not these texts But they are not delivered out of the pulpit If the pulpit make a sermon then where dost thou reade that Christ and his Apostles at any time made sermons Didst thou ever reade of a pulpit in the scripture But tell me thou man all for sermons what is a sermon is it not a speech of God and heavenly things and then is not the divine service this But thou wilt shift out further and say This is not after the manner of our preachers who make divisions answer objections lay open the scope of the text and amplifie it by divers theses and uses to the purpose Then what sayest thou to the Churchsermons which for the more honour from the Greek tongue are called Homilies are not these framed just after the manner of your preachers I but thou wilt say These are dead sermons because they are onely read in which reading there is little or no life Then why hath the Church made them why hath the Church commanded them to be read would the Church have mens souls to be fed with dead things But tell me what difference is there between a sermon read the same sermon spoken by memorie and by heart there is the same pronunciation the same sense the same invention But I will prove to thee out of Gods word if thou wilt beleeve Gods word that the very reading of it is preaching and not onely preaching but lively and working preaching working upon mens souls to grace and goodnesse And that Gods word read unto us is preaching you shall finde it expressed in Acts 15. 21. where it is thus written For Moses of old time hath in every citie them that preach him seeing he is read in the synagogues every sabbath-day Where the reason why Moses that is to say the Law of Moses was preached every sabbath to the Jews is rendred to be this Because it was every sabbath-day read unto them Next that this reading is no dead preaching but lively and working see 2. Kings 22. 10 11 and 19 verses There you shall finde that the bare reading of the Law by Shaphan the Chancellour did so work upon good king Josiah that he rent his clothes and wept and his heart melted before the Lord. Secondly the bare reading of the roll from Jeremies mouth caused the people to fast and pray and fear and to return from their evil way as you may reade in Jeremie 36. Thirdly the bare reading of Baruchs book made the governour the kings sonne and all the people to weep fast and pray and fear and to return from their evil way as you may reade in the first chapter of that book Whose preaching can work better effects Fourthly by Gods word written and read faith is procured as you may reade in John 20. 31. These things are written that ye may beleeve that Jesus is that Christ the Sonne of God and that in beleeving ye might have life through his name If men may have life eternall by reading holy writingâ— then what wretches are they which seek to discredit this Again this is proved from Christs command in John 5. 39. Search the scriptures that is to say Study them by your reading for they are they which testifie of me From all which I conclude that they which deny reading of the scriptures to be a lively and effectuall kinde of preaching and disable it from begetting faith and other spirituall vertues make Jeremiah a false prophet Baruch a false historian the second book of Kings false scripture John a false apostle and our Saviour a false Christ for all these affirm it Further if there be no life in reading then what is in the Psalmes which are sung in the church to Gods praise for they are not preached is there no edifying in them neither then why doth the Apostle say Coloss. 3. 16. Teaching and admonishing your own selves in psalmes and hymnes and spirituall songs singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord But to come nearer to thee when our commissioners of justice under the King send their warrants to our cities and villages and they are read to thee by our under-officers dost thou not understand them dost thou not prepare thy self to perform them Now canst thou understand beleeve the warrants of men when they are read to thee and canst thou not understand and beleeve the warrants of Almighty God when they are read by his Ministers Cannot God as significantly expresse himself unto thee as a Lieutenant a Justice or a chief Constable If thou takest exception at Gods greatnesse and his high style know thou that he spake to men And though he once wrote his law with his own finger and spake it with his own mouth yet ever since he hath spoken all his divine precepts and written all his divine warrants by such men as we our selves are and used too our own words and dialects If thou objectest the deep revelations of S. John or the hard things of S. Paul then I will tell thee of our Church-tenet against Papist and Puritane that all things necessarie to salvation are so plainly written and so easie of digestion that as Fulgentius writeth there is abundantly both for men to eat and for children to suck Then whosoever thou art if thou canst not here be satisfied the fault is thy own For as the children of Israel loathed the heavenly bread of manna so thou loathâ—st the divine food of the soul because it is as common to thee as manna was to them As our horse and kine in the Spring having tasted of the fresh grasse will eat no more hay so our Puritanes after the taste of fresh sermons will touch no more the common service but blow upon it though there be the root and substance of all their sermons Such dainty and queasie stomacks were in S. Chrysostomes time who was the most famous preacher of the Greek Church His words are these in his third homilie upon the 2. Thess. where he brings in the Puritane thus speaking 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Wherefore do I enter the church except I may heare one preaching then he addeth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This hath marred and corrupted all And afterward answereth the Puritane in this manner 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 What need is there of a preacher by our negligence this necessitie is made Then he sheweth the reason 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For what need is there of preaching all things are cleare and plain in the scriptures all things necessary are manifest but because you are delicate hearers hunting after pleasure in your hearing therefore ye seek these things Where you understand from this famous and judicious preacher that the besotted negligence of our delicate Puritanes is that which makes them to runne so after sermons God speaks unto thee every holy day by his own word wilt not thou understand him or canst thou not understand him If thou saist thou canst not then thou makest God but a
solus habebat enim secum quam habebat in semetipso rationem suam By reason he meaneth his intellect And further he had not onely with him then his intellect or understanding but he had also with him his will so in all there were three the Father Sonne and holy Ghost to which three the world and all things that now are were then present in their idea's But to return to Gods eternitie this must be a life because it is life that maketh things to last Therefore Boëtius thus defineth it Aeternitas est vitae interminabilis tota simul perfecta possessio Eternitie is the possession of an unterminable life whole together This life must have no term for if it should then God could not be God because then either the previver or the surviver would carrie it away If any thing had been before God then that previver had been God or if any thing should be after him then the surviver would inherit Wherefore it follows that that which is alwayes must be God and so his life subject to no term And this eternitie of God is expressed unto us in holy Scripture two wayes privatively and positively Privatively in Melchizedech Christs figure who in Heb. 7. 3. is said to have neither beginning of dayes nor end of life but is likened to the Sonne of God and continueth a priest for ever This is thus said of him not simpliciter absoluté but respectivé because he was but a figure and not the substance of eternitie And it is said of him so for that neither the beginning of his dayes nor the end of his life is in holy Scripture discovered but this is absolutely and simply true in the Sonne of God because he was before the day was he was before the creation when there was no distinction of time and he shall be after the worlds dissolution when there shall be no more time according to that of the angel in Apocalyps 10. 6. who sware by him that liveth for ever that time should be no more for then time shall be turned into eternitie Therefore he which was before the day and before time and shall be after the day and after time he which hath neither beginning nor ending must needs be eternall Positively he is in Apocalyps called Alpha and Omega the beginning and the ending the first and the last If he be the first then nothing was before him and if he be the last then nothing shall be after him And from hence it followeth because it is absolutely spoken that he is Principium sine principio Finis sine fine as the School speaketh But in 1. Thess. 5. 10. it is said that we also shall live together with him therefore we also shall be eternall It is answered that our life is not eternall absoluté but participativé because if we should not live with Christ we should not live eternally Again mans eternitie is but half an eternitie because it is not vita interminabilis For though mans life shall have no end by enjoying Christ yet it had a beginning at its first being Lastly where Boëtius saith that eternall life is simul tota the whole together this sheweth that it hath no partition nor passion neither of youth nor age And the image of this eternitie is the sphere of the heavens which hath no fracture in beginning or ending but is all whole within it self so that you cannot say Here it begins or here it ends from whence ariseth the axiom in Schools Spherica figura est perfectissima Gods eternitie is not like our lower world for it hath neither orient nor occident spring nor autumne youth nor age but his life is all of one vigour his life and durance is simul tota he hath neither praeteritum nor futurum but his ever-present esse From hence is this comfortable consectarie that though it be an impossibilitie for any creature to adequate God in his eternitie yet he hath ordained all his sonnes in Christ to partake of it by living with him eternally This is the Christians summum bonum their last rest their verum delectabile Aeterno omnipotenti Deo laus gloria in secula seculorum AMEN A TREATISE Shewing the Antichrist not to be yet come Out of the 2. Chapter of the second Epistle to the Thessalonians 1. Now we beseech you brethren by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and by our gathering together unto him 2. That ye be not soon shaken in minde or be troubled neither by spirit nor by word nor by letter as from us as that the day of Christ were at hand WHen S. Paul that blessed Apostle had in his former epistle taught the Thessalonians the doctrine of the resurrection the foundation of our faith and hope in Christ it may seem some busie spirits stirred up by the enemie of mankinde had gone about to weaken this strong foundation to the future and finall subversion thereof by adding false doctrine unto it Whereas he had taught them the certaintie of our resurrection they would confine it to a short time The devil their schoolmaster made this project that if the Thessalonians might be perswaded of the soon coming of Christ then when they should be frustrate of their expectation they might make doubt of their faith from doubt fall to despair and so their foundation should by degrees be shaken and in the end turn to nothing And from hence are to spring the mockers in S. Peters second epistle and third chapter saying Where is the promise of his coming for since the fathers died all things continue alike from the beginning of the creation Now whereas this project of Satan was so fatall to the subversion of our faith the blessed Apostle as in cases of weightiest importance compoundeth a prayer mixt with an adjuration to binde the Thessalonians from this wrong conceit First he prayeth them We beseech you brethren next he adjureth them by the coming of our Lord and by our gathering together unto him The first is the period of our expectation the second the consummation of our happinesse by both these he beseecheth and adjureth them that they would not hastily look for the day of Christ nor designe to themselves the time of his coming because this was not expedient for them as he insinuateth in the fifth chapter of his first epistle And to the end they might flee this main inconvenience first he exhorteth them to constancie that they would not be shaken in minde nor troubled that is that they would make no doubt of this doctrine because he that doubteth shaketh in faith and after shaking comes ruine and falling and after perturbation of minde follows confusion of minde which is the subversion of all the senses Next he forewarns them of three kindes of imposture or cozenage that is by spirit by word by writing By spirit men cozen when they father false doctrine upon the spirit by word when they
regenerate soul acteth all And whereas bonum is by Divines distinguished into verum apparens the true good and the appearing good the true good is that which hath order to the best end which is Gods glorie and our eternall good of this kinde are all holy habits qualities and good works commanded by God The appearing good is that which hath no order to the best end but is onely for this world and appeareth glorious to the naturall man And this is expressed by S. John in these three particulars the lust of the flesh the lust of the eyes and the pride of life The lust of the flesh is fleshly concupiscence the lust of the eyes is covetousnesse and the pride of life is a mans animositie appearing in anger arrogancie and the like All these as S. John saith are not of the Father but of this world and are the devils baits to hook the unwise generation Lastly here may the question be moved Whether the goodnesse of substance in man be better then the goodnesse of qualitie To this I answer that the goodnesse of substance is de esse but the goodnesse of qualitie is de bene esse which is Gods grace qualifying substance and therefore the better For the souls of the damned have their esse in hell and are miserable but the souls of the Saints by Gods grace and the good qualitie are in heaven which is their chief good Grace and the good qualitie is the perfection and complement of substance A holy and a good man is better then a man because holinesse and goodnesse is the perfection of a man As the soul is the form of man so grace and goodnesse is the form of the soul it healeth nature it giveth to man quoddam supernaturale it is the root of vertues it is the greatest of gifts it is correspondent to eternall glorie by it the holy Ghost inhabiteth in us and therefore in this life this good is maximè appetibile Thus farre of the goodnesse of God in the state of grace but the greatest of his goodnes is to be seen in the state of glorie because the state of glorie is the end and perfection of the state of grace In this state his goodnesse consisteth of joy and glorie Joy is the crown of the heart and glorie is the crown of the head the one is the complement of the will and appetite the other of the minde and intellect The intellect shall there be filled with the vision of God the will and affections with the fruition of his love and the lower part of the soul with its proper objects And that this may the better be effected in that blessed estate God hath ordained certain means for the possessing of it which S. Thomas calleth dotes dowries and these are certain glorious habits or dispositions fitting the souls and bodies of the saints for the enjoying of eternall blisse because without means nothing may be applied And these dowries are three vision which answereth to faith in this life apprehension answering to hope and fruition answering to charitie Besides in that blessed estate there are degrees of joy and glorie insinuated by our Lord saying In my Fathers house are many mansions and by S. Paul comparing As one starre differeth from another in glorie so is the resurrection of the dead again by the parable of the seed sown in good ground which brought forth some an hundred-fold some sixty some thirty-fold To this agreeth S. Gregory Quia in hac vitanobis est discretio operum erit proculdubio in illa discretio dignitatum ut quo hîc alius alium merito superat illîc alius alium retributione transcendat So also hath S. Cyprian In pace coronam vincentibus candidam pro operibus dabit in persecutione purpuream pro passione geminabit further thus Certent nunc singuli ad utriusque honoris amplissimam dignitatem Accipiant coronas vel de operibus candidas vel de sanguine purpureas Here shineth Gods justice in distributing rewards according to the varietie of his own grace in this life bestowed and Christians works by their free-will to the best end employed And because there are certain excellencies of works in overcoming the greatest difficulties therefore the School after the former demonstration argueth certain priviledged crowns which they call aureolae to be due to them which have conquered best to Martyrs for overcoming persecutions to Virgins for conquering the flesh and to Doctours for putting the devil to flight from their flocks And this goodnesse of God is so great that in the kingdome of glorie he giveth not even rewards to any but exceeding to all according to his riches in the parable expressed Give and it shall be given to you good measure pressed down and shaken together and running over shall they give into your bosome Lastly so great is Gods goodnesse every way that it sustaineth even the worst things that is to say all evil for such an infirmitie is evil that it cannot exist except it lean upon some good as on a subject for there can be no sicknesse but in the bodie no blindnesse but in the eye no lamenesse but in the member no more can there be the evil of pain but in the organ of sense nor sinne which is the evil of blame but in the soul receding from grace for sinne in the action is nothing else but the leaving of the divine order to the good end The subject is good and the action as it is an action is good but the running of it without order to a wrong end that onely is evil and is no way to be righted and resisted but by the other evil which is the evil of pain but of the two the evil of blame is the worst and greatest because it is opposite to Gods goodnesse as the evil of pain is opposite to the creatures good Consectaries The profitable consectarie is that whereas all true good proceedeth from God as from the cause both efficient and appetible the one being the beginning and the other the end of all true delights therefore he above all things is to be desired of us as the most appetible but with this caveat that he can never be enjoyed of us except we first become good like unto him by divine charitie and further that as he is good to all by causing his sunne to shine and his rain to rain as well upon the bad as the good so should we be good to all in praying for our enemies in converting sinners and in shining upon all our poore distressed neighbours with the light of mercie and liberalitie Gods Life The fourth attribute is Gods Life from which in holy scripture he is called the living God By his life he is distinguished from idols images and statues which are dead gods wherefore to countenance the great idol Bel with this attribute his priests with their wives and children eat up for him
yet fulfilled In the 12 of Daniel where the end of the world is prophesied it is said that then there shall be such a time of trouble as was not since there began to be a nation untill that time And in the sixth and seventh verses where question is moved of the time and durance of this trouble the angell sware by him that liveth for ever that it should be for a time times and an half that is to say for three yeares and an half and after this it is said in the text And when he shall have accomplished to scatter the power of the holy people that is to say when Antiochus hath made an end of oppressing the Jews and Antichrist of treading down the holy citie among the Christians then all these things shall be finished that is to say then shall be an end of the Jews persecutions and then shall be an end of the Christians oppressions when the world shall end and the day of resurrection come With this consenteth the threefold cable of prophesies in S. Johns Revelation The first of the blowing of the sixth trumpet in the ninth chapter where the foure angels bound at Euphrates were loosed to slay the third part of men And the horsemen of warre were twenty thousand times ten thousand which multitude as M. Fox saith agreeth best with the Turks armies The second of pouring out of the sixth viall in the sixteenth chapter where Euphrates is seen to be dried up that the way for the kings of the east might be prepared that is that the Scythians or Tartars might joyn with the Beast and the false Prophet in the battell of that great day of God Almightie And the third of the loosing of Satan in the twentieth chapter to gather Gog and Magog together that is the Turks and Tartars with the people of the foure quarters of the earth whose number shall be like the sand of the sea to compasse the camp of the saints about and the beloved citie which is the Church and the Christians And that this great warre is to be understood of Antichrists warre in the end of the world it is apparent both from the testimonie of interpreters and specially from the evidence of scriptures and the effects following For the interpreters I will use one for all which is S. Augustine in the 20 book of the citie of God and 11 chapter This shall be the last persecution when the last judgement shall hang over our heads which the holy Church through the world shall suffer that is the whole citie of Christ from the whole citie of the devil For the scriptures in the 24 of Matthew we reade that immediately after the tribulation of those dayes the sunne shall be darkened and the moon shall not give her light and the starres shall fall and after this the Sonne of man shall come in the clouds with power and great glorie In the 10 of the Apocalyps after the blowing of the sixth trumpet and the warre ended the mightie Angel that is Christ lift up his hand to heaven and swore that time should be no more and that in the dayes of the voice of the seventh trumpet which S. Paul calleth the last trumpet and the trumpet of God the mysterie of God should be finished In the 16. chapter after the pouring out of the sixth vial and the warre ended the seventh angel poured out his into the aire and there came a loud voice out of the temple of heaven and from the thrane saying It is done And the isles fled away and the mountains were not found Lastly in the 20 chapter after the gathering together of Gog and Magog after they had compassed the camp of the saints and the beloved citie after they had had their full pleasure over them then fire fell down from heaven upon them the devil the beast and the false prophet were cast into a lake of fire and brimstone the white throne was set up the books were opened and the dead were judged All these testimonies being testimonies of the last warres shew them to be Antichrists warres because they jump together with the abomination of desolation in Matth. 24. 15. and with S. Johns saying Little children it is the last time and as ye have heard that Antichrist shall come even now are there many Antichrists whereby we know that it is the last time Hitherto we have seen the intestine and civill warres of Christians as yet we have not seen the troups of the Ottomans we have not seen Gog and Magog the Scythian nations we have not seen the kings of the whole world gathered together by the three spirits of the dragon the beast and the false prophet we have not seen the armie whose number imitateth the sand of the sea as yet they have not spread the breadth of the earth as yet they have not compassed the camp of the saints as yet the Beast hath not imprinted his character upon us but we use our libertie we buy and sell great thanks be to our God Therefore as yet that great Antichrist is not come but we look for him to resist him in the faith and to overcome him with suffering What if he handle us as Antiochus handled the mother and the seven brethren if he kill us in the morning shall not our souls be crowned with joy in the evening shall not he for whom we suffer take away the edge of our pains is not the death of the sword shorter and easier then the death of the bed and is not the weight of the recompense above all rewards would not a man runne through a river of bloud to go to a kingdome oh this shall be the joyfullest suffering that ever was seen because our Lord Jesus shall come from heaven in person to make an end of it and to crown it When ye see these things begin to come to passe saith our Redeemer lift up your heads for your redemption draweth neare And again Know that the kingdome of God is neare even at the doores Wherefore we will not faint at Antichrists great looks nor at the multitude of his armies nor at the crueltie of his souldiers For though at first he get the field of us yet in the end the victorie and triumph shall be ours when that man of sinne shall be consumed with the spirit of Christs mouth and destroyed with the brightnesse of his coming when all his armies shall be gathered into Armageddon where were slain the kings of Canaan and into the valley of Hamon-Gog where they shall be buried to free the holy nation from their stink for ever Wherefore rejoyce ye Christians of a true heart for the overthrow is determined and the place of buriall is appointed before the enemie come Antichrists furniture Vers. 9. Even him whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signes and lying wonders Hitherto we have
veniunt qui 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Lectores habeat judicio graves Non praejudicii quos malesana mens Raptos turbine latura per invias Ignotas aliis sibi sit vias Non hîc quae metuat saxa Capharea Erroris scopuli per mare turbidum Incertis animi fluctibus appetens Coelestem trepidus navita patriam Hîc sincera Patrum dogmata veritas Non fucata suis nuda coloribus Hîc Templi decor hîc unica numine Summo relligio digna per improbam Gentis sacrilegae saepius ô scelus Subnervata fidem Non neglecta Fides spreta Scientia Spes calcata trias nobilis inclyta Quin hîc ut decuit regia Charitas Primas obtinuit Caetera non loquar Quae fundata sacris omnia literis Sustentata Patrum munific â manu Felici liber hic praebeat alite Rich. Watson Caio-Gon Ad eos qui Authorem pro novatore sunt habituri NOn nova fert veterum satur at provectior annis Scit veterum facies queis fuit esse nova Idem De conjunctione amoris fidei in Tractatu de charitate piè vindicata QUae bis quina fuêre priùs praecepta feruntur Ad duo lex jubet haec haec facit unus amor Quin ergò quid summa fides cluet una triumphat Servit amor fidei nec comes esse queat Justificat beat una fides facit omnia quid non Credam ego factura haec si siet una fides At fidei nisi juncta foret dilectio fallor Aut haec vana foret si foret ulla fides Quae dum dissociant alii Shelforde beato En tuus in patriam foedere junxit amor In patriam dixi felix Ecclesia nexu Hoc quae per duo sic juncta fit una simul Idem ¶ To the Authour concerning his learned and pious Treatise of Gods house RIch soul and blest for so I dare go on To voice that man whose life 's religion Who fears not to be good gives God his due In this our age and in the Temple too Who scorns these lothsome times and dares learn us To be lesse bold lesse superstitious Not to make God a man joyn heav'n with earth Use him familiarly who gave us birth Nor man a God by following praising such Who neither pray nor preach yet teach they much Lord when I view our Temples which now be Ruin'd by time beauties worst enemie Or rather by neglect crumbling to dust Can I perswade my self or may I trust Those ancient Fathers those pure Saints should then Fables or fruitlesse stories write ev'n when They praise yea blesse their founders and condemne Their puft up Catharists those chair-preaching men Can I conceive S. Pauls expression weak Not like himself when thus I heare him speak Ye are Gods Temples Did th' Apostle mean Our clay-like houses should be kept unclean All cobwebd o're with vices that a lust Should there inhabit and that it should rust The Berill Jasper Amethyst those three Celestiall graces Faith Hope Charitie Or when the Priest the soul must sacrifice A comely Altar should he then despise A pure well furnisht heart must not the place Be hung with well knit vertues where blest grace Resides Yes sure and he whoe're hath done The contrary dilapidation Of that Temple shall to his charge be laid Because his body Gods house thus decayd Now as these walking churches must be drest And purg'd from filth by all as well as Priest So must the other that 's Gods Temple too Though made with hands which carelesly if thou Profane demolish or perhaps abridge That of its honour 't is proud sacriledge Reader no more That God may have his due Turn o're this book and it will teach thee how E. Gower Coll. Jesu Soc. Raptim De hoc opere verè Orthodoxo in Novatores DOgmata qui fingunt novitatis rara supremae Quà m facili applausu nullóque examine cudunt Quin si fortè Patrum sancita ad prela propinquant Dente Theonino lacerant probrisque lacessunt Rodere sic solitus maledictis Zoile castum Relligionis opus calcans mysteria coeli Antiquanda doces veterum monumenta cremanda Tu Shelforde tuum noli curare libellum Novimus hoc omnes te posse problemata sacra Edere non virus malesanae effundere linguae Hinc mea si tantum possint mandata valere I liber invidiâ major victórque triumpha Intimi amoris ergô exoptat R. LONDON A SERMON Shevving How we ought to behave our selves in Gods house PSALME 93. 6. Holinesse becometh thy house O LORD for ever OUt of this Text I must undertake three great tasks The first to shew what Gods house is because this is the subject of my Text. The second to shew what God is because he is the owner of it The third to shew what is that holinesse and behaviour which becometh this house and the owner For the first I must follow holy Scripture in describing of it Gods house began with an Altar as all creatures arise from small seeds built in the place where God appeared to Abraham the father of the faithfull Gen. 12. 7. And the Lord appeared to Abraham and said Unto thy seed will I give this land and there builded he an Altar unto the Lord who appeared unto him In the eighth verse following it is said that he built another and called upon the name of the Lord. With this consent were our churches built where God appeareth to us by his word read and preached Secondly by the Sacrament of the Altar as it is called by the fathers and styled so in our own statute laws in which the sacrifice of our Lord Christ is remembred and represented unto his Father Thirdly by promise of salvation and the kingdome of heaven And lastly by prayer in which God is called on according to that of Isaiah 56. 7. My house shall be called the house of prayer From hence appeareth that the Altar is the principall part of Gods house as being the cause and originall of all the rest Secondly Gods house is described in Gen. 28. by a stone of which in the plurall number an house is made and by a ladder whose top reached up to heaven as Jacob upon the stone dreamed the angels went up and down by it and from thence the Lord spake to Jacob and when Jacob awoke he said This is none other but the house of God and this is the gate of heaven From whence we are taught that seeing Gods house is both Scala coeli and Janua coeli The ladder of heaven and the gate of heaven and that the angels use it therefore we also should use and respect it as the ordinarie and beaten way to that blessed place Thirdly as Gods house is here described by a dream so in Exod. 3. it is described by a vision the second mean of Gods appearing to the holy nation according to that of Joel Your old
learn in these books what is good for thy bodie and not learn what is good for thy soul Open thy eyes wider and then thou shalt see that there could be no goodnesse in the creature except God had made it and that if the effect be good then the cause of this good must needs be infinitely more good and therefore he above all things is to be sought of us And this is so cleare a lesson that except a man will shut his eyes he must see it and understand it because the Apostle saith Rom. 1. 19 20. That which may be known of God is manifest in them For the invisible things of him that is his eternall power and Godhead are seen by the creation of the world being considered in his works that they should be without excuse And these preachers are of S. Paul acknowledged for preachers in the 10 chapter following and the 18 vers having relation to the 14 verse Have they not heard no doubt their sound went into all the earth and their words unto the ends of the world Secondly Gods Word is thy preacher And this is proved by the book of Solomon called Ecclesiastes for that book as the learned know signifieth a preacher Again turn to Acts 15. 21. and there the holy Ghost will tell thee that Moses was preached every day in the Synagogues while his words were read unto them If thou saist that Gods scriptures are too high for thy capacitie then what sayest thou to the 19 Psalm vers 7. which teacheth that the testimony of the Lord giveth wisdome to the simple And art thou so simple to think that when God gave his scriptures to the Church he gave them so darkly that men might not understand them then he might as well not have given them Thou wilt object that of the Eunuch in Acts 8. 30 31. where when Philip asked the Eunuch whether he understood what he read he answered How can I except I had a guide And I answer thee again that there is a great difference between the Eunuch and thee and this place of scripture which he read and the places of scripture which to thee are propounded for he was out of the Church which is the house of light and thou art in it Again that scripture was to him a mysterie but to thee it is no mysterie For in Isaiah no name is exprest but it is read He was led as a sheep to the slaughter but what he this was the articles of our faith expresse to the simplest that it was Jesus Christ the Messias of the world who was delivered by the Jews to Pontius Pilate to be slain for our redemption and therefore this excuse of darknesse is utterly taken from thee because the Gospel is the blazing of the Law and there is nothing so dark in one place but in some other it is so bright that the very blear-eied may see it Therefore Fulgentius saith In verbo Dei abundat quod perfectus comedat abundat etiam quod parvulus sugat Ibi est enim simul lacteus potus quo tenera fidelium nutriatur infantia solidus cibus quo robusta perfectorum juventus spiritalia sanctae virtutis accipiat incrementa In the word of God aboundeth that which the perfect man may eat and that which the little one may suck For there is both drink of milk whereby the tender infancy of the faithfull may be nourished and solid meat whereby the strong youth of the perfect may receive the spirituall increase of holy vertue Thirdly Gods holy Sacraments are our preachers while by visible and sensible signes they teach us what we are to beleeve for which they are of the learned called visibilia verba words visible Therefore when we see the water in Baptisme this bringeth to our remembrance the water and bloud which came out of our Saviours side and when we see the bread and wine this preacheth to us that his bodie was broken and his bloud shed for our sinnes as the water signifieth the washing away of our transgressions And these Sacraments do that for us that all the preachers of the land cannot do For they by their words can but onely teach us and enlighten our understanding but these preachers the Sacraments besides the light which they give to our understanding infuse through Christs power and effectuall ordinance grace into our souls and make us acceptable before God Yea so effectually do they this that they can never want grace after who rightly receive them and preserve the vertue of them Therefore our Lord said to the woman in John 4. 14. Whosoever shall drink of the water that I shall give him shall never be more athirst but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into eternall life This water is that grace which is bestowed upon us in Baptisme which after the Eunuch had received as we reade in Acts 8. 39. he went away rejoycing and we reade not that he heard any more sermons or received any other Sacraments for his well of water which he carried away with him into a farre heathen countrey was sufficient for him But oh the lamentation of our times Who shall make our people to beleeve that Christs Sacraments bestow grace they say they signifie onely and that faith cometh by hearing onely yet when they have heard what they can and beleeve what they will they shall never be saved without the grace of the Sacraments at least in desire I can shew you of some that are saved without the hearing of the word preached our baptized infants but I can shew you of none saved ordinarily without the Sacraments in regard of our Saviours exception in John 3. 5. Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdome of God Therefore the men which shut up all in the preaching of the word evacuate Christs Sacraments and do they know not what for preaching is but a preparation for the Sacraments and there the principall grace lies hid For this cause our Saviour said to his Apostles Matth. 28. 19. Go teach all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Sonne and of the holy Ghost For people must first be taught that God bestoweth grace in the Sacraments or els they will not receive them And the principall Sacrament is Baptisme because that onely bestoweth new life and the rest strengthen and preserve it Fourthly printed sermons are thy preachers For assoon as there is any rare sermon preached by and by it is put to print and from the presse it is disperst all the land over There is scarce a house in any town but one or other in it by reading can repeat it to thee Then how shouldest thou starve for want of preaching when the best preachers in the land such as thou never sawest nor they thee yet by this means continually preach unto thee Fifthly Gods Spirit
Go saith he and teach all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Sonne and of the holy Ghost Were people now to be called and converted to the Gospel then not onely this kinde of preaching but miracles also were needfull but as S. Augustine saith When all the world beleeveth what need miracles and what need is now of Apostles and Evangelists and 70 Disciples Lastly when much needlesse and some unsound teaching by tract of time had sued into the ark of Christs Church by the prelates and priests thereof then in the 19 yeare of King Henrie the 8 began licenses to be granted by the court of Starre-chamber to preach against the corruptions of the time like to that of King Jehoshaphat But now thanks be to God the corruptions are removed and the ancient and true doctrine of the primitive Church by settled articles is restored therefore this extraordinarie kinde is not now so necessarie except it be upon some notorious crimes breaking in upon our people or some exorbitancies of green heads broaching the froth of their own brains which will hardly be reformed untill many of these be unfurnisht of their licenses and those that are permitted be restrained to certain times and seasons For better were it for our Church and people to have but one sermon well premeditated in a moneth which is insinuated by the Canon then two upon a day proceeding from a rolling brain and mouth without due preparation Such sermons are abortive like cast calves coming out of the wombe before the time and they runne into the curse of the Prophet Jeremiah Maledictus qui facit opus Domini negligenter Cursed be he that doth the work of the Lord negligently Many of these men partly to serve the expectation of others and partly to seek their own applause after they have been in the high place and saluted after the descent take it upon them as though they were young prophets and new apostles to preach a new Gospel to the world as our Puritanes Brownists and other Novelists have done I reade in Socrates Scholasticus l. 5. c. 20. that at Alexandria the inferiour priest did not use to preach but that order first began when Arius turned upside down the quiet estate of the Church But we have so many inferiour and young priests preaching among us that all the Bishops in the land can hardly keep down their wrong and unseasoned doctrine if Vox populi may be judge Such are work-makers and not finishers of work See Calvine upon 1. Cor. 1. 17. Sed cùm paucorum esset docere pluribus autem baptizare datum fuerit And S. Paul saith Are all teachers 1. Cor. 12. 29. Having shewed this kinde of preaching to be extraordinarie for speciall men speciall times and occasions it followeth that the preaching by reading proved out of Acts 15. and other places of scripture is the ordinarie preaching ordained by God himself in his Church as you may see in the 4. chapter of the epistle to the Colossians and 16 verse where S. Paul writeth thus And when this epistle is read of you cause that it be read in the church of the Laodiceans also and that ye likewise reade the epistle from Laodicea This was the ordinarie preaching in our Church before king Henrie the eighth and this was the ordinary preaching in the synagogues of the Jews as you may see in Acts 13. 15. and by the division of the three Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Hebrew Bible And by this demonstration of the extraordinarinesse of the kinde person and time we may answer all objections made of confused and undistinguishing wits out of 2. Tim. 4. and all other places of scripture because particular precepts do not binde all persons and confine all times For who can expect those gifts in the ordinarie Ministers of our dayes which God bestowed upon the extraordinarie Ministers and times of the first preaching of the Gospel And as for our large-carving professours in their way of preaching and knowledge this I finde that they which professe least live more justly then they which professe and know most because as my text directeth me knowledge puffes them up and upon their knowledge they presume for the more they know the lesse they fear and the lesse they fear the more they offend Who are more bold then they which know most and fear least The skilfullest captain he most hazardeth the cunningest physician he kills most and the ripest wits runne into greatest oversights Why because they presume so much of their knowledge and presuming draws carelesnesse Wherefore they which know lesse are the more industrious Knowledge puffeth up but Charitie edifieth Now to conclude with thee which runnest after this extraordinarie kinde where thou thinkest best I will shew the inconvenience First thou breakest the Church-canon and when thou fallest on breaking of Canons then follows nothing but confusion disorder Secondly thou discreditest thine own Minister though he hath better parts and gifts then the men that thou runnest after Thirdly thou troublest thy neighbours seats in a strange church Fourthly thy servants and children will no◠come to catechizing because thou art absent the hatchet flies one way and the helve another thou gainest and thy family loseth Fifthly when thou shouldest help thy neighbours in singing psalmes to Gods praise then thy trumpet is abroad in another parish Lastly if all the rest should follow thee some would fall short under hedges and there pray lewd parts The Lord open thine eyes to give thee more discretion that thou mayst give a better example Knowledge puffeth up but Charitie edifieth HAving spoken of the first part of my text now I must proceed to the second in which I must as much extoll Charitie as before I disabled unformed knowledge for it was never the Apostles minde nor mine to speak any thing against well qualified knowledge which belongs to perfect men as the learned have noted nor yet against moderate and sober knowledge fit for all sorts of men taught by the forenamed preachers but onely to withstand the immoderatenesse and misgovernance of it in the vulgar who know no better how to use it then a mad man doth a sword If thy knowledge be greater then thy charitie then it will do more hurt then good but if thy charitie exceed thy knowledge then that by its government makes all good because charitie is the master and governour of knowledge You may surfet with knowledge so you cannot with charitie Knowledge puffeth up but Charitie edifieth The word but signifieth a difference between charitie and knowledge because the conjunction is discretive And indeed the difference is great as the Apostle expresseth because charitie is to use the School phrase an act giving life and perfection it edifieth among the vertues theologicall and morall but knowledge without charitie is a matter of vanitie because it puffeth up it is like a bladder or bubble which have
nothing but winde in them the one lifteth up in nature the other lifteth up in God But here it may be objected What meaneth the Apostle thus to disable knowledge seeing by it we depart from evil and are informed to good and the prophet Isaiah saith in his 53 chapter vers 11. By his knowledge shall my righteous servant justifie many where knowledge is made the cause of our justification I answer that wheresoever knowledge in holy scripture is taken in a good sense there it is vox complexa as sapientia is by S. Bernard called sapida scientia savourie knowledge for in this knowledge charitie which is the extern form of knowledge is comprehended But here in this text of scripture Knowledge is vox incomplexa standing alone by it self and in opposition to Charitie and therefore here it produceth no good effect but onely pride which is enemie to goodnesse But charitie is the substance of Christianitie and therefore is called of the School Divines grace it self And this in the building of a Christian toward heaven is the master-builder for the more it worketh in us the better and bigger Christians we grow according to that of S. Augustine Charitas inchoata inchoata justitia est charitas provecta provecta justitia est charitas magna magna justitia est charitas perfecta perfecta justitia est Charitie begunne is righteousnesse begunne charitie increased is righteousnesse increased great charitie is great righteousnesse and perfect charitie is perfect righteousnesse And when this is come then there is no difference between God and man it is conformitie between God and man it is as S. Paul saith the fulfilling of the law further then this we cannot go Yea that which is the most comfortable and remarkable point in all Christianitie is the law of the Spirit of life which freeth from the law of sinne and of death and this is the main refuge to the distressed conscience There are in the best two laws ruling in them because the best are compounded of two the flesh and the spirit The law of the flesh is concupiscence which gives precepts onely for the flesh whose end is sinne and death and therefore it is called the law of sinne of death and the law of the spirit is charitie which gives precepts onely for holinesse and righteousnes and this is called the law of life because the end of it is life These two laws are ex diametro opposite one to the other in the regenerate because they be both of force in this life therefore the regenerate are carried both wayes sometimes to sinne and sometimes to holines and vertue But because charitie which is the root of all good desires is the more noble law as being the law of the spirit and is in all evil actions first or last or both opposite to them and never yeeldeth but during the violence of the passion which being over it immediately returneth to his former strength and vertue therefore this freeth from the other so that condemnation is never liable to them in whom this law is found Therefore when the blessed Apostle besought God that the prick in the flesh that is to say concupiscence the law of sinne and death might be removed from him he would not grant it but told him My grace shall be sufficient for thee and this is nothing else but charitie which freeth the compound from sinne and death because as S. Peter saith it covereth the multitude of sinnes it will not suffer them to appeare And the reason why God would not have the law of the flesh and of sinne to be outed from this holy man and from the regenerate was because he would have his grace to conflict with the flesh that after the conflict his grace might be victour For my power saith God is made perfect through weaknesse But there is no greater weaknesse in man then concupiscence the lust of the flesh which being overcome by charities desire Gods grace and power is advanced and perfected And this law of the spirit S. Paul opposeth to the law of the letter which is knowledge when it is separate from the spirit and this killeth as well in the ministerie of the Gospel as in the ministerie of the Law of Moses as S. Augustine teacheth lib. de spiritu litera because the more knowledge we have the greater shall be our condemnation if we want the spirit of charitie to put it in practise Will you know then what charitie is which is thus advanced above knowledge It is the most noble above all vertues as our Apostle teacheth 1. Cor. 13. 13. Now abideth faith hope and charitie but the greatest of these is charitie He saith not shall be as Calvin and Beza offer to evacuate the Apostles comparison commendation but is now Now abideth faith hope and charitie but the greatest of these is charitie This is the lust and desire of the spirit as concupiscence is the lust and desire of the flesh the one sanctifieth and justifieth the other damnifieth and condemneth Gal. 5. 17. As concupiscence is the root of all vices so this is the root of all vertues it is the souls sanctified appetite Every man that hath wit and discretion will make choice of the best and the fairest but charitie is the best of all Gods gifts above faith and hope and knowledge and therefore above all things I wish you to seek and follow that In the twelfth chapter before the Apostle sets down all the better sort of Gods gifts among which he placeth wisdome knowledge faith working of miracles and the rest and then willeth them to make choice of the best But saith he desire you the best gifts and when he had so said then he said further I will yet shew you a more excellent way as if he had said Now I will shew you of a gift that is above all gifts yea better then the best before-named such a gift that without it all other are worth nothing Though I speak with the tongues of men and angels and have not charitie I am as sounding brasse or a tinkling cymball And though I had the gift of prophesie and knew all secrets and all knowledge yea if I had all faith so that I could remove mountains and had not charitie I were nothing And though I feed the poore with all my goods and though I give my bodie that I be burned and have not charitie it profiteth me nothing Now if all be nothing without this then get this and get all But what is the reason why all other graces without this are worth nothing Because without charitie they are as a bodie without a soul. Hadst thou a bodie as well framed as Leanders and Hero's was yet if thou hadst not a spirit to move in it thou shouldest have but a dead bodie worth nothing as S. James teacheth of faith without charitie by the effect
father and mother and cleave to his wife and they twain shall be one flesh So they that have charitie will leave all things to cleave to God to be one spirit with him Yea so fast doth charitie glue the good soul to God as the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 expresseth that it will die before it leave him as is to be seen in all the holy Martyrs Nothing may quench this fire as Solomon singeth Set me as a seal upon thy heart and as a signet upon thy arm for love is strong as death jealousie is cruell as the grave the coals thereof are fiery coals yea a vehement flame Much water cannot quench love neither can the flouds drown it if a man would give all the substance of his house for love they would greatly contemne it For what is that which makes all the marriages in the world is it not love if they did not love one another they would never come together Now this charitie is nothing else but divine love and this makes God and man one spirit as naturall love and marriage makes man and wife one flesh and it is called Charity to distinguish it from naturall love for that it is the most deare and precious love in regard it is between God and mans spirit Again that must be the most excellent vertue which makes man most like to God but there is nothing that makes man more like to God then charitie because S. John saith God is charitie therefore they that have charitie must needs be most like him It is the holy Ghosts child as I may say sanctifying the soul. It is no where said that God is faith or God is knowledge for then the devils should be more like to God then man because they know more and beleeve more then any man but he is called in scripture onely charitie in regard of goodnesse and sanctitie for that all goodnesse of sanctification proceeds from charitie So God loved the world saith our Lord in John 3. 16. that he gave his onely begotten Sonne that whosoever beleeveth in him should not perish but have everlasting life Now as all good of sanctitie comes from Gods love to man so from mans charitie comes all the like goodnesse toward God and our neighbour Light comes from faith and understanding from knowledge but goodnesse and sanctitie come onely from charitie And if God be charitie then what interest have they to God and his kingdome who live continually in malice and quarrels Moreover Charitie is called of Divines the universall grace because S. Paul Colos. 3. 14. calleth it the bond of perfection Above all these things put on charitie which is the bond of perfectnesse He saith above all because this is the best of all and he calleth it the bond of perfectnesse first because it tieth man to God in the heart who is perfectnesse it self and next because it tieth all vertues together as we are taught in the Collect of Quinquagesima Hast thou charitie then canst thou want no vertue because all are bound up in it There is justice there is mercy there is liberalitie there is fidelitie there is the highest there is the lowest there is magnanimitie there is humilitie charitie bindes all together in one man Then get charitie and thou needest not run from parish to parish to get understanding because it dwells in charitie According to this S. Austine saith Scriptura nihil praecipit nisi charitatem nihil culpat nisi cupiditatem The scripture commandeth nothing but charitie and blameth nothing but concupiscence Now what charitie is the Father in that place thus defineth Charitatem voco motum animi ad fruendum Deo propter ipsum se atque proximo propter Deum I call charitie saith he a motion of the minde to the fruition of God for himself and of himself and his neighbour for God Lastly there is yet another title of eâ—cellencie belonging to charitie and this is Queen of vertues because it commandeth and governeth them all to right ends For say I had all knowledge and could confute all men and say I had all eloquence that I could with Orpheus move the stonie heart say I had all patience and could give my body to be burned and say I had all faith that I could remove mountains yet if I did not know to Godward speak to Godward suffer to Godward and beleeve to Godward and so of all other vertues all this would do me no good Why because the Queen of vertues Charitie which should bend and order all these to Godward is wanting For every action as the learned know proceeds from election election is in the will and the principall power of the will is love and charitie therefore look which way that goeth that way go all thy actions of heart and minde If thy love be naturall then it orders and carries all thy actions to a naturall end and that leadeth to hell but if thy love be divine and spirituall which my Text calleth Charitie then that like a Queen regulates all thy actions to a supernaturall end which is to serve God and to gain his kingdome And the more good actions thou dost in this kinde the more thou edifiest as my Text saith Knowledge puffeth up but Charitie edifieth that is to say Charitie buildeth As the carpenter and mason build with wood and stone so charitie buildeth with good and godly actions Faith is often idle knowledge sleepie and hope is drousie but charitie is alwayes working because it is the hearts pulse to God-ward As the pulse never leaves beating so charitie never leaves working and the more it worketh the greater is the edifying Little charitie makes a little Christian and great charitie makes a great Christian and perfect charitie makes a perfect Christian. The main Tenet of the scripture is that God will reward every man according to his works Therefore the more good works a Christian doth in the kingdome of grace the greater shall be his crown in the kingdome of glorie For as S. Paul saith 1. Cor. 15. 41 42. As one starre differeth from another in glory so is the resurrection of the dead the body with the more good works it riseth the more it shall shine in heavens glory In my Fathers house are many mansions saith our Saviour John 14. 2. Every man here strives to have the fairest house if he be a man of worth Then if thou desirest one of the better mansions in the kingdome of glorie thou must build for it here in the kingdome of grace The more good works thou preparest here the larger shall be thy house there the holier works the higher habitation in heavens majestie Wherefore brethren be never weary of well doing but as S. Paul exhorteth 1. Cor. 15. 58. be abundant alwayes in the work of the Lord forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord. There is nothing lost but all gotten by good life and good
it do ill Rom. 2. 15. Fourthly and lastly whereas God hath ordained to man a supernaturall end to go to a heavenly paradise he hath added the highest enfranchisement to his will in affording it his grace by giving to it his law positive his sacraments and ministers to apply this grace daily And in this respect our Lord saith in the Gospel If the Sonne shall make you free ye shall be free indeed Next we are to know what contingencie is and this is the possible mean between necessitie of being and necessitie of not being of being such or not such of doing or not doing c. Further we are to know that the events of contingencie in this orb are neither good nor bad but meerly indifferent to free-will and are onely matter or occasion of good and evil yet ordered and guided by the providence of God as may appeare by these particulars On a time it fell out that king Pharaohs butler and baker had each of them a dream in one night and that two yeares after king Pharaoh had two dreams in one night the interpretation whereof was the matter and occasion of Josephs great good and advancement Again it fortuned on a night that king Ahasuerus could not sleep whereupon he called for his chronicles to be read and by chance the record of Mordecai his discoverie of the treason of Bigthana and Teresh against the king was lighted on which was the matter of Mordecais advancement and Gods Churches deliverance By chance Achan saw a wedge of gold and a Babylonish garment in the spoil of Jericho and stole them which turned to the utter extinction of him and his seed Lastly by chance David walked upon the roof of his palace from whence he espied Bathshâ—â—a washing her self by which sight he was so caught that he not onely committed filthy adultery but also cruell murder which was a scarre upon him all his life after and retaliated with punishments of like nature Yet did not these objects of contingencie more necessitate David and Achan to sinne then the temptation of Potiphars wife could prevail upon Joseph or the supposed stollen kid could cause Tobit to entertain it though he was both blinde and so poore that his wife laboured for his living Now to prove contingencie to stand with holy Scripture against the men which attribute all to fate and necessitie my first argument shall be from the Hebrew adverb of chance 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is often used in the old Testament and by Pagnine and Hierome translated nè forté and specially in the 91 Psalme vers 11 12. where the speech is attributed to God himself the authour both of Fate and Contingencie For he shall give his angels charge over thee to keep thee in all thy wayes they shall bear thee up in their hands lest haply thou dash thy foot against a stone My second induction shall be from the Hebrew conjunction 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 si which formally argues chance as may appeare by this and such like speeches in the old Law Deut. 11. 13. If ye shall therefore hearken unto my commandments It is said If because it was a great chance if many of them did My third is from the Greek adverb 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the new Testament Acts 5. 39. Lest haply ye be found to fight against God Then so it might fall out and so again it might not fall out Lastly from the conjunction 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sin or si as in Matth. 11. 21. If the great works which have been done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon they had repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes From hence our Saviour insinuates that the great works which were wrought in Corazin and Bethsaida might have been wrought in Tyre and Sidon therefore this was contingent and if it had been so the one would have repented whereas the other did not and this is another contingent and the more notable in that the mean should have been all one between both without any difference Again contingencie in event is expressed in Acts 3. 10. where the people are said to be amazed at that which happened Further contingencie is proved from the rule of justice for if there were no contingencie then there could be no free-will and if no free-will then neither praise nor dispraise neither hope of heaven nor desert of hell because then mens hands should be so bound with the cords of necessitie that they might not do otherwise then they do and so deserve nothing Therefore the souls that are in heaven and in hell neither merit nor demerit because in those states there are no contingencies but all necessitie but they onely are worthy of praise or dispraise of reward of glorie or retribution of ignominie which live here in this middle place of contingencie unconfirmed either in goodnesse or malice And this is verified by the saying of Ecclesiasticus upon the tried man Let him be an example of glorie who might offend and hath not offended or do evil and hath not done it therefore shall his goodnesse be established Lastly this is proved from absurditie for if necessitie should reigne alone amongst us without contingencie then all exhortations promises and threatnings in Gods word should be idle for that it is in vain to call upon them where there is no possibilitie to do otherwise then they do But though mans will be thus free in the orb of contingencies as hath been proved yet is it not absolutely free but hath onely a conditionate freedome under the orb of fate and divine necessitie in Gods providence that is to say such a freedome as is subject to Gods will the supream moderatour and governour of all things And this the very heathen acknowledged as the Oratour sheweth in the excuse of Pompey At mihi quidem si proprium verum nomen nostri mali quaeratur fatalis quaedam calamitas incidisse videtur improvidas hominum mentes occupavisse ut nemo mirari debeat humana consilia divinâ necessitate esse superata If the true and proper name of our evil be sought a certain fatall calamitie to me seemeth to chop in and so to occupie the improvident mindes of men that no man ought to marvell when humane counsels are by divine necessitie overcome But to passe from humane frailtie we affirm that neither the will of angels nor of Christ himself as he was man hath an absolute libertie for which cause he said Not as I will but as thou wilt but onely God whose libertie of will is also a libertie of necessitie because it can will nothing but what is good And this kinde of will is most noble for that it is of divine essence which cannot alter nor is subject to defect or corruption And in the order of causalitie this will again is most excellent because it is most absolutely free not depending upon any other but
ten kings which stood up out of the fourth kingdome as Daniel expoundeth in the 24 verse This fourth kingdome or fourth beast was the reigne of the Seleucians in Asia from which the holy nation received many mischiefs and the little horn was Antiochus who plagued the Jews above all the rest From whence ariseth this argument that if Antiochus the figure of Antichrist was but one man then Antichrist which must answer to his figure must be but one man too And to this agreeth S. Johns prophesie in Apoc. 13. 17. where a particular name and a particular number is given unto him Lastly this is shewed from the circumstance of time For Antichrist is to reigne but three yeares and a half as appeareth in Dan. 7. 25. where Antiochus is foretold to reigne over the holy nation untill a time and times and the dividing of a time which is three yeares and a half And with this consenteth the prophesie of Antichrists reigne under the Dragon in the 12 of the Revelation where the woman that is the Church is said to be nourished in the wildernes for a time and times and half a time To this is added the treading down of the holy citie by the same Antichrist for the space of fourty two moneths and the prophesying of the two witnesses in the same time by the space of a thousand two hundred and threescore dayes as it is manifest in the 11 chapter of the same book All which severall accounts by yeares moneths and dayes make but three yeares and a half as that most judicious Father S. Austine most boldly delivereth And with this further agreeth the prophesie of Christ concerning Antichrists end of dayes as appeareth by alluding to Daniel about the abomination of desolation set in the holy place that is to say of the sitting of Antichrist in the temple of God as S. Paul expoundeth it And except those dayes should be shortened no flesh should be saved But here we see these dayes to be shortened by the last yeare cut asunder in the midst And this is more illustrated by reason of congruitie for as Christ preached but three yeares and an half so it is not meet that Antichrist should preach more lest he should seem to prevail upon Christ. The testimonies of Fathers confirm this Irenaeus in the end of his 5. book hath these words Antichrist shall reigne three yeares and six moneths and then shall the Lord come from heaven Hierome upon the 7 of Daniel hath these Tempus annum significat Tempora juxta Hebraici sermonis proprietatem qui ipsi dualem numerum habent duos annos praefigurant Dimidium autem temporis sex menses quibus sancti potestati Antichristi permittendi sunt ut condemnentur Judaei qui non credentes veritati susceperunt mendacium A time signifieth a yeare times according to the propertie of the Hebrew speech which hath the duall number prefigureth two yeares but half a time six moneths during which time the saints shall be permitted to the power of Antichrist that the Jews might be condemned who beleeving not the truth have received a lie S. Augustine in his 20 book of the citie of God and 23 chap. saith The most cruel reigne of Antichrist against the Church that it is to be sustained for a very short time he that readeth these things though he be half asleep and half awake is not suffered to doubt because A TIME AND TIMES AND HALF A TIME is one yeare and two yeares and half a yeare and so three yeares and an half This also appeareth by the number of dayes afterward put down and sometime in Scripture this is declared by the number of moneths From these testimonies it is cleare that if Antichrist in his reigne shall not exceed this prescribed time then it is not probable that he should be more then one man But against this computation it is objected that the foresaid prophesies of yeares moneths and dayes are to be multiplied and understood according to the prophesie Ezek. 4. 6. where is said I have given thee a day for a yeare Then these yeares moneths and dayes will fetch in a long succession of Popes into Antichrists chair I answer Then the foresaid Fathers and all the rest for all in this point agree in one were much overseen in not seeing this prophesie to be so much against them Next I answer This is a particular prophesie and no generall rule to rule other prophesies I have given thee a day for a yeare and so I have not done to the rest of my prophets for if times should be understood of yeares and then every day in the yeare should be multiplied again into so many yeares more as there be dayes in every yeare then where it is prophesied of Nebuchadnezzar that seven times should passe over him in his expulsion from his kingdome it should follow that he was banished two thousand five hundred and fiftie five yeares which are more yeares then he ever lived by a thousand at the least and thus the prophesie of his restauration should be utterly false But these times in Daniel must be understood onely of yeares as Tremellius and Junius note upon Dan. 4. 13. after our division of chapters but upon the 16 as they begin their chapter Again in the 11 of Daniel verse 13 in the text he readeth exactis illis temporibus id est annis following the Hebrew original And thus again it is noted in our Church-bible in the margine of the same chapter and verse at the end of times of yeares Therefore Revel 12. 14. during the great persecution of Antichrist caused by the devil the old serpent the woman that is the Church is provided for but for a time and times and half a time that is but for three yeares and an half as both ancient and modern interpreters consent The second prophesie of the durance of Antichrists reigne is by moneths Revel 11. 2. And the holy citie shall they tread under foot two and fourtie moneths This the opponent will not understand of bare moneths as the Fathers expound which make but three yeares and an half but they will alter the propertie and turn moneths into so many daies as be in fourty two moneths and then they will turn dayes again into yeares that is 1260 dayes which are in fourty two moneths into 1260 yeares Here I would demand of these men what rule or warrant they have in any part of Gods word to turn moneths into dayes and then dayes into yeares I reade in Levit. 25. 8. where God gave this rule to the Israelites to number yeares by weeks or sabbaths Thou shalt number seven sabbaths of yeares unto thee and the space of seven sabbaths of yeares will be unto thee nine and fourty yeares Now let them in like manner shew where God hath given a rule to number yeares by moneths resolved into dayes as here we
and reasonable answer Quanquam res est in utramque partem disputabilis mihi tamen magis probatur ipsos verè in eum locum adductos esse Neque enim absurdum est quum Deus corpora animas habeat in sua manu mortuos ad tempus in vitam ejus arbitrio restitui dum ità expedit Tunc autem Moses Elias non sibi resurrexerunt sed ut praestò adessent Christo. Calvin Harm Evang. in loc Though the thing be disputable on both parts yet to me saith he it seemeth more probable that they were truely brought into that place Neither is it absurd seeing God hath in his hands bodies and souls that at his will the dead should for a time be restored to life when it is so expedient c. But for this businesse the coming of Enoch and Elias is most expedient for that it is said of Antichrist that he shall come after the working of Satan with all power and signes and lying wonders and therefore they who are to buckle with him had need to be more then ordinarie men such to whom none were like as Ecclesiasticus reporteth of Enoch and Elias and endued with true miracles And this is further confirmed by the prophesie of Malachi Behold I will send you Elias the prophet before the coming of the great and terrible day of the Lord. But this our late Divines turn aside by applying it to John the Baptist and to Christs first coming according to that in Matt. 17. 12. I say unto you that Elias is already come To this I reply that as there are two comings of Christ a first and a second so there are also two Eliahs the true and proper Elias who was the Prophet and the spirituall Elias which was John the Baptist so called because he came in Eliahs spirit This spirituall Elias as our Saviour most truely reporteth came before Christs first coming and the proper Elias is to come before his second coming And this as Jansenius on this point in the Gospel saith communiter intelligitur Thus are both true Elias is come and not come The spirituall Elias is come and hath done his part but the proper Elias is yet to come because Malachi saith He shall be sent before the great and terrible day of the Lord. Now it is manifest that Christs first coming was not that great and terrible day because the scripture calleth it the day of salvation and the acceptable time Therefore it is left that the true and proper Elias is yet to come before the great and terrible day so called of the prophets because it is a day of judgement and revenge Vers. 5. Remember ye not that when I was yet with you I told you these things Vers. 6. And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time After the Apostle hath laid out the two antecedents of the worlds end the apostasie and the Antichrist now he confirmeth his doctrine and chideth these Thessalonians for being so soon removed from the tradition of the truth as if he should have said Did ye heare me so slightly that ye have so soon forgotten me I told you something then which is not fit to be written namely that the apostasie cannot yet be ripe nor the man of sinne be revealed for that the Romane Emperour will not suffer it He will admit no man to play Rex or to display the banner of Antichrist But the time shall come when his date shall be out then shall defection flourish and after that the man of sinne shall be in his colours This S. Paul would not write lest the publick prediction of the ruine of the Romane Empire should spurre them up to an exasperation against the Christian profession for it is not good to wake a sleeping dogge nor to draw troubles which will come too fast of their own accord When sheep are sent among wolves they had need to be wise as serpents and innocent as doves And this doctrine both S. Ambrose and S. Chrysostome confirm upon these words Ye know what withholdeth S. Ambrose saith Post defectum abolitionem regni Romani appariturum Antichristum After the defect abolishing of the Romane kingdome Antichrist is to appeare And S. Chrysostome 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 When the Romane Empire shall be taken away then shall Antichrist come Antichrists originall and seed Vers. 7. For the mysterie of iniquitie already worketh Here is demonstrated Antichrists seed and originall which is iniquitie Iniquitie in the Greek text is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 anomie or a life without law and is the mother of apostasie and apostasie is the breeder of Antichrist In the primitive Church before canons were made and government established men would preach what they listed for without law no man is confined and then were heresies broacht in plentie Satan wrought cunningly and by degrees upon their green wits and therefore their anomie S. Paul calls a mysterie Anomie began in the Apostles dayes and continued to Mahomets time apostasie stood up in Mahomets time and to this day expecteth Antichrists time The Turks daily look for their Mahomet and the Jews for their Messias when both these are met in one then shall be that great monster the man of sinne Then if we will not be deluded in the birth and originall of Antichrist we must look for him out of the apostasie there is the fittest matter of his breed He must be no Christian that shall be the Antichrist by reason of the opposition But it is wondered at that he should be so long in breeding for the mysterie began in the Apostles time and S. John saith that then were many Antichrists which were his fore-runners and yet as yet he is not come I answer As the great Comet is a longer time in gathering then the ordinarie stella cadens and as all great works have long and great preparations so hath this man of sinne In the first six hundred yeares after Christ he was an embryon since that time to this he hath been in his animation and now we expect his viperous birth Vers. 7. Onely he who now letteth will let till he be taken out of the way Why doth the Apostle applie this let onely to the Romane empire seeing there were other and farre higher causes of this dilation as Gods will of sufferance and the administration of angels Of the first it is said Psalme 115. 3. Our God is in heaven and he doth whatsoever he will And S. Paul Rom. 9. 19. saith Who hath resisted his will Of the second we reade in Daniel 10. 13. that the angel who was prince of the kingdome of Persia withstood that other angel who was prince of the holy nation untill Michael one of the chief princes came in to his help To this we say that where divers causes be concurring to one end there the naming of one doth not exclude the other but
is alwaies before thee to behold and it makes deep penetration when it speaks in almes-deeds or benefits This I confirm to you by examples of instance In the second book of Eusebius his Ecclesiasticall Historie and the 9 chapter we reade that when he which drew S. James before the tribunall saw that he would suffer martyrdome willingly he was therewith so moved that he confessed himself to be a Christian so was beheaded together with him after S. James had forgiven him at his request and kissed him His words are these 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Likewise this sermon of good life and conversation had so wonne Ruth to the true religion that when her mother in law Naomi was to return from the heathen countrey of Moab her two daughters in law Ruth and Orpah bearing her companie in the way at last Naomi spake thus unto them Turn again my daughters for there is no more hope of husbands for you by me Then Ruth thus replied Intreat me not to leave thee for whither thou goest I will go and where thou dwellest I will dwell thy people shall be my people and thy God shall be my God Where thou diest will I die and there will I be buried the Lord do so to me and more also if ought but death part thee and me Now if the life and conversation of simple women and illiterate be of such vertue to winne and turn people to God then shall the good life of thy Minister be nothing worth against whom thou canst prove nothing Some parishes as men say have good preachers but bad livers and some have mean preachers or readers but good livers which of these are best I say The good liver is the best preacher For the bad liver as fast as he buildeth with one hand pulls down again with the other but the good-living Minister what he buildeth by his reading of Gods word prayer and administring of the Sacraments pulls not down again but upholds all with his good life and therefore he is farre the best preacher The one builds in shew the other in substance This S. Hierome upon the 22 Psalme confirmeth Ille plus didicit qui plus facit c. He hath learned most that doth most If saith he that which thou hast learned I do my works do more hold the scriptures then thy sermon which makes a vain sound Eighthly parents are preachers to their children and servants The first world for more then two thousand yeares together untill the giving of the Law had no other preachers Then every private mans house was a church as it is in the epistle to Philemon vers 2. And to the church in thy house And according to this God said of Abraham Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do For I know that he will command his sonnes and his houshold after him that they keep the way of the Lord to do righteousnesse and judgement And this kinde of preaching was commanded by God in the Law Deut. 6. 7. And thou shalt rehearse them continually to thy children And Solomon Prov. 1. 8. thus beginneth his sermon to his sonne Roboam My sonne heare thy fathers instruction and forsake not thy mothers teaching For as the mothers milk is more nourishing to the infant then the milk of strangers so the instruction of parents is more acceptable to youth then the teaching of the learned My father and mother were the first that converted me to God by their example and teaching And this kinde of preaching was not onely before the Law and after the Law but it is continued also in the Gospel as we reade Ephes. 6. 4. Ye fathers provoke not your children to wrath but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. And this kinde of preaching is so needfull that the Church hath derived it from the naturall parents to the spirituall parents who are Gods Ministers in catechizing of youth And this kinde of preaching as the most ancient and effectuall is so highly commended of King James before all other that in his second direction to the Archbishop of Canterburie he giveth this charge That those preachers be most encouraged and approved of who spend the afternoon exercises in examining children in their Catechisme and in expounding the severall heads thereof which saith he is the most ancient and laudable custome of teaching in the Church of England But how is this regarded Preaching hath preacht away catechizing and the new preaching hath beat out the old Now adayes every mans own wit is best though it be the greenest and youngest A ninth kinde of preachers are thy Christian neighbours for they have not gone so long to church to sermons but they have learned something to speak of the knowledge of God and his laws in the way of good living And this duty S. Paul requireth of all in Coloss. 3. 16. Let the word of Christ dwell in you plentifully in all wisdome teaching and admonishing one another And thus sometime one neighbour admonisheth another of his faults sometime ancient kindred instruct their younger in the fear of the Lord and sometime servants give good advice to their masters and dames as the servants of Naaman the Syrian did The maid-servant perswaded her mistris that her lord should go to the prophet in Samaria and when that her lord was at a stand his men-servants gave him this good counsell as we reade in 2. Kings 5. 13. Father if the prophet had commanded thee a great thing wouldest thou not have done it how much rather then when he saith to thee Wash and be clean Tenthly Gods Minister is thy preacher and the divine Service in the Church-book is his sermon In this service and in this sermon is contained whatsoever is necessary to salvation But you will say How prove you that I say thus Whatsoever is necessary to salvation is contained in these foure points in true faith in good life in prayer and grace True faith is contained in the three Creeds of the Apostles of Nice and of Athanasius the two latter being the exposition of the former Good life is expressed in the ten commandments Prayer in the Lords prayer the Letanie and the rest and grace in the Sacraments You will say We plain people cannot understand these without some to explain them I answer Canst thou tell me of one man that can make them more plain to thee by his words then God himself and his blessed Apostles have done by their words But thou wilt say further that thou hast need of some bodie to stirre them up unto thee Hast thou not thy Minister to do this for thee every Sunday and holiday in catechizing But thou likest not of this because it is not a sermon How provest thou that Because it is not spoken out of the pulpit nor delivered out of a text I reply Are not the articles of the faith the Lords prayer and the Sacraments exprest in scripture are
ex ignorantia non ex rata malitia not directly but indirectly of ignorance and not of confirmed malice In which case they travelled along with the blessed Apostle before his conversion he saying of himself I was a blasphemer and a persecuter and an oppressour but I obtained mercie because I did it ignorantly in unbelief The Doctors reasons against the Pope in that he acknowledgeth other Kings Priests and Prophets beside Christ and other means in the mysterie of mans salvation besides Christs merits are not worth the answering because these officers and means are instituted and commanded by Christ himself the officers for agencie under him and the means for application of his merits and conformitie to his life without which Christs merits can profit nothing But laying aside this wringing of scripture in denying Christ we must understand it of the direct and absolute denying of him in words because he cannot be a full opposite and Antichrist such an one as S. Paul describeth shewing himself that he is God and exalting himself above all that is called God or that is worshipped but he must denie extinguish and disable Christ as openly and as publickly as he can that he may be taken for Christ in Christs room And to effect this insinuations half speeches and oblique inferences will not serve the turn We blinde judges children in our non-age take upon us to judge before our time and who do not say as we say though they do better then we do yet we condemne them as Antichristian which is as much as Anathema Maran-atha the greatest of all censures And wherefore judge we so eagerly For holding of errours And are any without them The Prophet David saith Who can understand his errours cleanse thou me from secret faults Some errours we may bear with because they distermine not from the head no more then a wound or maladie extinguisheth the life of the bodie Again errours of ignorance and not of affected malice commonly finde mercie as S. Paul sheweth I was a blasphemer a persecuter and an oppressour but I was received to mercie for I did it ignorantly in unbelief Thus charitie teacheth me to judge errours of Christians are errours of ignorance and not of intention or affected malice For I beleeve that wittingly and willingly neither Papist Protestant nor Lutheran would wrong their Head Christ whom they daily professe and therefore let us brethren pray for one another and help one another and not envie and hurt one another Fourthly to return again to argument None is to be held for the great Antichrist before the Church which onely hath power to determine of hereticks and to judge malefactours hath declared him so to be But the Church hitherto hath neither declared the Pope nor any other to be the great Antichrist Therefore as yet he is to come The major is proved first from Christs precept Matth. 18. 17. Dic Ecclesiae Tell it to the Church From whence it followeth that if the Pope or any other have carried themselves so badly that they have deserved to be denounced that man of sinne we should appeal to the Church and require her definition and not intrude our selves into publick magistracie which is the ruine of States Secondly this is proved from the institution of Synods and the Apostles practise Act. 15. 6. Then the Apostles and Elders came together to look to this matter Though Paul and Barnabas being Apostles had of themselves power to determine the question then raised yet they yeelded to go to the Synod the Church assembled for example sake to teach us what we ought to do in like cases Thirdly Moses Deut. 1. 17. saith Judicium Dei est The judgement is Gods With this consent the words of our Saviour concerning Synods Matth. 18. 20. Where two or three are gathered together in my name there am I in the midst of them Again Acts 15. 28. it is said It seemed good to the holy Ghost and to us But no private men though they be never so many have this authoritie of judgement therefore this is well forbidden in the ancient verses Est verum vitae doctrinae justitieque Primum semper habe duo propter scandala linque There is a truth of life doctrine and justice have thou the first two leave as scandalous Fourthly in all difficult points the law commandeth us to go to the Senate of Priests and to the Judge for resolution Deut. 17. 8 9. If there arise a matter too hard for thee in judgement c. thou shalt come unto the Priests of the Levites and unto the Judge that shall be in those dayes and ask and they shall shew thee the sentence of judgement But to define of Antichrist is a difficult point and therefore King James in his book of Antichrist would not urge it pag. 51. As for the definition of Antichrist I will not urge so obscure a point as a matter of faith to be necessarily beleeved of all Christians The minor is manifestly true because no universall Synod can be found to bring forth such a definition and it is fit that such an universall enemie should have an universal sentence neither is there any such declaration to be found in the harmonie of the reformed Churches printed at Geneva in the yeare 1581. From whence I conclude that forsomuch as the Church hath not yet detected and determined the Antichrist therefore as yet he is to come And were there no other argument to free the Pope from being the Antichrist among the Fathers this is sufficient for that he maintaineth images For so jealous is Antichrist of his usurped deitie that he cannot secure himself of it so long as he sees them set up Therefore Irenaeus saith of him Idola quidem seponet c. He shall put away idols to perswade that he is God but he shall extoll himself the onely Idol And Hippolytus saith Antichristus idololatriam non admittet Antichrist will not admit idolatrie And Cyrillus hath Idola odio habebit Antichristus Antichrist shall hate idols I am not of minde that all images are idols but onely when they are worshipped for Gods This is manifest first from the word Idololatria which signifieth the worshipping of idols with divine worship which in Greek as it is used of Divines is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Again this is shewed from the distich Qui sacros facit ex auro vel marmore vultus Non facit ille Deos qui colit ille facit Otherwise our Geneva bible should maintain idolatrie in picturing Ezekiels vision of God in the form of an old man Yet such is Antichrists jealousie that he will be afraid of every shadow Images statues idols all must down before him because he will admit no other God neither in substance nor in representation Antichrists warres Fourthly and lastly the great Antichrist is not yet come because the scriptures which speak of his troubles and foretell of his warres are not