dedicating Temples to God in their names we have the blessed saints still living and dwelling among us Oh blessed we And this doctrine is confirmed by the Article of the Communion of saints therefore they which neglect this holy fellowship in joyning with them to serve and worship God in this lower house as they serve and honour him in his higher house do as much as in them lies cut themselves from this holy Communion and have a great losse which none can see but they that have spirituall eyes But what will worldlings say If we come to Gods house every saints day we shall come short of our houshold businessâ— and our poore should be hindered from providing their necessaries I answer Because you come short with God in his service therefore he comes short with you in his blessing where Gods service is wanting there means want foison Saith not Hagge so Ye have sown much and bring in little ye eat but ye have not enough ye drink but ye are not filled with drink ye clothe you but there is none warm and he that earneth wages earneth wagâ—s to put it into a bag with holes What is now either gotten or saved this way by sparing from God We pull from him and he pulls from us who is the stronger The eighth office is To use all the responsals or answers prescribed in the holy Liturgie The people must not onely joyn with the minister in heart but in voice too because of all outward means this is most significant and effectuall as being the hearts eruption and interpreter And for such as are unlearned it is fit for them to learn them and to have them printed in their hearts to make them their own and to use them at other times because no pattern of prayer can equall this And this dutie of praying and praising God together with Gods ministers is by S. Peter prescribed to all the faithfull where he tells them that they are an holy priesthood to offer up spirituall sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. These spirituall sacrifices are three Prayer Fasting and Almes by Prayer we sacrifice our souls to God by Fasting we sacrifice our bodies and by Almes our goods These three we have to give to God and no more and these three are bettered to us by our giving to him Our souls are bettered by his accepting and sanctifying of them our bodies are bettered by being freed from surfetting and diseases and our goods are bettered by Gods blessing of them The charitable mans cow casteth not her calf his corn is not blasted his fruit not eaten with caterpillers and the borrower runnes not away with his money Therefore Ecclesiasticus saith A mans almes is his purse as if it were said It keeps his â—â—â—te Further he saith Bestow thy treasure aâ—â—â—â— the commandment of the most high and it shall bring thee more profit then gold And again Lay up thy almes in the secret chambers and it shall keep thee from all afflictions What are the secret chambers they be the hungry bellies of the poore little see we what they want But to proceed Shall we think our souls to be sacrificed by all manner of prayers No for Isaiah prophesieth This people draw neare unto me with their mouth and honour me with their lips but their heart is farre from me The sacrifice of prayer is no lip-labour but a breaking of the heart before God for sinne 't is sobs and sighs and an ardent desire of obtaining Gods favour in Christ before all the goods of the world This is the fire of Gods Sanctuarie to kindle and enflame our sacrifice of prayer For Fasting this is not as many use it to abstain onely from flesh and care not to swallow up sinne but it is to beat down the body by abstinence and to bring it into subjection to the spirit it is to abstain from flesh and other delightfull food that thereby we might be taught and brought to abstain from fleshly pleasures from hunting after strange women from excesse of eating and drinking carding dicing and other vanities which feed the greedy appetite of flesh and bloud and the soul unreformed to abstain on fasting daies from meats forâ—â—dden and before thou comest to Gods house to be of an empty stomack that God may fill thy soul with his graces and after the sinnes of thy flesh to punish and keep down thy body with the coursest nourishments Lastly for the sacrifice of our goods this is not to give them when we cannot well keep them any longer When thy coat is moth-eaten then the moth gives it when thy bread is mouldie and thy meat smells then the mould and ill savour bestows it This is no true sacrifice of our goods because it smells not sweet in Gods nostrills But neighbours I cannot fault you in this kinde for that I know you to be more charitable and readier to give then others are worthy to receive Therefore I exhort you that when you give bodily food to some you would give some spirituall food with it admonish them of their idlenesse rebuke their sinne chide them for filching and stealing and other misdemeanours which you heare of or know This is as necessarie for them as their meat and drink and more too But here I cannot but suspect that our carnall Gospellers will object that our bodies and goods are no spirituall sacrifices but things materiall and so not fit for the Gospel Let such learn that though body and goods be by nature materiall yet by the principall whereby they are offered which is the soul and spirit they become spirituall Therefore David saith Not my heart alone but â—sh also shall rejoyce in the living God And S. Paul saith I beseech you brethren by the mercies of God that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice holy and acceptable unto God which is your reasonable service And to the Corinthians he urgeth it from the redemption of both Ye are bought with a price therefore glorifie God in your bodie and in your spirit which are Gods And Joannes Sarisburiensis presseth this yet further even from the glorification of both in heaven Sensu coli voluit qui sensum dedit qui animam glorificabit carnem utriusque fidelem expetit famulatum se quoque voluit etiam corporaliter honorari ut quantavis tarditas infidelitatis aut negligentiâ— excusâ—tionem non habeat He would be worshâ—pped sensibly who gave the sense and he which shall glorifie both flesh and spirit looks for the unfeigned service of both and he likewise will be honoured bodily that the dulnesse of unbelief and carelesnesse of his service may have no excuse Wherefore let us endeavour with all fear and reverence to practise that unto which the blessed Apostle exhorteth us viz. to give our bodies as well as our souls a living sacrifice to our God in his service which differeth farre from the dead
sacrifice of the old Law And according to this our Church-service enjoyneth us to come fasting and not full-gorged to holy feasts because as the book of Wisdome teacheth the body is heavy to the soul and thâ—â—â—ller it is the heavier it is Therefore S. Chrysostome saith that fasting and almes are to the soul wings to mount it up in prayer and contemplation to heavenly things Experience teacheth that the stronger the body is the weaker the spirit and grace is and that by the bodies delicates the soul becometh carnal and so adversary to things spirituall The ninth office is To sing holy psalmes and hymnes to Gods honour in his house and this is taught Ephes. 5. 18 19. Be not drunk with wine wherein is excesse but be filled with the Spirit Speaking to your selves in psalmes and hymnes and spirituall songs singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord. And again Coloss. 3. 16. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdome teaching and admonishing one another in psalmes and hymnes and spirituall songs singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. In which words is signified not onely the spirituall edifying of the soul in knowledge and understanding but further the speciall grace of holy singing in stirring up all our powers to praise God and to petition unto him with greater fervencie and alacritie By this trumpet of heart and mouth the devil is put to flight we encouraged to the spirituall warre and our sacrifice of praise pierceth the clouds And here by the way I am put in minde of the exceeding commendation which the ancient Divines give to the book of Psalmes above other Scriptures The tenth office respecteth Gods Ministers First in putting on the holy vestments for it is not fit that the maker of heavens ornaments should be served with common garments Gods house is a house of holinesse therefore holy vestments set apart for so high service best beseem it These intimate to all sorts in what a reverent manner God is to be served When the great Alexander the worlds conquerour came to Judea the holy nation to win it Josephus reporteth that the high priest Jaddus went out of Jerusalem to meet him wearing about him his priestly robes with which he served God in the Temple whom when he beheld in this solemne and sacred habit the storie sheweth that he reverenced him as Gods Minister fell prostrate on his face before the name of God which he bore on his breast-plate gave him his hand offered sacrifice to God according to his direction and granted what immunities and priviledges he would request for his nation It is likewise credibly reported by historians of no mean note and renown that Attilas king of the Hunnes in Germany who was called too truely as the Christians of those times by wofull experience testified THE SCOURGE OF GOD and TERROUR OF CHRISTIANS he having now made havock of the most part of Italy by sacking their towns burning their cities wasting their countrey demolishing their temples and savagely massacring â—â—ose primitive Saints in all furie and madnesse marches to Rome utterly to rase down that Metropolis of Europe At which time Leo firnamed for his pietie the GREAT being Pope came out in ornaments truely pontificall to meet him but after a pious and learned oration little prevailing yet the storie affirms Pontificali indutus ornatu ipsam religionis majestatem conspicuè arguente non precum pondere sed vultu gravi habitúque sanctimoniam indicante venerandam nè Roman vastatum iret benignè persuasit Apparelled in his priestly vestments which plainly proved the very majestie of religion not with the fervencie of entreaty but with gesture grave and habit declaring his reverend sanctitie he gently perswaded him not to lay waste Rome And were our Churches and Priests naked of this ornament when Turks and Ethnicks should enter them would they not say Is the God of Christians so mean that he is no better served By this is signified the principall robe of Ministers fit for this house and service which is righteousnesse signified by the Urim and Thummim on the high priests breast-plate and rehearsed in Psalme 132. 9. Let thy priests be clothed with righteousnesse For that Minister who liveth innocently towards his neighbours and holily towards God alwaies beareth about with him his Urim and Thummim one signifying the light of knowledge and the other the perfection of charitie The second and principall part of the Ministers office is not onely to be clotheâ— with righteousnesse and to be an honest and just man but it is further the true understanding distinct reading and decent ministerie of the Church-service contained in the book of Common prayer This is the pith of godlinesse the heart of religion the Spina or Vertebrae the backbone of all holy faculties in the Christian body Which way soever you turn you here you shall finde the saying of our Saviour fulfilled Thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousnesse Desire you new life here is Baptisme to give it Are you gone from it here is the Baptisme of tears and penance to restore it Want you weapons for the spirituall warre here is the Catechisme and Confirmation Need you food for the new life here is the bread and wine of Christs body and bloud Want you supply of vertuous young souldiers here is Matrimonie and Christian education Need you leaders and governours here are Christs Ministers Want you provision for the journey to the high Jerusalem here is the viaticum of the heavenly Manna expressed in the Communion of the sick After this a wise and discreet Sermon not made by every Minister but by a man of reading and discretion right well beseemeth this holy place Preaching is Gods mouth to his people therefore great care must be had that it be not abused either with false doctrines or unsavourie speeches In this case S. Paul makes his exclamation Who is sufficient for these things How this is regarded none but the learned see Not how well but a Sermon of the vulgar is expected But would you know what Sermons are fit for our holy assemblies they are such as are suitable to our book of Common Service and the two heads of religion faith and good life If you would know what faith we are to follow it must be that which S. Paul calleth the one faith As there was but one Tabernacle and one Temple in the old Law to preserve the unitie of their religion so here must be but one faith amongst us Christians to keep us from diversitie of opinions all the world over This one faith Titus 1. 4. is called the common faith and of Divines it is called the Catholick faith to shew that they which hold not it cannot be of the Communion of saints And this faith is contained in the three Creeds of the Apostles of Nice and Athanasius And the false faith is that which is contrary to this
sacrificium holocaustum the continuall burnt-offering and the whole burnt-offering The whole burnt-offering teacheth that seeing God saveth us not in parts or halves but in whole therefore we should serve him also in whole with all that we have with soul body and goods The continuall burnt-offering preacheth to us that whereas God is good unto us not at spirts and whiles but perpetually therefore we should at all times be for him continually in habit and as often as we can in action in the morning in the evening at midnight and at noon-day and this the Prophet David comprehendeth in the compleat number of seven Psal. 119. 164. Seven times a day do I praise thee because of thy righteous judgements To conclude thus our Church by the continuall service daily hath brought religion into a practise among us but our Solisermonists and Solifidians do what they can to dissipate it for so they may have a sermon or two on the Lords day or other they take no thought for the weekly service nor other good works because faith falsly so called onely supplieth all to these fruitlesse men Holinesse becomeeth thy house O LORD for ever HAving shewed the holinesse that becometh Gods house now I must lay out the unholinesse which unbeseemeth it because things contrarie cannot stand together comelinesse with uncomelinesse will not agree The first kinde of unholinesse is a contrarie preparation to come to this house in vain glory ostentation in that manner ordinarily which S. Hierome renders of their goings into Gods house whom the Prophet Amos pronounceth a wo against namely qui pompaticè ingrediuntur domum Israel who come in hither with stiffe necks proud gates and unhumbled bodies in gradiendo videntur quasi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I veluti 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Clemens Alexandrinus hath it and seem to march as if they would exactly measure out the earth by their mincing or else leade some pompous train upon the stage Our Prophet saith Holinesse becometh this house but these take more care for braverie the newest fashions and the finest attires that can be bought for money for here we are lookt upon We should come hither to serve God but these come to shew themselves Knowest thou whose house this is knowest thou before whom thou comest hither is he not thy Maker Shall we then come before our Maker onely in our own making Shall we present our selves to his Majestie in our own majestie No let us come hither with humilitie in the most modest manner that may be It is holinesse lowlinesse the souls beautie that Gods eies are delighted in The Prophet Isaiah saith The high looks of man shall be humbled and the loftinesse of men shall be abased and the Lord onely shall be exalted in that day This house is Gods house and this day is Gods day here therefore let us exalt him and humble our selves Keep thy braverie rather for fairs and markets save thy new fashions and sumptuous dressings for great mens houses Thus saith our Saviour They which wear soft clothing are in kings houses Then suit the world with the world and Gods house with holinesse I am not so cynicall as to take from men and women their distinctions that we should not know the mistresse from the maid nor the maid from the mistresse This the angels dislike for they keep their order one above another Under them we see again how God hath not clothed the flowers alike but hath given more beautie to some and sweeter smell to others So let us keep our sorts and orders let us not make our selves better then we are and when we are in our best and richest let us be in our own eyes lowliest especially when we come before God This is comely The second kinde of uncomelinesse is that of men in this house who when Gods Minister is not in place and sometime when he is in place in stead of prayer and meditation in stead of turning the leaves of their book turn face to face and confabulate one with another as if they were in a faire or market This is like to the tables of the money-changers and the seats of the dove-sellers which Christ in his time threw out of the Temple Neighbours I am not here to flatter you nor so mean as to fear you I am Gods Minister to tell you of your faults and to speak for God and his house Let these things be amended they are neither holy nor comely S. Chrysostome in his 36 homily upon the 1. Corinth saith It is not lawfull in the Church to speak to our neighbour he means about secular businesse His words are emphaticall and therefore I will cite them at large 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It is not lawfull to speak unto a neighbour or take acquaintance of an old friend in the Church as elsewhere but these things are to be done out of it and that for very good reason for the Church is not a barbours or apothecaries shop neither a place to plead in but a place of angels and archangels the palace of God yea heaven it self Therefore it is most fit that the best manners and respects possible should be maintained in it Thirdly as men profane Gods house at their coming in so they serve it before their going out Two or three or more will sit talking still upon their own matters as though Gods house were now changed and things set apart for his service may as well serve our private busines This common talk is fitter for other places then for the King of heavens palace As we fanne the darnell from the wheat so we must winnow all profane speeches out of the house of prayer You will say Our speeches are not profane Then know you what profanenesse is Is it any thing but what is common in respect of things sacred as S. Peter expresseth it Acts 10. 14. Lord I have never eaten any thing which is common or unclean And thus Esau is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Heb. 12. 16. a profane person one that was for any thing I speak not against an orderly conference without brawling in parleying about the good of Gods house about the good of the Parish or for the poore and such like actions of piety and devotion for these are warranted 1. Cor. 16. 2. I speak onely against unnecessarie confabulations and for common matters they are fittest for common places Fourthly as some profane Gods house with their common talk so some profane it by their going forth with their hats on their heads as though when Gods service is done then Gods house is no more Gods house Such think that Gods house is like to our common houses Therefore if they come either before or after service they think no more reverence is to be shewed Yet still it is Gods house and he never is out of it and therefore still to be respected Fifthly Gods house is profaned by such as sit in
world that we will stand up in the defence of it according to that of S. Paul Stand fast in the faith play the men and be strong The man that standeth is alwayes readie to resist his enemie but he that sitteth or lieth is a vantage to him according to the verse made of the devil Est leo si sedeat si stet quasi muscarecedit If man doth sit the devil will Lion be But if he stand the devil a Lion's he Standing therefore is the fittest and comeliest of all gestures for the professing of our faith and putting us in minde of being constant in it For as we stand in the faith so without the faith we cannot stand therefore the Apostle saith By faith ye stand Take away from man his faith and presently he falls Faith is a mans rock and as long as he stands upon it fall he cannot For this cause our Saviour called Simon Peter quasi Petra because his faith was his rock and against this he told him the gates of hell should not prevail Wherefore seeing our faith is so pleasing to God and so profitable to us we ought often to offer it to him in profession Next we shall do more reverently to stand up at the reading of the Psalmes before after and between the holy lessons and at Gloria Patri because in these we speak unto God and it is not good manners in a publick assembly to speak unto God sitting as if we were his fellows Lastly we are to stand up at the reading of the Gospel in regard of the authour of the speech which is our Lord Christ As also because they do alwaies historically declare something that our Saviour either spake did or suffered in his own person for us most miserable and wretched sinners Whereupon in token of greater reverence to our ever-blessed Redeemer it hath been the custome of Christian men and women to stand up and at the rehearsall of the Gospel to utter certain words of acclamation as Glorie be to thee O Lord and at the end thereof to say Thanks be to God for his glorious Gospel or the like But you will say You teach us to bowe to kneel and to stand up yet these are but outward ceremonies and humane civilities fitter for men then for Gods high holinesse of which you treat I answer that ceremonies and civilities to men when they are applied to God change their nature and become holinesse The reason whereof is because all actions are specified ab objecto fine as the School teacheth but in these acts of religion the object is God and his glorie their highest end next to which consequently follows mans reward Therefore it cannot be that these actions of the bodie accompanying those of the minde should from their end be otherwise then spirituall duties As S. Thomas of Aquine hath it Adoratio corporalis in spiritu fit in quantum à spirituali devotione procedit ad eam ordinatur quia per sensum Deum attingere non possumus per sensibilia tamen signa mens nostra provocatur in Deum ut tendat Bodily worship is performed in spirit inasmuch as it proceeds from spirituall devotion and is ordered to it And because by our sense we cannot attain unto God yet by sensible signes our minde is incited to tend towards him Thus you see these expressions be not onely outward but inward too For what makes thee to bowe to God in his Sanctuarie doth not thy soul set thy knee on work and what sets thy soul on work is it not faith and charitie the two principall graces of Gods Spirit How then should not this be holinesse which proceedeth from such holy roots The sixth office of holinesse is To come to the Sacrament with due preparation First in reconciling our selves to our neighbours where is cause of offence Secondly by coming in right faith with true understanding of the thing in discerning the Lords bodie Thirdly by coming in charitie because charitie is the life of our souls and the thing to be fed Fourthly to come fasting where men are able because S. Augustine saith Placet Spiritui sancto ut in honorem tanti Sacramenti priùs intret in os Christiani corpus Dominicum It pleaseth the holy Ghost that in honour of so great a Sacrament the Lords body should first enter into the mouth of a Christian. And S. Paul faulteth this among the Corinthians For every man when they should eat taketh his supper before and one is hungry and another is drunken He that was hungry was in good case but he that was drunken was not fit for the place Fifthly to receive it kneeling because to receive it sitting is to receive it as we receive our bodies supper yet is there a great difference between the one and the other the one being the food of our souls and received in the sanctuary and the other being the food of our bodies and eaten in private houses The 7 office of holinesse is To keep all the holy feasts of the Church and they which neglect this cut off a great part of Gods worship and lose all the holy lives and examples of the saints and divers mysteries of our salvation besides The lives of the saints are our looking glasses and the reason why we come so short of them in good life is because we do not see our sinnes in their lives and partake not of their holinesse For he which honoureth God with the saint is partaker of the saints holinesse So likewise they which come to Gods house upon the day of Christs nativity coming in faith and love as they ought are partakers of Christs birth they which come upon the day of his circumcision are with him circumcised from the dominion of the flesh they which come upon the day of purification are presented with him to his Father they which come upon Goodfriday are partakers of his precious death they which come upon Easter day are partakers of his glorious resurrection they which come upon Ascension day ascend with him in holy desires in present and hereafter shall ascend in person they which come upon Whitsunday shall partake of those white gifts that God bestowed upon his Church upon that day and they which come upon Trinity sunday shall enjoy the blessed Trinity of Father Sonne and holy Ghost So again they which come upon S. Stephens day are in affection partakers of his martyrdome and prepared for holy suffering they which come upon S. Johns day partake of S. Johns love and charity they which come upon Innocents day partake with them in their deaths for Christs cause they which come upon S. Michaels day shall enjoy the blessed Angels in their administration and they which come upon the day of All Saints shall be of that blessed number to stand with them on Christs right hand in the day of judgement and so of all the rest Thus in observing saints daies and in
is thy preacher And to prove this see 1 John 2. 27. where it is written But that anointing which ye have received of him dwelleth in you and ye need not that any teach you but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things c. This anointing is nothing els but Gods Spirit and grace bestowed upon Christians in their Baptisme And of this Spirit and grace speaketh S. Paul 1. Cor. 2. 10. God hath revealed them to us by his Spirit for the Spirit searcheth all things yea the deep things of God Then if Gods word be true the Spirit of grace which he hath given to his children is another of thy preachers Sixthly thy conscience is thy preacher For assoon as thou hast done any thing amisse or left any thing undone that ought to be done that will by and by tell thee of it Thus Adam and Eves conscience when they had eaten of the forbidden fruit preached unto them that they had offended God and therefore they hid themselves and made them breeches of fig-leaves Who told thee said God that thou wast naked oh his conscience the first preacher had made a sermon unto him So again when David had cut off but a lap of Sauls garment privily his heart smote him for it and told him that he had wronged the Lords anointed And again when he had numbred the people his heart touched him for it Thus every mans conscience is his tutour to teach and govern him not onely after but before he hath done amisse Wouldest thou be thus dealt withall will it say Thou mayst bribe thy preacher with a gift and thou mayst stop the mouth of the parish-priest with a good tithe but nothing will stop the mouth of thy conscience that is a continuall preacher within thee And of this preacher the prophet Isaiah saith further in his 30 chapter vers 21. And thine eares shall heare a word behinde thee saying This is the way walk ye in it when thou turnest to the right hand and when thou turnest to the left This word behinde thee is the word of thy conscience thou canst turn thy self no way but that will speak unto thee If thou goest on thy left hand when thou shouldest go on thy right it will call to thee and tell thee Thou art out of thy way and when thou art in the way if thou goest too much to the right hand or too much to the left it will say to thee with the Preacher in the book of the Preacher Be not thou just overmuch neither make thy self over-wise play not the hypocrite nor the proud fellow for vertue is ever in the midst But how comes thy conscience to preach thus to thee from the law that is written in thine heart by the finger of Gods own hand as S. Paul teacheth Rom. 2. 15. Which shew the effect of the law written in their hearts their conscience bearing witnesse and their thoughts accusing one another or excusing If thou dost ill thy conscience will preach nothing to thee but the Law judgement but if thou dost well then nothing but the Gospel and mercie then thy conscience will be to thee a continuall feast as Solomon saith Besides thy conscience hath another law to inform thee and this is the new covenant of the Gospel spoken of Jer. 31. 33 34. This shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel After those dayes saith the Lord I will put my law in their inward parts and write it in their hearts and I will be their God and they shall be my people And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour and every man his brother saying Know the Lord for they shall all know me from the least to the greatest saith the Lord. Is this word of God true then how canst thou complain for want of teaching except thou wilt make Gods word a liar And here you shall further understand that there be two kindes of teaching the one outward the other inward The outward is that which comes from the mouth of man the inward is that which comes from the mouth of the conscience And this inward teaching because it is next to the heart worketh farre more strongly upon it then the outward doth When men had more of this inward teaching and lesse of the outward then was there farre better living for then they lived alwayes in fear of offending and assoon as they had done any thing amisse their conscience by and by gave them a nip and a memento for it Then they confessed their sinnes to God and their Minister for spirituall comfort and counsell then they endeavoured to make the best temporall satisfaction they could by almes prayer and fasting and other good works of humiliation but now outward teaching being not rightly understood hath beaten away this Faith onely justifieth saith the vulgar preacher Then saith the Solifidian and loose liver what need I care how I live no sinne can hurt me so long as I beleeve Thy preacher and thou are both in an errour because Gods word no where teacheth this but the contrary Ye see saith S. James how a man is justified by works and not by faith onely Thou wilt say The Fathers taught this doctrine and our own Church too But how and in what sense to shut out works before faith be come and to acknowledge faith to be the onely beginning in the preparations of our justification but our young preachers and hearers shut up all in faith onely and stay at the beginning and thus verbo tenus they prove but half-Christians Thine own conscience will preach better to thee for that will exclude no vertue and admit no vice And as for thee which art an hearer though thy principles be good yet thy apprehension cannot well digest them because they be somewhat above thy reach Therefore the Church in all ages hath provided that the common people should be content with the common faith as S. Paul calleth it Titus 1. 4. and that deep mysteries should be reserved for the learned who have their wits exercised to discern both good and evil Seventhly good life and conversation of Christians is thy preacher by which very heathens may be wonne and converted to God But you will say How prove you that Turn to 1. Pet. 3. 1. where you shall finde it thus written Let wives be subject to their husbands that even they which obey not the word may without the word be wonne by the conversation of the wives while they behold your pure conversation coupled with fear Here see the force of this preaching when the preaching of the word cannot prevail then men may be wonne by good conversation without the word preached while they behold your pure conversation coupled with fear Good life my brethren is better then a good sermon for that with many goes in at one eare and out at the other but a good life is a sermon in print it
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
of works As the bodie without the spirit is dead so faith without works is dead also for where no works are there is no charitie and where no charitie is there faith and works and all is dead Therefore the Apostle saith Though I feed the poore with all my goods and have not charitie it profiteth me nothing Why because without charitie works are dead as well as faith and knowledge and other graces And where there is charitie that is to say a divine love to God and all goodnesse there all things are alive and every grace working to salvation Faith beleeveth to salvation hope hopeth to salvation knowledge knoweth to salvation all work by charities spirit Hence the School calleth charitie the form of vertues But you may say How prove you that divine love and charitie is the spirit that giveth life and motion to all other graces Thus because faith which is the first grace worketh by it Gal. 5. 6. For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth any thing nor uncircumcision but faith which worketh by charitie Then as all the members of the bodie work by the power of the soul so faith and other graces in the spirituall body work by the power of charitie First because charitie is the impulse of the Christian soul. Neither can you with reason say that because faith is the first grace in spiritualitie therefore all animation and motion proceedeth from it because in generation the matter goeth before the form and in the body of man there is vegetation and animalitie common to other creatures before the reasonable soul come which is the sole beginning of actions reasonable Secondly I prove this because where is no charitie there all is dead as S. John sheweth He that loveth not his brother abideth in death Again We know that we are translated from death to life because we love the brethren Where love is there is life and where no love is there is no life Thirdly I prove this because God is our life but God is charitie as Saint John sheweth God is charitie and he that remaineth in charitie remaineth in God and God in him If God be charitie then charitie in the Christian must needs be his life because our charitie floweth from his charitie Fourthly I shew that charitie is the life of all vertues and graces because it is the root of the spirituall tree within us as S. Paul teacheth Ephes. 3. 17 18 19. That ye being rooted and grounded in charity may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth and length and depth and height and to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge that ye may be filled with all the fulnesse of God Here ye see charitie to be the root therefore so long as the root lasteth no vertue or grace can wither in us but if the root die all die All comes from the root the leaves the blossoms the fruit If there be either ornament of vertue or fruit of grace in us all comes from the root of charitie Yea the life of vertue not onely comes from this root but there it is kept and preserved too for when winter and cold storms come then the sappe for shelter runnes down to the root and there it is preserved till the next spring so again when the winter of Gods wrath and storms of persecution assault the profession of the Gospel then by and by we retire to the root of charitie and there is our profession preserved till the storm be over Thus Peter denied his Master thrice when he was going to his death yet because he still loved his Master therefore his life remained in him in the time of persecution it lay hid in the root of charitie The Apostle goeth forward That ye may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the length and breadth and height and depth Charity breaks forth into all the dimensions of spirituall growth The prophet Isaiah rather then he would forsake his God was sawn asunder in the midst others were racked and would not be delivered they would not be delivered but held out to the death The blessed Marie Magdalene washt our Saviours feet with her tears and wiped them drie again with the hairs of her head Oh blessed charitie If thou hast this root in thee thou also shalt comprehend this breadth and length height and depth and thou shalt with these holy Saints say If I had been in their coats or had their occasions I would have done as they did This is that love of Christ which passeth knowledge and this is the fulnesse of God To proceed Charitie is the most excellent grace because it is the divine seed of a Christian by which we are born of God and freed from mortall sinne 1. John 3. 9. Whosoever is born of God sinneth not for his seed remaineth in him This seed S. Hierome in his 2 book against Jovinian and S. Austine in his 5 tract upon 1. John calleth charitie for in it is contained the beginning of our conversion to God which is a holy desire For no man desireth any thing untill he loves it but when he loves it then he desires it when he desires it then he seeks it after he hath sought it then he findes it according to that in the Gospel Seek and ye shall finde knock and it shall be opened and when a man hath found because he loves it entirely he will so cleave to it that he will not be removed from it So is it between the regenerate heart and God When God hath given a man a heart to love him then he beginnes to desire him when he desires him then he seeks him then he knocks at heaven gates by prayer and will not away till God open to him because his seed remaineth in him And after he hath found him then he so cleaves to him by hope and hangs so fast upon him that he will die before he leave him because faith hath perswaded him that God is his maker and redeemer and that he is moreover a rewarder of them that diligently seek him Heb. 11. 6. And how will he reward him not with gold and silver which are corruptible but with life everlasting and the joyes of heaven Oh here is enough we will seek no further Thus you see how love and charitie sets the soul to desire and seek God above all things and so charitie is the beginning of our conversion and after it hath begun it will never cease seeking untill it hath found and obtained Were a man by faith perswaded that God is the authour of all happinesse and that all the goods in heaven and earth lay in him treasured up yet if he should love the goods of the world more then God then he would never set his heart to seek and desire him But when faith hath enlightned the minde to know God then if the love of the heart will forsake the world and things
thy neighbour as thy self ye do well Here the text makes a manifest supposition of fulfilling Gâ—â—â—â— law in this life first it affirmeth this doctrine to be according to scripture next it sheweth how it is to be tried that is by the law in loving our neighbour as our selves and he that can do this there is no doubt but he loveth God above all because without God he could not do this Were Gods law not possible to be fulfilled the supposition should be idle unfit for Gods word and unbeseeming one writing by divine inspiration and then the twelve tribes might justly have returned this caption upon S. James You put upon us that which cannot be done But in this absurditie the Apostle could not be taken because he wrote by divine inspiration and sootheth the thing first by adding to his supposition this commendation Ye do well and secondly by fetching to this head all other parts of Gods law saying afterward For whosoever shall keep the whole law and yet fail in one point he is guiltie of all Here therefore is a generall and absolute fulfilling spoken of and here is implied that every one is bound to bring his obedience not to one or most but to every part of Gods law and so no starting hole is left for any one beloved sinne Secondly this supposition of S. James is confirmed by our Lords prayer Thy will be done in earth â—s it is in heaven If the law which is Gods will could not be fulfilled in earth then Christ obtained not what he would we daily pray in vain and Christ hath in vain commanded us to pray Thirdly this is confirmed by the liturgie of our Church in the collect upon the first Sunday after the Epiphanie in these words And grant that they may both perceive and know what things they ought to do and also have grace and power faithfully to fulfill the same through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen Where we are taught by whose vertue men may fulfill Gods law that is by Jesus Christs grace and power Lastly this is taught by the prayer upon the ten commandments Lord have mercy upon us and encline our hearts to keep this law Where first we are taught to know our own miserie in that we are bound to keep Gods law with the penaltie of everlasting death and yet of our selves we have no power to perform it and therefore we pray God to be mercifull to us Next we pray that he would encline our hearts to keep his law where is shewed that God himself is the first mover and principall actour in this work that we do but run along with him and that of our selves we are so crooked and averse that if he do not encline and bend our hearts as the shipwright boweth his timber by his instruments the strength of his arms and the heat of his fire to make a ship we should never be able to sail to the kingdome of heaven Wherefore if we shall fail to joyn our hands to Gods hand when the principall acting is his the second and inferiour ours when he hath used all his means towards us his threatnings to terrifie us his exhortations to draw us his promises to entice us and propounded the end and reward of the work to be onely ours whereas the greatest merit is Christs if we now be defective and behinde on our part we shall be worthy of many hells To conclude in that we intreat God to enable us to keep his law hence appeareth the laws excellencie and mans benefit in observing it It is Gods image and similitude in which he made man therefore it hath relation to us and we to it it restoreth us to our first perfection and heavens felicitie it is the conformity between God and man it is that which maketh God and us one Therefore to the keeping of this we must strain soul and body we must put all that we can we must not fly to naked imputation where is required our conformation For whom he did foreknow he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Sonne His Sonne hath fulfilled the law and so must we too But here may be objected that they which are in Christ are delivered from the law Rom. 8. 2. For the law of the Spirit of life hath made me free from the law of sinne and of death Therefore we have nothing to do with the law I answer that in this place and in the chapter before by the law is understood concupiscence the law of the members which giveth precepts and motions onely for sinne and not the law of God which giveth precepts against sinne and for holinesse and righteousnesse Again it may be objected that we are not under the law therefore we have not to do with it Rom. 6. 14. Ye are not under the law but under grace It is answered Though we be not under the law to be condemned terrified and forced by it yet we are under the law to Christ that is to be guided by it as the Apostle testifieth of himself 1. Cor. 9. 21. Being not without the law to God but under the law to Christ Therefore if the very just shall transgresse while they are within the law they are bound to make satisfaction by holy penance which is secunda tabula post naufragium Lastly it may be objected that we are dead to the law and therefore we have no more to do with it Rom. 7. 4. Wherefore my brethren ye are also become dead to the law by the body of Christ that ye should be married to another even unto him that is raised up from the dead that ye should bring forth fruit unto God By the law here is not meant the law simply but the law and the flesh compounded together as appeareth in the sixth verse wherein we stood in bondage to both For the laws letter onely shewed us what we were to do but gave us no power to perform and with this the flesh and the old man went hand in hand for though the law gave us no power to perform yet the flesh gave us power to transgresse and sinne To this the Apostle sheweth that we are dead by the merit of the death of Christs body that we might be married to another that is to Christ in Baptisme by whose Spirit and grace we might be enabled to fulfill that which the law taught and commanded to bring forth fruit unto God and our own salvation And from hence it appeareth still that the law of it self is good and we have need of it though it be not sufficient for us because it is our school-master to shew us our sinnes and to bring us to Christ Gal. 3. 24. Rom. 7. 7. I had not known sinne but by the law Having made an end of confirming my first argument from the scriptures supposition and grant now I proceed to my second argument which is founded upon the efficacie and
42. 8. Ego sum Jehova hoc est nomen meum I am Jehovah this is my name This name expresseth his eternitie Apoc. 1. 4. Which is which was and is to come This name Jehovah is derived from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 esse to be In this name Jehovah are contained the 5 vowels which are the sinews of all languages As without them no tongue can be expressed so without the true knowledge of Jehovah no flesh can be saved This name Pagnine calleth ineffabile nomen This name of Gods essence was so reverenced of the Jews that they thought not themselves worthy to speak it therefore whensoever it came to be read in the old Testament they pronounced some other name of God for it as Adonai the Lord or Elohim God This expression of the name Jehovah is further confirmed in Isai. 43. 10. where it is said Ye shall understand that I am where is shewed that his essence is to be Again vers 13. Before the day was I am He was before the creation before there was day or night therefore he is the onely proper and true being All creatures yea the most perfect as angels are not perfect essences because there was a time when they were not and it is a thing possible for them not to be again It is as possible for them to have an end as to have a beginning but they had a beginning therefore for any thing that is in their being they may have an end and so their essence is not absolute but from God borrowed It sorteth with all creatures to be images and shadows of true being not to be true being it self The image is understood of men and angels because they come nearest to true and perfect life the shadow of sensitive and insensitive things Thus Plato denied things sensible truely to be And Seneca saith that they make a shew and for a time put on a countenance of being And for the immortalitie of angels and men mentioned in holy writing this is not to be derived from the immateriality or excellencie of their essence but from the speciall grant and charter of their Maker The Almighty hath ordained it to be so from their creation and therefore their immortalitie shall hold But here between the Fathers and Scholists there is difference about the essence of angels and spirits of men as we may reade in the second Nicene Councel and the fifth act where they are held to be materiate and corporate Their reason is to put a difference between Gods simple essence and their compounded which of necessity must be grosse in respect of Gods and to withstand their infinitenesse because that which may not be circumscribed or limited must be infinite but angels and spirits of men are not infinite therefore they must be bounded and defined with matter And this may be upheld by these reasons First because they are not absolutely eternal but frail in regard of their matter and eternal gratis Seneca epist. 58. Manent cuncta non quia aterna sunt sed quia defenduntur curâ regentis immortalia tutore non egent Haec conservat artifex fragilitatem materiae vi suâ vincens By this all things that are are frail or mortall in regard of the frailtie of their matter and immortall by God who keeps them so for things by nature immortall need no preserver Secondly there seemeth to be as much reason for spirits to be made of matter rarefied and sublimate as the Alchymists speak as for naturall bodies to be made spirituall bodies in the resurrection by rarefaction and sublimation 1. Cor. 15. 44. It is sown a naturall body it is raised a spirituall bodie There is a naturall bodie and there is a spirituall bodie Thirdly Berardus Bonioannes the expositour of S. Thomas insinuateth this Sum. par 1. q. 14. art 1. Formae secundum quod sunt magìs immateriales secundum hoc magìs accedunt ad infinitatem quandam From whence ariseth this argument In absoluta mera immaterialitate non est magìs minus In formis angelorum hominum est magìs minus immaterialitatis Ergò in illis non est absoluta mera immaterialitas Fourthly the materiality of mans spirit seemeth probable in regard of the union between the body and the spirit because contraries expell one the other hence there seemeth to be some materialitie in the spirit that the connexion and alliance might be the more easie and familiar Fifthly the materialitie of spirits is shewed because they suffer from the matter of fire in hell Matth. 25. 41. prepared for the devil and his angels but in immaterialitie there is no proportion for sense because sense is in matter qualitie without which there can be no passion Sixtly this may not seem strange to us if we compare the angels with the windes which in the holy tongue have the same name that angels and spirits have which is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ventus spiritus anima angelus So simple is the windes substance that it is no more subject to our sight then angels are and for strength it is little inferiour while it turmoyls the great ocean overturneth trees and houses and makes the stedfast earth to quake and tremble yet is this materiate and then why not the other though they be more simple and in a degree higher The Scholists following S. Thomas exclude materialitie and their reasons are these First because it is consonant to the universitie of things that some should be Gods images in intellect and will but intellect and will are immateriate for that they are distinct from sense which riseth from bodies As some things are purely materiate as the elements some things mixt of matter form as men some of matter spirit materiall as beasts some of matter and spirit intellectuall as men so it is requisite that some things should be purely spirituall as angels because it is requisite that in every kinde there should be some perfect but in mans soul his intellect is imperfect because it gets knowledge by corporall senses from things sensible therefore it is fit that some substances should be meerly intellectuall without bodies not to gain knowledge by so base means but to have the roots of intelligence innate in themselves which are their powers replete with principles or species This then is the difference between the spirits of men and angels the one have a bodie united to them to receive species and to understand from bodily objects but the other have species of intellect connate with them and separate from bodily reason which is by discourse Secondly they shew this because spirits and souls have not commensuration with places for that they want quantitie which bodies of matter have and have no situation in continuo The incorporeall substance rather containeth then is contained as the soul is in the bodie containing it by its vertue and power and not contained applied and not circumscribed Because it wanteth
his bountifulnesse and patience and long sufferance not knowing that the goodnesse of God leadeth thee to repentance Having spoken of Gods will as it is antecedent and of signe now it followeth to speak of it as it is of good pleasure and of consequent The will of Gods good pleasure is expressed in the 135 Psalme vers 6. Whatsoever the Lord pleased that did he in heaven and in earth in the seas and in all deep places This is Gods proper and essentiall will first because it is of the nature of the will to do of pleasure and next because it is most generall and not restrained to any place or person His will of signe is not alwaies done because it is his will for men and not for himself respectively Therefore his precepts are broken his prohibitions slighted his counsels not regarded but his will of good pleasure is above the law of the Medes and Persians this cannot be put by because it is divina 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Lastly after that God hath shewed man all his favours by his will of signe and word revealed to which he addeth the effects of his grace expressed by S. Prosper in these seven particulars perswading by exhortations admonishing by examples terrifying by dangers inciting by miracles giving understanding inspiring counsel and lightning the heart with faiths affections When all these are despised and rejected then God proceedeth with his will consequent which is the will of his justice First he would have all men to be saved by his will antecedent but because all men will not consent to this therefore to maintain mans free-will God will not save all in effect but the same will turneth from mercie to justice which before turned from justice to mercie and saith Depart from me ye cursed into everlasting fire which is prepared for the devil and his angels Neither is Gods will altered nor broken because it turneth from mercie to judgement for that it still retaineth its former mercie and man his former resistance to receive it How often saith our Saviour would I have gathered thy children together even as a hen gathereth her chickens but ye would not If God hath not bound man to one object but given him free-will to turn from object to object according to reasons rule then should God be bound and man free The will of God is wider then all wills all his divine attributes may rest in it his truth his wisdome his justice his mercie his power his pleasure and displeasure yea all the contraries that are in the world are within it and lie under it as life and death sicknesse and health good and evil salvation and damnation and without this there could be no world Notwithstanding though Gods will be never so wide and comprehensive yet it imposeth no necessitie upon mans will because all will by Gods creation is free and if it were not free it were no will Necessitie and will are incompatibilia they cannot stand together Nature and things without will are of a strait disposition therefore for them God hath ordained necessitie and determined them to one thing but mans will because it is the image of Gods will is wide and capacious and therefore he hath provided for it the ocean of contingencie He hath set fire and water before thee saith Ecclesiasticus stretch out thy hand unto which thou wilt Before man is life and death good and evil and whether him liketh shall be given him Now no man can justly complain while all things are set before him and he hath free choice to all Election expelleth necessitie and necessitie thrusteth out election If mans will were not free from necessitie then there could neither be merit nor demerit that is neither reward nor punishment and then the two great streams of Gods bountie and justice should be dried up but now he hath given to man free-will and to maintain this he hath ordained contingencie and added his grace to aid his will that there might be no defect on his part for freedome naturall to good Theologicall is not freedome but stubbornnesse without grace And this grace and goodnesse of God as it ordereth and aideth things naturall to their naturall ends so it ordereth and aideth man to his supernaturall end which is to live with his God in heaven And this goodnesse of grace is like to the vertuous magnet the most remarkable of all stones the guide of the diall and the direction for sea-travell for as the pin and needle of the diall being toucht with it the needle will stand no way but north and south so the heart of man being toucht with Gods grace in his regeneration will stand no way but to heaven-ward And this touch is that which Divines call the habit of charitie alwaies enclining and bending to heaven and heavenly things through all the rubs of the world Though the toucht needle for a while is shaken and justled from its former due station yet as soon as the shaking is over it returneth instantly to the same point right so though the heart be for a time justled either by the lust of the flesh or the lust of the eyes or the pride of life from its right standing yet as soon as the force is over presently it returneth to its former station to heaven-ward And the onely reason is the touch of Gods goodnesse in the regenerate soul to which above all things mans heart is beholding And this goodnesse proceedeth from the holy Ghost as truth proceedeth from the Sonne of God for as the Sonne is the Fathers essentiall truth so the holy Ghost is the Fathers and the Sonnes essentiall goodnesse And as the holy Ghost is the increate goodnesse of God in himself so love and charitie is the create goodnesse of the holy Ghost in man And untill this be wrought in us by the holy Spirit we may be men and true men but we cannot be good men nor for the kingdome of heaven Therefore S. Augustine saith Sola charitas dividit inter filios regni filios aeternae damnationis So excellent is charitie that God is called by it 1 John 4. 8. God is charitie And so good is it that Divines call it grace per Antonomasiam because it is the principall grace And S. Paul calleth it the greatest The greatest of these is charitie Yea so great is it that no good can be done without it because it is the cause impulsive of every good action You may beleeve without it but then your belief is not good because it wanteth his right end which must proceed from charities election and direction Therefore in this sense S. Paul gives faiths action to charitie It beleeveth all things it hopeth all things c. Why because it enliveneth faith and all other vertues by giving spirit unto them Faith is the candle to charitie and sheweth her light how to work according to Gods word but charitie being the impulse of the
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
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
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
feoffe it upon true doctrine and by writing when they forge a letter and put another mans name unto it Now denying the proceeding of impostours by these three he utterly barres the Thessalonians from admitting this false doctrine that Christs coming was then at hand And therefore he adjoyneth this generall to these particulars Let no man deceive you by any means Though they prophesie in the spirit though they preach out of the pulpit though they shew a letter signed as it were with mine own hand yet beleeve it not according to the like monition Gal. 1. 8. Though we or an angel from heaven preach unto you otherwise then that which we have preached unto you let him be accursed The two antecedents of Christs coming For that day shall not come except there come a falling away first and that man of sinne be revealed the sonne of perdition The Apostle having bound the Thessalonians from the hasty expectation of Christs coming now he gives them two infallible antecedents which must go before so that till these be come Christ may not come and when both these are come then the time which we look for must be at hand so saying our Saviour When ye see all these things know that the kingdome of God is neare even at the doores The first antecedent is the falling away the second and last is the uncovering of the man of sinne These two by reason of congruitie must go before for before these two parts be acted how should Christ come to judgement Cuique sua est tempestas saith Ecclesiastes Every thing must have his time Before Christ can judge the deficient they must have a time to fall away in before Christ can crown the constant they must have a time to be tried in before Christ can fight with his adversarie his adversarie must first shew himself and come into the field so there must be a world before there can be an end of the world besides in generation there is privation ever before form therefore in the breeding of Antichrist before the end defection must precede The falling away Whereas the first antecedent is a falling away we must enquire what is meant by this 'T is not a falling away from the Romane empire as some have imagined for what hath Christ empire to do with the Romane empire but it is a falling away from the faith of the Gospell it is the greatest defection that can be because it is a falling from Christ to the breeding of Antichrist Thus S. Paul expoundeth himself in 1. Tim. 4. 1. Now the Spirit speaketh evidently that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith He saith some because all shall not But that this some shall be the greatest some our Saviour sheweth in the Gospel by an interrogation But when the Sonne of man cometh shall he finde faith on the earth Defection spirituall is like a river the further it runneth the greater it groweth therefore the fittest time for the great Antichrist is the last time Where the falling away is Next the question is where this apostasie is to be found in what part of the world whether in the east church or in the west church Let us search the new Testament and see if we can finde any thing for it there First the Gospel was preached to the Jews many embraced it at the first as we reade in the Gospel but now they be all gone from it looking for a new Messias Where is the Church of the Corinthians the Church of the Galatians the Church of the Ephesians the Church of the Philippians the Church of the Colossians the Church of the Thessalonians to all which S. Paul wrote what is become of the twelve tribes to which Saint James wrote and whither are gone the seven great Churches of Asia to whom S. John wrote All these East Churches founded by the scripture are fallen from Christ and become Mahometans and Nestorians Their falling away was prophesied by S. John in the 2 of the Revelation The Church of the Ephesians was challenged for leaving their first love and were threatned with the removing of their candlestick if they did not repent The Church of Pergamos was challenged for maintaining the doctrine of Balaam the doctrine of the Nicolaitans and was threatned to be fought against with the sword of Christs mouth The Church of Thyatira was charged for suffering of Jezebel to deceive the people and was threatned to be cast into a bed of affliction The Church of Sardis was challenged for being then dead or at least a dying and was threatned to be come upon as a thief comes unexpectedly The Church of the Laodiceans was challenged for that they were neither hot nor cold but luke-warm and were threatned to be spewed out of Christs mouth All these with all the Churches of Africa as lamentable experience proveth a long time ago are gone in denying Christ totally and in receiving of circumcision the mark of the beast Therefore here that is in these Churches of the east which at this day are all under the great Turk this apostasie of which S. Paul speaketh of necessitie must be understood Thus the Church which rose in the east like the moon in the firmament is going down in the west expecting Christs coming Then from this great defection let us acquit Christendome whether they be Papists Protestants or Lutherans because though there be some differences amongst us in ceremonies and expositions which destroy not yet still our head Christ by Baptisme standeth upon our bodie and the substance of the Gospel is entire and whole amongst us by retaining the articles of the faith the volume of the new Testament and the practise thereof by faith and good life But where Baptisme is removed there is perfect apostasie because there the head is cut off from the body And this is contrarie to the commission of our Saviour Matth. 28. 19. The authours of the falling away To proceed in this point next it is expedient to know the authours of this defection how long it hath continued and who is the upholder of it For the first we finde that the first authour was the arch-heretick Arius who as we reade in S. Austine held the Sonne of God to be a creature and the holy Ghost to be the creature of a creature Hence he is called of S. Hilarius Principium Antichristi the beginning of Antichrist and in the Councell of Sardis he is named 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a fighter with Christ. The second authour was the heretick Nestorius who affirmed Christ to be onely man And he was termed Ecclesiae incendium the firebrand of the Church as we reade in Socrates and officina blasphemiarum the shop-house of blasphemies as we reade in Euagrius The third and last authour was the false prophet Mahomet who by the help of Sergius the Nestorian Monk forged his Alcoran in which as in the sink of heresies is contained