeing it receives the particular being from the body when it is parted from the body it must run into the common Chaos of life seeing that whereby the distinction was made that is the particular bodies are now taken away Answere The suppositions of this objection that the difference of mens soules is onely in number or depending upon the particular individuation of their bodies are false For the particular endowments of every soule make such differences as is fit to bee in soules as I gave instance before in numbers to every one of which an unity added or taken away makes the number so different as that it cannot be any other number than that it is Although numbers are not truely said to bee different Species but onely to bee distinct or divers individuals For in Spirituall substances as the soule of man is whereof wee know so little as wee doe wee must be content to hold the generall trueths when we cannot know the particular or precise differences That the holy Religion and Faith of the Christians is onely true and none other beside it § 3. ALl true Religion must have the beginning from the true God So neither the seruice of the false gods of the Painims nor the will-worship either of the Iewes or of the Christians can come into any account of true Religion And because the true God onely knowes what seruice is acceptable unto Himselfe and therefore hath from time to time taught his people what He requireth of them therefore this question which is now to be decided is onely betweene the Christians and the people of the Iewes or Israelites seeing these onely have received the lawes and words of God how they ought to serue Him For whatsoever the Turks may pretend for their religion which their false Prophet Mahomed taught them yet they have no authoritie from heaven neither by their law may they question any thing which they have beene taught But concerning the Iewes though it must bee yeelded unto them that they were the true Church first called and separated from the world to be a peculiar people unto God who first received the covenant of Circumcision and after under Moses the other ceremonies even untill the time of reformation came by Iesus Christ yet because they did not looke unto the end of the law nor see how all the law was finished in Him in whom all the Nations of the earth were to be blessed therefore they dwell still in their old and beggerly rudiments being still seduced by their Rabbins teaching them that their law is an eternall law as it is yeelded unto them concerning the inward meaning or substance that is Christ and His eternall Redemption But concerning the outward obseruances the Law is not eternall as divers of their owne both by Nation and sometimes by opinion have manifested unto them I name unto you onely Paulus Ricius who hath made it plaine both by the Scriptures of the Prophets and and by the Talmudists their expositors in his second booke de coelesti agricultura That the rootes as they call them or Articles of the Iewish faith are not a sufficient direction to bring them to heaven but that the Christians by their faith may bee made partakers of the â—oyes to come For first hee prooves that the doctrine of the Trinity of Persons in the unitie of the deitie is agreeable to