of Controversie mens passions are vehemently engaged and the Disputants generally argue according to their Interests and therefore when he saw men impetuous in the assertion of their Opinions and peremptory in the rejection of other mens Iudgments he commonly answer'd such only with silence not caring to entertain discourse with them who in stead of a sober and modest Enquiry into Truth were addicted to a disingenuous humour of Disputacity that was his term which in his sense signified To be always resolved for the last word which is the troublesome temper and practice of self-conceited and pertinacious wranglers for after he discover'd any to be such he would give them full leave to have the last word and all because he would speak no more what-ever he thought Nor was he less unwilling to allow them also the last word in writing Witness those Paper-collations between him and Mr. T. H. a great follower of that man of more Reading than Consideration Mr. Hugh Broughton Indeed T. H. had a great opinion of his own performances in this kind and of the much good might be done by such Conferences and accordingly did ply Mr. Mede with one Paper after another who yet was wholly of another mind and plainly told him Of these reciprocations of discourse in writing wherein you place so much benefit for the discovery of Truth I have often heard and seen Truth lost thereby but seldom or never found And for this reason as also because Conferences by writing were tedious and less safe and would take away a great deal of his time he was averse from all such Pen-work as he call'd it desiring him not to make any Reply for he was resolved to answer no more whatsoever he should send and he was as good as his word for though Mr. H. could not hold but would needs send him another large Paper of the same complexion with the former yet could not this provoke him to recede from his fix'd and well-grounded resolution against all multiplying of unnecessary and fruitless Replies So true was he to that expression of his I can with much more patience endure to be contradicted than be drawn to make Reply having little or no edge to contend with one I think setled and persuaded unless it were in something that nearly concern'd his Salvation and withal he added You know as much of my Opinion and my Grounds for the same as I would desire of any mans and I think I perfectly understand yours Why should then either of us spend our time any farther to no purpose 32. But not to dwell only in Generals His Prudent moderation particularly discover'd itself in an Instance of no small weight and importance In short thus When that unhappy difference about the point of Praedestination and its Appendants instead of a more free sedate and Christian-like method of debating it was blown to so high a flame in the Low-Countreys and began to kindle strifes here at home he would often say he wondred that men would with so great animosity contend about those obscure Speculations and condemn one another with such severity considering that as the Wise man saith to whose words he would often allude We hardly guess aright at things that are upon Earth and with labour do we find the things that are before us But the things that are in Heaven who hath searched out But if at any time as it was said of S. Paul at Athens 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his spirit was stirred within him it was when he observ'd some to contend with an unmeasureable confidence and bitter zeal for that black Doctrine of Absolute Reprobation upon which occasion he could not forbear to tell some of his Friends That it was an Opinion he could never digest being herein much of Dr. Iackson's mind That generally the Propugners of such Tenets were men resolved in their Affections of Love and Hatred both of which they exercis'd constantly and violently and according to their own Tempers made a judgment of God and his Decrees To the like purpose he express'd himself about two years before his death in a Letter to an ancient Friend of his formerly of the same Colledge It seems harsh that of those whom God hath elected ad media Salutis and calls by the preaching of his Gospel any should be absolutely and peremptorily ordain'd to damnation And afterwards by way of Reply to the objected authority of S. Austin as to some part of the Predestinarian Controversie he added If those were Hereticks which followed not S. Austin the most part of the Fathers before him were in Heresie and a part of the Church after him Zelots are wont to be over-liberal in such charges Thus would he sometimes in private reveal his judgment but in his publick performances he was reserved and did purposely abstaìn from medling with these matters And accordingly we have received this from some old acquaintance with him That in those days when the Controversies between the Remonstrants and Contra-Remonstrants made so great a noise in the world he was wont to bring his Common-places to an ancient Friend and Colleague to be perused by him with a desire that he would expunge whatsoever did but seem to countenance the Positions of either party To which may be added this other Instance of his own relating in a Letter to another Friend about four years before his death viz. That there being great combustions and divisions among the Heads of the University in preparation to the Commencement each party being desirous to get the advantage in the Election of the Answerers and so to fit the Questions to their mind and the more Calvinian party having prevail'd upon this occasion I went not saith he to this week as commonly I use to do for fear of being taken to be of a side These things we have noted particularly to shew with how much Sweetness as well as Prudence the great Learning of this Good man was admirably temper'd 33. But besides his Prudent Moderation there was also to be observed in him that which by the Epigrammatist is made one main Ingredient of an Happy life Prudens Simplicitas a mixture of what our Saviour Christ commends as imitable in the wise Serpent and in the harmless Dove He was not so Imprudent as always to utter all his mind that 's the property of a Fool Prov. 29. or before any company to reveal what new Notion or unvulgar Truth he had discover'd But he was always so generously Honest so Apert and Single-hearted as not to speak wickedly for God or talk deceitfully for him nor would he apply himself to any unwarrantable policies for the promoting or commending of Truth to others Such little crafts and undue practices were below the Nobleness and Integrity of his spirit To this purpose we may fitly take occasion here to remember a serious and excellent passage of his I cannot believe that Truth can be prejudiced by the discovery of Truth
the nature and grounds of what they practised lest for want thereof they might cherish some unsafe conceit And notwithstanding I preached for Bowing as you say to Altars yet I have not hitherto used it my self in our own Chappel though I see some others do it If I come into other Chappels where it is generally practised I love not to be singular where I have no scruple But you would not have me have any hand in killing the Witnesses God forbid I should I rather endeavour they might not be guilty of their own deaths And I verily believe the way that many of them go is much more unlikely to save their lives than mine I could tell you a great deal here if I had you privately in my chamber which I mean not for any mans sake to commit to paper Siracusae vestrae capientur in pulvere pingitis As for Bowing at the name Iesus 't is commanded by our Church And for my self I hold it not unlawful to adore my Saviour upon any Cue or hint given Yet could I never believe it to be the meaning of that place of the Philippians nor that it can be inferred thence otherwise than by way of a general and indefinite consequence I derive it rather from the Custom of the World in several Religions thus to express some kind of Reverence when that which they acknowledge for their God is named as we find the Turks do at this day Besides I conceive to do this reverence at the name Iesus only is proper to the Latine Church and it may be of later standing For if some Greeks have not deceived me the custom of the Orient is to bow the head not only at the name Iesus but at the name Christ and sometimes though not so frequently at the name God And if that were the fashion of the elder Christianity that out of S. Hierom would found more to the purpose Moris est Ecclesiastici Christo genu-flectere This is all I can say to this point having had fewer Notions thereabout than about any of the rest That the worship of the Inward man is that which God principally requires and looks at I think no Christian man denies But what then Doth not our Saviour's rule hold notwithstanding in such a comparison 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And consider that the Question is not here as most men seem to make it between Inward worship and Outward worship seorsim for in such case it is plain the Outward is nothing worth but whether the Inward worship together with the Outward may not be more acceptable to God than the Inward alone As for that so commonly objected Scripture in this question Of worshipping the Father in spirit and truth as the Characteristical difference of the Evangelical worship from the Legal I believe it hath a far different sense from that it is commonly taken to have and that the Iews in our Saviour's sense worshipped the Father in spirit and truth But my work grows so fast that I must let it pass and be content with that vulgar answer viz. That under the Old Testament God was worshipped in types and figures of things to come but in the New men should worship the Father in spirit and truth that is according to the verity of the things presignified not that they should worship him without all gestures or postures of Body to which purpose it is wont to be alledged But all this while my mind is upon another matter which at length I am gotten unto viz. your strange construction and censure of the pains I took in opening my thoughts so freely unto you concerning these matters of reverential posture and gesture in respect of that interlaced piece wherein I intimated the Eucharist to have in it ratio sacrificii For 1. Because in the close of my Letter I expressed my fear of some Iudgment to befall the Reformed Churches because out of the immoderation of their zeal they had in a manner taken away all Difference between Sacred and Prophane you will needs suspect I aimed to make the present Iudgments of God upon Christendom to be for neglect of that Sacrifice which I had spoken of a thing I never thought of nor thought so plain an expression of my meaning could ever have been so mistaken I pray let me intreat you to read over those papers once again and then tell me with whom the fault is For why Is not to esteem the Eucharist a Sacrament to account it a Sacred thing unless it be accounted a Sacrifice 2. It seems strange to you that a matter of so great importance as I seem to make this Sacrifice to be should have so little evidence in God's Word and Antiquity and depend merely upon certain conjectures As for Scripture if you mean the name of Sacrifice neither is the name Sacrament nor Eucharist according to our Expositions there to be found no more than 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Yet may not the thing be But when you speak of so little Evidence to be found in Antiquity I cannot but think such an Affirmation far more strange than you can possibly my Opinion For what is there in Christianity for which more Antiquity may be brought than for this I speak not now of the Fathers meaning whether I guessed rightly at it or not but in general of their Notion of a Sacrifice in the Eucharist If there be little Antiquity for this there is no Antiquity for any thing Eusebius Altkircherus a Calvinist printed Neustadii Palatinorum 1584. 1591. De mystico incruento Ecclesiae Sacrificio pag. 6. Fuit haec perpetua semper omnium Ecclesiasticorum Patrum concors unanimis sententia Quòd instituta per Christum passionis mortis suae in Sacra Coena memoria etiam Sacrificii in se contineret commendationem Bishop Morton in Epist. Dedicator prefixed to his Book of the Eucharist Apud veteres Patres ut quod res est liberè fateamur de Sacrificio Corporis Christi in Eucharistia incruento frequens est mentio quae dici vix potest quantopere quorundam alioqui doctorum hominum ingenia exercuerit torserit vexaver◠aut è contrà quà m jactanter Pontificii de ea re se ostentent And that in the Age immediately following the Apostles the Eucharist was generally conceived of under the name and notion of a Sacrifice to omit the Testimonies of Ignatius and Iustin Martyr take only this of Irenaeus Lib. 4. cap. 32. Dominus discipulis suis dans consilium primitias Deo offerre ex suis creaturis eum qui ex creatura Panis est accepit gratias egit dicens Hoc est Corpus meum Calicem similiter qui est ex ea creatura quae est secundùm nos suum Sanguinem confessus est Novi Testamenti novam docuit Oblationem quam Ecclesia ab Apostolis accipiens in universo mundo offert Deo c. And chap. 34. Igitur Ecclesiae Oblatio quam
touching the Necessity and Contingency of these Subordinate Causes That the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Coeli does beget in man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Temperamenti and this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Temperamenti begets 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ingenii in the way of direct and natural subordination But that here the Chain is broken off because 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ingenii does beget or produce 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Actionis in man only contingently and without any necessity And thus è contrà That 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Coeli does beget 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Temperamenti and the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Temperamenti begets 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ingenii This naturally as before But that this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ingenii should beget 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Actionis this is from no necessity because it is in mans power and liberty who is naturally ill-disposed yet through the emprovements of Art and especially by the Grace of God to become good or better as the Divine Goodness shall minister opportunity Which is as much as can be said in so few words and might determine the question to all judicious and knowing men concerning the power of the Stars and those Celestial Influences into and upon this inferior world where their Operations are genuine and natural and properly efficient and where they have their stint and their Nè plus ultrà nothing at all to do unless by a remote disposition which is properly no Cause at all This is enough also to vindicate Man born to Liberty and to command the Stars from that supposed vassalage whereunto the jugling Astrologers of our days would fain subject him and cast the credulous world into a Trance of blindness to believe Lies and Follies and gross Vanities for very Truth 16. But leaving the hot pursuit of Astrological fancies the busie idleness of some even to their old age he applied himself to the more useful study of History and Antiquities particularly to a curious enquiry into those Mysterious Sciences which made the ancient Chaldeans Egyptians and other Nations so famous tracing them as far as he could have any light to guide him in their Oriental Schemes and Figurative expressions as likewise in their Hieroglyphicks not forgetting to enquire also into the Oneirocriticks of the Ancients Which he did the rather because of that affinity which he conceiv'd they might have with the language of the Prophets to the understanding of whom he shew'd a most ardent desire His Humanity-studies and Mathematical labours were but Initial things which he made attendants to the Mysteries of Divinity and though they were Preparatives as he could use them yet were they but at a distance off and more remote to his aim for he had more work to do before he could be Master of his design A well-furnish'd Divine is compounded of more Ingredients than so For Histories of all sorts but those especially which concern the Church of God must be studied and well known and therefore he made his way by the knowledge of all Histories General National Ancient and Modern Sacred and Secular He was a curious and laborious searcher of Antiquities relating to Religion Ethnick Iewish Christian and Mahumetan the fruits of which studious diligence appear visibly in several of those excellent Treatises which have pass'd the Press particularly in his Apostasie of the Latter times The Christian Sacrifice his Discourses upon Daniel his Paraphrase and Notes upon S. Peter's Prophecy and in his great Master-piece those elaborate Commentaries upon the Apocalyps where the Fata Imperii i.e. the Affairs of the Roman State there predicted are to admiration explain'd out of Ethnick Historians and the Fata Ecclesiae illustrated with no less accuracy out of Ecclesiastick Writers His Writings best speak his eminent skill in History yet it may not be amiss to superadde upon this occasion the Testimony of a very judicious person and one of long and inward acquaintance with Mr. Mede and his studies we mean that forementioned ancient Collegue and Consocius of his Mr. W. Chappell who before his going into Ireland was heard thus to express himself That Mr. Mede was as judicious a man in Ecclesiastical Antiquities and as accurately skilled in the first Fathers of the Church both Greek and Latin as any man living 17. Unto Histories he added those necessary attendants which to the knowledge of the more difficult Scriptures must never be wanting viz. an accurate understanding of the Ichnography of the Tabernacle and Temple the Order of the Service of God therein performed as also of the City of Ierusalem together with an exact Topography of the Holy Land besides other Iewish Antiquities Scripture-Chronology and the exact Calculation of Times so far especially as made for the solving or clearing of those difficulties and obscure passages that occur in the Historical part of Scripture which the vulgar Chronologers have perplex'd and the best not fully freed from scruple And how great his abilities were for the Sacred Chronologie may appear to omit other proofs from that clause in a Letter of the then Archbishop of Armagh to him I have entred upon the Determination of the Controversies which concern the Chronology of the Sacred Scripture wherein I shall in many places need your help That great and laborious Work which this equally Learned and Humble Prelate was now entred upon was his Chronologia Sacra wherein he intended to confirm those dispositions of Years and accounts of time he had set down in his Annals of the Old and New Testament lately published by him This Work had exercised his industry for many years and he labour'd in it to the last minute of health he enjoy'd but he lived not to finish it Yet that the fruit of all his travels herein might not die with him so much as he had elaborated was published by the Learned Dr. Barlow Provost of Queen's-Colledge in Oxford whose great care and industry herein did deserve in this place an express celebration For such useful Labours justly entitle a man to the honour of being a Benefactor to the world 18. By the fruit of these Studies particularly by his happy Labours upon the Apocalyps and Prophetical Scriptures what honour our Author purchas'd abroad besides what he gain'd at home among men studious in this way and therefore capable of judging is evident by the many Letters sent him from Learned men in several parts expressing their own and others high esteem of his Writings As the above-mention'd Primate of Ireland Archbishop Usher who also acquainted Mr. Mede with the great esteem that another Archbishop in Ireland had for his accurate labours upon the Apocalyps The judicious and moderate Paulus Testardus Pastor of the Reformed Church at Blois in France who was so highly pleas'd with his Clavis Commentationes Apocalypticae as to take the pains amidst his other pressing labours to translate them into French designing the printing of them for the benefit of his Countreymen
their assembly mine honour be not thou united And thus much of our first Observation There is another Lesson yet more to be learned from this Act of the Angels namely That if they glorifie God for our Happiness and the Favour of God towards us in Christ much more should we glorifie and magnifie his Goodness our selves to whom solely this Birth and the benefit of this Birth redounds If they sing Glory be to God on high for his Favour toward men we to whom such Favour is shewn must not hold our peace for shall they for us and not we for our selves No the Quire of Heaven did but set us in we are to bear a part and it should be a chief part since the best part is ours As therefore the Church in her publick Service hath ever since kept it up so must every one of us in particular never let it go down or die in our hands THUS much of the Quire Now come we to the Amhem or Song it self whose contents are two First The Doxology or Praise Glory be to God on high Secondly A Gratulation rendring the reason thereof Because of Peace on earth Good-will towards men For the conjunction 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is not to be taken here for a copulative but as Vau is frequently in the Hebrew for a conjunction causal or for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Glory to God in the highest for that there is Peace on earth and Good-will towards men Or if we retain the copulative sense yet we must understand the words following as spoken by way of Gratulation Glory be to God on high and welcome Peace on earth Good-will towards men Or both causally and gratulatorily thus Glory be to God in the highest for ô factum bene there is Peace on earth and Good-will towards men To begin with the First The Doxology or Praise Glory be to God in the Highest that is Let the Angels glorifie him who dwell on high for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is to be referred to Glory and not to God the sense being Glorified be God by those on high and not God who dwells on high be glorified This may appear by the like expression in Psalm 148. 1 2. whence this Glorification seems to be borrowed Praise ye the Lord from the Heavens praise him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the highest Praise ye him all his Angels praise ye him all his Hosts And therefore Iunius for Praise ye the Lord from the Heavens hath Laudate eum coelites Praise him ye that dwell in Heaven The Chaldee for Praise him in excelsis hath Praise him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ye high Angels In like manner here Gloria in excelsis Deo Glory to God in the highest are the words of the Angelical Quire inciting themselves and all the Host of Heaven to give glory and praise unto God for these wonderful tidings Now therefore let us see What this Glory is and How it is given to God To tell you every signification of the word Glory in Scripture might perhaps distract the hearer but would inform him little Nor will it be to purpose to reckon up every signification it hath when it is spoken of God I will therefore name only the two principal ones And first Glory when it is referred to God often signifies the Divine Presence or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as in this Chapter a little before my Text when it is said The GLORY of the Lord shone round about the Shepherds and they were sore afraid But this is not the signification in my Text but another which I shall now tell you For Glory besides signifies in Scripture the high and glorious Supereminency or Majesty of God which consisteth in his threefold Supremacy of Power of Wisdom and of Goodness And as words of Eminency and Dignity with us as Majesty Highness Honour Worship are used for the Persons themselves to whom such Dignity belongeth as when we say his Majesty his Highness his Honour his Worship so in the Scripture and among the Hebrews His Glory or the Glory of the Lord is used to note the Divine Essence or Deity it self As in 2 Pet. 1. 17. There came a voice saith S. Peter from the excellent GLORY that is from God the Father This is my well-beloved Son in whom I am well pleased Rom. 1. 23. the Gentiles are said to have changed the GLORY of the incorruptible God into the likeness of things corruptible As it is said in Psal. 106. 20. of the Israelites in the Wilderness that they changed their GLORY into the similitude of an Oxe that eateth grass S. Iohn chap. 1. 14. of his Gospel says of the Son We beheld his GLORY the glory as of the only-begotten Son of God According to which sense he is called Heb. 1. 3. The Brightness of his Father's glory and the express Image of his person where the latter words are an exposition of the former Image expounding Brightness and Person or Substance expounding Glory If Glory therefore signifie the Divine Majesty or Greatness to Glorifie or give Glory unto God is nothing else but to acknowledge and confess this Majesty or Greatness of His namely his Supereminent Power his Wisdom and Goodness for in the peerless supereminency of these Three under which all his other Attributes are comprehended his Glorious Majesty consisteth Take this withal That all the religious service and worship we give unto God whether we praise him pray or give thanks unto him is nothing else but the acknowledging of this Glory either in deed or word namely by confessing it or doing some act whereby we acknowledge it To come to particulars By our Faith we confess his Wisdom and Truth by our Thanksgiving his Goodness and Mercy when we Pray we acknowledge his Power and Dominion and therefore the form of prayer our Saviour taught us concludes For thine is the Kingdom Power and Glory In Praise we confess all these or any of them according to that in the Hymn of the Church Te Deum laudamus Te Dominum confitemur We praise thee O God we acknowledge thee to be the Lord. All which is evident by those forms of Glorification set down in the Apocalyps which are nothing else but express and particular acknowledgements of the Greatness or Majesty of God and his peerless prerogatives When the four Wights are said to have given Glory Honour and Thanks to him that sate upon the Throne what was their Ditty but this Thou art worthy O Lord to receive Glory and Honour and Power for thou hast created all things and for thy pleasure they are and were created When the Lamb opened the Book with seven Seals the Wights the Elders and every creature in Heaven in earth and under the earth sung Worthy is the Lamb to receive Power and Riches and Wisdom and Strength and Honour and Blessing And again Blessing Honour Glory and Power be unto him that sitteth upon the Throne and
in becoming Christians and so needed not to be expresly mentioned For that enumeration in the Apostles Decree is to be understood with a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or an Et caetera a Scheme usual in the allegation not only of Texts of Scripture but of pastages commonly and vulgarly known We may find an Example of it Hebr. 12. 27. in the citation of that Text of Haggai Yet once more and I will shake not the earth only but the heavens which the Apostle there repeats with this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This Yet once more saith he signifies the removing of things that are shaken that is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or as the Hebrews speak 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This Yet once more and the rest signifies so much for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Yet once more alone signifies it not but that whole Sentence Now that I may not have held your ears all this time with so long a story without some matter of Instruction let us obâ—erve by the example of this Cornelius How great a favour and blessing of God it is to live and dwell within the pale of his Church where opportunity and means of Salvation is to be had If Cornelius had still dwelt among his Countrymen the Italians where he was bred and born or in any other Province of that Empire he had in all likelihood never come to this saving and blesâ—ed knowledge of the true God but died a Pagan as he was born But by this occasion of living at Caesarea within the confines of the land of Israel where the Oracles and Worship of the most High God were daily resounded and professed he became such an one as ye have heard a blessed Convert unto the true God whom with all his house he served and worshipped with acceptation If this be so Then should we our selves learn to be more thankful to God than most of us use to be for that condition wherein by his Providence we are born For we might if it had pleased him have been born and had our dwelling among Pagans and Gentiles who had no knowledge of his Word or Promise and such our Nation once was But behold his goodness and mercy we are born of Christian Parents and dwell in a Christian Country and so made partakers of the name and livery of Christ as soon as we were born How great should our thankfulness be for his mercy Nay we might have been born and bred in a Christian Nation too and yet such an one where Idolatry false worship and Popery so reigned as there had been little hopes or means either to be saved But behold we are born bred and dwell in a Reformed Christian State where the Worship of God in Christ is truly taught and practâ—â—ed where no God is worshipped but the Father and in no other Mediator but his Son Iesus Christ. How should we then magnifie our good God for his so great and abundant mercy towards us Luther or some other tells a story of a poor German peasant who on a time beholding an ugly Toad fell into a most bitter lamentation and weeping that he had been so unthankful to Almighty God who had made him a Man and not such an ugly creature as that was O that we could in like manner bewail our Ingratitude towards him who hath made us to have our birth and habitation not among Pagans and barbarous Indians a people without God in the World but in a believing and Christian Nation where the true God is known and the means of Salvation is to be had Thankfulness for a less benefit is the way to obtain a greater To acknowledge and prize God's favour towards us in the means is the way to obtain his grace to use them to our eternal advantage Whereas our neglect of Thankfulness in the one may cause God in his just judgment to deprive us of his Blessing in the other Consider it AND thus much concerning the Person to whom the Angel spake Cornelius And he said unto him Now I come to the Message it self Thy Prayers and thine Alms are come up into remembrance before God Where before I make any further entrance there is an Objection requires to be answered namely How Cornelius his service could be accepted of God as here it is said to be whenas he had no knowledge of Christ without whom no man can please God I answer Cornelius pleased God through his Faith in the Promise of Christ to come as all just men under the Law did which Faith God did so long accept after Christ was come till his Coming and the mystery of Redemption wrought by him were fully and clearly made known and preached which had not been to Cornelius until this time For though he had heard of his preaching in Galilee and Iudaea and that he was crucified by the Iews yet hâ— had not heard of his Resurrection from the dead and Ascension into glory or was not assured of it till it was now confirm'd unto him by one sent from God himself And it is like that having heard somewhat of the Apostles preaching and of the Iews opposing their testimony and so knowing not what to believe he had earnestly besought God in his Devotions to lead him in the way of Truth and make known unto him what to do This being premised I return again unto the Angel's words wherein I will consider Three things 1. The conjunction or joyning of Almsdeeds with Prayer Thy Prayers and thine Alms. 2. The efficacy and power they have with God Thy Prayers and thine Alms are come up into remembrance before God 3. I will add the Reasons why God so much accepteth them which are also so many Motives why we should be careful and diligent to practise them For the first The joyning of Almsdeeds with Prayer Cornelius we see joyn'd them and he is therefore in the verses before-going commended for a devout man and one that feared God And by the Angel's report from God himself we hear how graciously he accepted them giving us to understand that a Devotion thus arm'd was of all others the most powerful to pierce into his dwelling-place and fetch a blessing from him Therefore our Saviour likewise Matth. 6. 1 5. joyns the Precepts of Alms and Prayer together teaching us how to give Alms and how to Pray in one Sermon as things that ought to go hand in hand and not to be separated asunder It was also the Ordinance of the Church in the Apostles times that the First day of the week which was the time of publick Prayer should be the time also of Alms. So saith S. Paul 1 Cor. 16. 1. Now concerning the collection for the Saints saith he as I have given order to the Churches of Galatia even so do ye 2. Vpon the first day of the week that is upon the Lord's day let every one of you lay by himself in store as God hath prospered him that there
may well resemble another And therefore he appears it seems in the shape of Man's imperfection either for age or deformity as like an old man for so the Witches say and perhaps it is not altogether false which is vulgarly affirmed That the Devil appearing in Humane shape hath always a deformity of some uncouth member or other as though he could not yet take upon him Humane shape entirely for that Man himself is not entirely and utterly fallen as he is By this time you see the difficulty of the Question is eased Now it appears why Eve wondered not to see a Spirit speak unto her in the shape of a Serpent because she knew the Law of Spirits apparitions better than we do Again when she saw the Spirit who talked with her to have taken upon him the shape though of a Beast yet of the most sagacious Beast of the field she concluded according to our forelaid suppositions That though he were one of the abased spirits yet the shape he had taken resembling his nature he must needs be a most crafty and sagacious one and so might pry farther into God's meaning than she was aware of And thus you may see at last how the opinion of the Serpent's subtilty occasioned Eve's fall as also why the Devil of all other Beasts of the field took the shape of a Serpent namely to gain this opinion of sagacity with the Woman as one who knew the Principles aforesaid Here I observe That overmuch dotage upon a conceived excellency whether of Wisdom or whatsoever else without a special eye to God's commandment hath ever been the Occasion of greatest Errors in the world and the Devil under this mask useth to blear our eyes and with this bait to inveigle our hearts that he may securely bring us to his lure It was the mask of the Serpent's wisdom and sagacity above the rest of the Beasts of the field whereby he brought to pass our first Parents ruin The admired wisdom of the long-living Fathers of the elder world having been for so many ages as Oracles their off-spring grown even to a People and Nation while they yet lived was the ground of the ancient Idolatry of mankind whilest they supposed that those to whom for wisdom they had recourse being living could not but help them when they were dâ—ad This we may learn out of Hesiâ—d The men saith he of the golden age being once dead became 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they became Godlings and Patrons of mortal men and Overseers of their good and evil works So the opinion of the blessed Martyrs superlative glory in Heaven was made the occasion of the new-found Idolatry of the Christian Churches wherewith they are for the greater part yet overwhelmed And the esteem which Peter had above the rest of the Apostles in regard of chief-dome even in the Apostles times was abused by the old Deceiver to instal the man of sin This made S. Paul to say The mystery of iniquity was even then working and therefore he laboured as far as he could to prevent it by as much depressing Peter as others exalted him Nay he puts the Churches in mind of this story of the Serpent's beguiling Eve that her mis-hap might be a warning to them 2 Cor. 11. 2 3. I am jealous over you saith he with a godly jealousie for I have esponsed you to one husband that I might present you as a chaste Virgin to Christ. But I fear lest by any means as the Serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. And to come a little nearer home Have not our Adversaries when they would get Disciples learned this of the Devil to possess them first with an opinion of superlative Learning in their Doctors surpassing any of ours I will say no more in this point but that we ought so to prize and admire the gifts and abilities of Learning which God hath bestowed upon men that the Pole-star of his Sacred Word may ever be in our eye THE next thing to be spoken of is The Action Guile And first I shall shew what it is To beguile is through a false faith and persuasion wrought by some argument of seeming good to bereave a man of some good he had or hoped for or to bring upon him some evil he expected not Practice hath made it so well known that I should not need to have given any definition or description thereof but only for a more distinct consideration Whereas therefore I said that Guile wrought by forelaying a false persuasion or belief I would intimate that it was nothing else but a Practical Sophism the Premisses whereof are counterfeit motives the Conclusion an erroneous execution Now as all Practice or Action consists in these two The choice of our End and The execution of Means to attain thereunto So is this Practical Sophism we call Guile found in them both either when an evil End is presented unto us in the counterfeit of a good and so we are made to embrace Nubem pro Iunone and find our selves deceiv'd in the event whatsoever the Means were we have used or else we apply such Means as are either unlawful or unsufficient to attain our End as being so mask'd that they appear unto us far otherwise than they are With both these sorts or parts of Guile the Devil wrought our first Parents ruin First by making it seem a thing desirable and by all means to be laboured for To be like unto God which was an ambition of that whereof man was not only not capable but such as little beseemed him to aspire unto upon whom God had bestowed so great a measure of glorious perfections as he seem'd a God amongst the rest of the creatures What unthankfulness was this that he upon whom God bestowed so much as he was the glory of his workmanship should yet think that God should envy him any degree of excellency fit for him For this was the mask wherewith the Devil covered both the unfitness and impossibility of the End he insinuated but he beguiled them Secondly He put the same trick upon them in the choice of the Means to be used which was to transgress the severe commandment of Almighty God Had the Aim been allowable yet could not the Means have been taken for good but only of such as were beguiled in that the Devil made the Woman believe with his questioning the truth of God's commandment that the danger was not great nor so certain as it seemed or that evil which might be in the action would be countervailed with the excellency to be attained thereby the gloriousness of which End the Devil so strongly sounded that it drowned in her imagination the least conceit of evil in the Means And as a man which always looks upward sees not the danger in the patâ— and way he walks in until he tumbles into
to Martyrs Who among the faithful while the Priest was standing at the Altar built for the honour and worship of God nay though it were over the holy body of the Martyr I say who ever heard the Priest to say thus in Prayer To thee O Peter or O Paul do I offer Sacrifice Here Sacrificium is expounded by Preces and Preces put for Sacrificium And Lib. 22. cap. 8. concerning one Hesperius a man of quality in the City whereof Austin was Bishop who by the affliction of his cattel and servants perceiving his Country-Grange liable to some malignant power of evil spirits Rogavit nostros saith S. Austin me absente Presbyteros ut aliquis eorum illò pergeret cujus orationibus cederent Perrexit unus obtulit ibi sacrificium corporis Christi orans quantum potuit ut cessaret illa vexatio Deo protinus miserante cessavit He entreated our Presbyters in my absence that some one of them would go to the place through the prevalency of whose Prayers he hoped the evil spirits would be forced away Accordingly one of them went thither and offered there the Sacrifice of Christ's Body praying earnestly with all his might for the ceasing of that fore affliction and it ceased forthwith through God's mercy The Priest was entreated to pray there he went and offered sacrifice and so prayed For this reason the Christian Sacrifice is among the Fathers by way of distinction called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sacrificium laudis that is of Confession and Invocation of God namely to difference it from those of Bloud and Incense Augustine Lib. 1. contra Adversarium Legis Prophetarum cap. 20. Ecclesia immolat Deo in corpore Christi sacrificium laudis ex quo Deus Deorum locutus vocavit terram à Solis ortu usque ab occasum The Church offereth to God the Sacrifice of praise ever since the fulfilling of that in Psalm 50. The God of Gods hath spoken and called the earth from the rising of the Sun to the going down thereof Again Epist. 86. Sacrificium laudis ab Ecclesia toto orbe diffusa diebus omnibus immolatur The Sacrifice of Praise is continually offered by the Christian Church dispersed all the world over And elsewhere And amongst the Greek Fathers this term is so frequent as I shall not need to quote any of them Now this joyning of the Prayers of the Church with the mystical commemoration of Christ in the Sacrament of his Body and Bloud was no after-Invention of the Fathers but took its original from the Apostles times and the very beginning of Christianity For so we read of the first believers Acts 2. 42. that they were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which the Vulgar Latine turns Erant autem perseverantes in doctrina Apostolorum communicatione fractionis panis orationibus And they persevered in the doctrine of the Apostles and in the communication of the breaking of bread and Prayers but the Syriack Perseverantes erant in doctrina Apostolorum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 communicabant in oratione fractione Eucharistiae They persevered in the doctrine of the Apostles and communicated in Prayer and in breaking of the Eucharist that is They were assiduous and constant in hearing the Apostles and in celebrating the Christian Sacrifice Both which Translations teach us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Breaking of Bread and Prayers are to be referred to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Communion as the Exegesis thereof namely that this Communion of the Church consisted in the Breaking of Bread and Prayers and so the conjunction 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to be Exegetically taken as if the Greek were rendred thus Erant perseverantes in audienda doctrina Apostolorum in communicatione videlicet fractione panis orationibus And who knows not that the Synaxis of the ancient Christians consisted of these three parts Of hearing the Word of God of Prayers and Commemoration of Christ in the Eucharist Our Translation therefore here is not so right which refers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and translates it The fellowship of the Apostles The Antiquity also of this conjunction we speak of appears out of Ignatius in his Epistle to the Ephesians where speaking of the damage which Schismaticks incur by dividing themselves from the communion of the Church he utters it in this manner 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let no man saith he deceive himself unless a man be within the Altar he is deprived of the Bread of God And if the prayer of one or two be of that force as to set Christ in the midst of them how much more shall the joynt-prayer of the Bishop and whole Church sent up unto God prevail with him to grant us all our requests in Christ These words of Ignatius directly imply that the Altar was the place as of the Bread of God so of the Publick Prayers of the Church and that they were so nearly linked together that he that was not within the Altar that is who should be divided therefrom had no benefit of either CHAP. VI. The Third Particular That the Christian Sacrifice is an Oblation of Thanksgiving and Prayer through Iesus Christ Commemorated in the Creatures of Bread and Wine Sacrifices under the Law were Rites to invocate God by That the Eucharist is a Rite to give thanks and invocate God by proved from several Testimonies of the Fathers and the Greek Liturgies A passage out of Mr. Perkins agreeable to this notion What meant by that usual expression of the Ancients speaking of the Eucharist Through Iesus Christ the great High-Priest By Nomen Dei in Mal. 1. Iustin Martyr and Irenaeus understood Christ. Why in the Eucharist Prayers were to be directed to God the Father THE second Particular thus proved the Third comes next in place which is I That this Oblation of Thanksgiving and Prayer was made through Iesus Christ commemorated in the creatures of Bread and Wine Namely they believed that our Blessed Saviour ordained this Sacrament of his Body and Bloud as a Rite to bless and invocate his Father by in stead of the manifold and bloudy Sacrifices of the Law For That those bloudy Sacrifices of the Law were Rites to invocate God by is a Truth though not so vulgarly known yet undeniable and may on the Gentiles behalf be proved out of Homer and other Authors on the Iews by that speech of Saul 1 Sam. 13. 12. when Samuel expostulated with him for having offered a burnt-offering I said saith he The Philistines will come down upon me to Gilgal and I have not made supplication to the Lord I forced my self therefore and offered a burnt-offering upon which place Kimchi notes that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sacrifice was a Rite or Medium whereby Prayer was usually presented unto God The same is likewise true of their Hymns and Doxologies as is to be seen 2 Chron. 29. 27. and by the
might be yet more literally translated if the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 facere were taken in a religious sense And he shall do unto or offer unto the holds of Mahuzzim together with the foreign God c. that is he shall do religious service to the Images of Saints together with Christ. I might also put you in mind of the term of Munimentum given to the Cross and that so usual Latin phrase of Munire signo Crucis to fortifie that is to sign with the sign of the Cross But I will not engage my self too far in these Grammatical Speculations As for the following verses of this Prophecie if any desire to know it they may as I think be interpreted and applied thus Ver. 40. And at the time of the End that is in the Romans 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Latter times shall the King of the South that is the Saracen push at him and the King of the North the Turk shall come against him to wit the Saracen like a whirlwind with chariots and with horsemen and with many ships and he shall enter into the Countries and shall overflow and pass over Ver. 41. He shall enter also into the glorious Land Palestine and many shall be overthrown but these shall escape out of his hand Edom and Moab and the chief of the children of Ammon that is the Inhabitants of Arabia Petraea which were never yet Provincials of the Turkish Empire yea with some of them he is fain to be at a Pension for the safer passage of his Caravans Ver. 42. He the Turk shall stretch forth his hand also upon the Countries of those parts and the Land of Egypt though it should hold out long under the Mamalukes even till the year 1517 shall not escape Ver. 43. But he shall have power over the treasures of gold and silver and all the precious things of Egypt and the Libians and the Cushites that is the neighbouring Nations whether of Africk or Lybia as those of Algiers c. or of the Arabians in Scripture called Cushim shall be at his steps that is at his devotion That which remains as I suppose is not yet fulfilled and therefore I leave it Time will make it manifest PART II. Verse 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Through the hypocrisie or feigning of Liers of those who have their conscience seared Verse 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Of those who forbid to marry and command to abstain from meats which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth CHAP. I. The Author 's three Reasons for his Translating the Text differently from the Common Versions That the Preposition 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Text signifies Through or By. Other places of Scripture where it signifies likewise Causam or Modum actionis OF the First Part of this Prophecy being a Description of the Condition of that Solemn Defection which was to come I have spoken hitherto I come now to the Second Part of my Division The quality of the Persons and the Means whereby it was to enter and be advanced which is set forth in the Verses now read which though you may find by others otherwise translated yet I hope the Translation which I have propounded if the judicious Reader please to examine it will approve it self not only to be an enforced one but such as salves that incongruity of Construction which the other could not avoid For it is usually translated intransitively with reference to the Persons expressed in the former verse viz. That they should speak lies in hypocrisie having their conscience seared with an hot iron and forbidding marriage and commanding to abstain from meats So as that which in the former verse is named Doctrines of Devils should only mean that in general terms which in these Verses is particularly instanced to be Doctrines of prohibiting marriage and abstaining from meats as two branches of that Devilish doctrine for so Calvin Melanchthon and some others seem to expound it But why this Interpretation should not be the most likely my first Reason is 1. Because it makes S. Paul who speaks of that Great Apostasie of Christians which was to be in the Latter Times to instance only in the smaller and if I may so say almost circumstantial errors and to omit the main and principal which the Scripture elsewhere tells us should be Idolatry or Spiritual fornication Who can believe that he would so balk the substance and name only that which in comparison is but an Appendix thereto 2. He prophesies here in express words of such things as were to come 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Latter times But Errors about Marriage and Meats were no novelty in the Apostles own times as the diligent Reader may easily collect out of their Epistles which makes it improbable he would specifie the Apostasie of the latter times in these alone 3. But my last Reason whereunto I think I may trust is That the Syntax of the words in the Greek is uncapable of such an intransitive construction and consequently of the sense depending thereon For the Persons intimated in the former verse are expressed in casu recto as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ◠but the Persons intended here we find in the Genitive 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which I cannot see how they can agree with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 after the manner of intransitive construction without breach of Grammatical congruity not elsewhere sampled in our Apostle's Epistles Indeed they would agree with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but that would be a harsh sense every way for either we must say as some do that by Devils are meant Devilish men or men led by the Devil which is an hard signification or else it would be a stranger sense and I think not over-pliable to the usual exposition to say That Devils should lie have seared consciences and forbid marriage or meats So that Beza with others had rather confess a breach of Syntax than incur the inconvenience of such a forced sense Major est habita saith he sententiae quà m constructionis ratio The Apostle heeded more the matter than he did the Grammar But what needs this so long as there is a better way to salve it namely to construe the words transitively making all these Genitive cases to be governed of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by or through the feigning of liers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. through the feigning of those who had their consciences seared and so forward Which construction is observed and followed by Andreas Hyperius one of our reformed Writers who translates Per simulationem falsiloquorum c. and expounds it de modo quofallent Spiritus Impostores fallunt per simulationem seu hypocrysin falsiloquorum c and I believe that many others have taken it so for our late Latine translations are indifferent to be taken either
and their Lord should reign for ever See the place and consider it This opinion is here and there also dispersed in the Chaldee Paraphrase and in the Talmud as of ancient Tradition and is the opinion of the Iews at this day who as they look not for the Kingdom of their Messiah until Dies Iudicii magni so they expect that their forefathers at least such as were just and holy should rise at the beginning of the same and reign in the land of Israel with their off-spring under Messiah I can hardly believe that all this smoke of Tradition could arise but from some fire of Truth anciently made known unto them Besides why should the holy Ghost in this point speak so like them unless he would induce us mutatis mutandis to mean with them In fine the Second and Universal Resurrection with the State of the Saints after it now so clearly revealed in Christianity seems to have been less known to the ancient Church of the Iews than the First and the State to accompany it Lastly This was the Opinion of the whole Orthodox Christian Church in the Age immediately following the death of S. Iohn when yet Polycarp and many of the Apostles Disciples were living as Iustin Martyr expresly affirmeth whose passage to that purpose when I return again to Cambridge I will send you illustrated with some Notes and the reading in one place restored from a corruption crept thereinto by fraud or otherwise A testimony absolute without all comparison to perswade such as rely upon Authority and Antiquity It is to be admired that an Opinion once so generally received in the Church should ever have been cried down and buried But those Times which extinguished this brought other Alterations into the Church besides this Et quidem sic fieri oportuit I will say something more observed perhaps by few of those which have knowledge enough of the rest namely That this Opinion of the First Resurrection was the true ground and mother of prayers for the dead so anciently received in the Church which were then conceived after this manner Vt partem haberent in Resurrectione prima See Tertullian who first mentions them The reason was because this having part in Resurrectione prima was not to be common to all but to be a priviledge of some namely of Martyrs and Confessors equipollent to them if God so would accept them Moreover the belief of this Prerogative of Martyrs in Resurrectione prima was that which made the Christians of those times so joyously desirous of Martyrdom These things will perhaps seem strange but they will be found true if duly examined Thus I have discovered my opinion of the thing which I suppose the Scripture hath revealed shall be But de modo how it shall be I would willingly abstain from determining We must be content to be ignorant of the manner of things which for the matter we are bound to believe Too much adventuring here without a sure guide may be dangerous and breed intolerable fancies as it did among some in those ancient times which occasioned as may seem the death and burial of the main Opinion it self so generally at first believed Yet thus much I conceive the Text seems to imply That these Saints of the First Resurrection should reign here on earth in the New Ierusalem in a state of beatitude and glory partaking of Divine presence and Vision of Christ their King as it were in an Heaven upon earth or new Paradise immutable unchangeable c. Secondly That for the better understanding of this Mysterie we must distinguish between the State of the New Ierusalem and State of the Nations which shall walk in the light thereof they shall not be both one but much differing Therefore what is spoken particularly of the New Ierusalem must not be applied to the whole Church which then shall be New Ierusalem is not the whole Church but the Metropolis thereof and of the New world The State of the Nations which shall walk in her light though happy and glorious yet shall be changeable as appears by the commotio◠of the Nations seduced at the end of the Thousand years But the State of those wh◠dwell in the New Ierusalem shall be extra omnem mutationis aleam Blessed are thos◠who have part in the First Resurrection for on them the Second Death hath no power I differ therefore from Piscator and agree with Alstedius That the Saints of th◠First Resurrection should reign on Earth during the Millennium and not in Heaven I differ from both in that I make this State of the Church to belong to Secundus Adventus Christi or Dies Iudicii Magni when Christ shall appear in the clouds of Heaven to destroy all the professed enemies of his Church and Kingdom and deliver the creature from that bondage of corruption brought upon it for the sin of man Whereas they make it to precede the Day of Iudgment and Second coming Though this Notion may seem to make but little alteration of the thing believed yet it is of no small moment to facilitate the understanding of Scripture and puts upon the thing it self another nature than is conceived by those who apprehend it otherwise In a word Ours conceive this State to be ante Diem Iudicii Others though wrongfully suppose the ancient Chiliasts to have held it to be post Diem Iudicii But the truth is it is neither before nor after but ipsa Dies Iudicii ipsum tempus Secundae apparitionis Christi And it is to be remembred here that the Iews who gave this time the name of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Day of Iudgment and from whom our Saviour and his Apostles took it never understood thereby but a Time of many years continuance yea some mirabile dictu of a thousand years and the name of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Day of Iudgment is more frequent in their Writings than in the New Testament it self It is mentioned I know not how many times in the Chaldee Paraphrase of that little Book of Ecclesiastes The word Day is in the Hebrew notion used ordinarily for tempus yea longissimum as in the Prophets for the seventy years Captivity for the time of their great and long Captivity for the time of their pilgrimage in the wilderness Psal. 95. according to the LXX and S. Pauls translation Hebr. 3. The day of temptation in the wilderness when your Fathers tempted me and proved me and saw my works forty years See the thirteenth verse of that chapter where a Day includes every Day So should Day be taken in the Lord's Prayer for the time of this our life Compare it with S. Luke whose words are Give us every day our daily bread See the longest day of all days in the last words of S. Peter's last Epistle in the Greek and Latin for our English obscures it with a general expression It is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 dies
rest when it comes to be the Throne of Christ's Kingdome like as it was the glory of all Lands when the children of Israel were brought to inherit it Your Doctrine of Daemons whereof I have tasted even to the Answer of the second Objection Why invocation of Saints should be made choice of to set out Antichrist thereby as a principal Character of him doth so affect me that withal considering these degenerate times I could heartily wish you would give way to the printing of it You know what Spalatensis mentioneth of one of his Prebends that should profess if he were sure Angels heard him he would use that Collect Angele Dei qui custos es mei c. And who it is that taketh it upon him to have been the man meant and justifies it When I read your Discourse of that Thou shalt have no other Gods before my face it makes me willing to know what you think of Genuflexio versus Altare which now grows rife and begins to challenge subscription thereto as licita like as genuflexio at the name of Iesus as pia ceremonia and where we shall end I know not I cannot but take notice as you wish me of the vile depravation of the opinion of the Ancients concerning Millennium For all these I cannot sufficiently give you thanks and must study how to express my thank fulness Mr. S. is a man of very good parts but withal I doubt he hath his vanities as well as other men for I cannot believe but that Dr. L. related unto me the truth of what he heard The beginning of the week hath been a very busie time with me and I must make haste desiring you may understand with the first the safe landing of your precious commodities I nothing doubt but the Lord will perfect the good work he hath begun in you and by you to whose gracious direction I commend all your ways and shall ever rest Newbury May 5. 1635. Yours in all due respects infinitely obliged Will. Twisse EPISTLE LVI Mr. Mede's Answer to Dr. Twisse's Question about Genuflexio versus Altare His freedom from self-ends in this and all other his opinions SIR FOR your question about Genuflexio or Adoratio versus Altare I was in some pause whether to answer to it or to pass it by in silence I confess I have not been unacquainted with speculations in things of this nature they were my eldest thoughts and studies full twenty years ago and the argument of my Concio ad Clerum when I commenced Batchelor of Divinity and before I was any proficient in the Apocalyps And it may be I have had so many Notions that way as would have made another man a Dean or a Prebend or something else ere this But the point of the Pope's being Antichrist as a dead fly marred the savour of that ointment And besides I am no Practitioner nor active but a Speculator only But I am afraid there are others as much in fault which practise before they know I suppose you have heard something this way and thence took occasion to move this Question to me which is the reason I have told you this long tale by way of Preface lest you might think I had as some men use to do made the bent of the Times the rule of my opinions But if I did so I should quickly renounce my Tenet of the Apocalyptical Beast which I know few men here so hardy with us as to profess they believe yea or would fain do But alas that I am so ill advised I cannot do with all And I thank God I never made any thing hitherto the caster of my resolutions but Reason and Evidence on what side soever the advantage or disadvantage fell Besides it fell out happily that the Times when my thoughts were exercised in those Speculations I spake of were times of better awe than now they are which preserved me from that immoderation which I see divers now run into whether out of ignorance or some other distemper I cannot tell Haec omnia dixi in antecessum now I will answer your Question briefly 1. We must distinguish between Imago and Locus or Signum praesentiae To pray or worship toward the First with respect thereto is Idolatry but not toward the Second 2. The Israelites in the Wilderness bowed and worshipped the Lord toward the Cloud wherein he manifested his presence in the Temple toward the Ark and the most Holy place as Solium Dei When they were absent from it though in a strange Country yet they turned themselves and spread out their hands toward it when they prayed as Daniel in Babel Ergò to worship toward Locum praesentiae is no Idolatry or if it were we should commit it as often as we lift up our hands and eyes to Heaven in our prayers as to the place of God's special Presence Yet our Saviour taught us to say Pater nostâ—r quies in coelis and to look that way when we prayed 3. The reason of this difference between Imago and Signum or Locus praesentiae in the point of Divine worship is this 'T is one thing adhibere creaturam in cultu Dei per modum Objecti another per modum circumstantiae Loci aut Sitûs or as Instrumentum The First is Idolatry for God is a jealous God and cannot endure that the worship we give to him should look towards any thing as an Object but Himself But unless the Second be lawful we must not look toward any created thing when we pray not to Heaven nor turn our selves towards the Table where God's blessings are when we say Grace or the like not lawful to invocate God in his Temple not lawful to pray unto him with a Book not use the Communion-Table as a place to give praise and thanks unto him Name In all which Res creata adhibetur tantùm either as Circumstantia cultûs ubi quo-versùs or as Instrumentum quo utimur ad invocandum as a Prayer-Book but not as Objectum cultûs But an Image in the nature of the thing if it be used in Divine worship as an Image cannot but be used as an Object that is as a Representation of the thing worshipped For to look to a thing as it is the Representation of the Object whereto we address our Prayers and Services what is it else but to make it Objectum mediatum relativum I must desire you to supply my meaning where my expression is defective I should do better corà m by pen â—tis tedious to me 4. Now the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Altar for they are but Synonyma's as I take it was ever in our Christian Oratories accounted as Solium Christi as being the place where the Mysteries of his Body and Bloud the Rites of the New Covenant are exhibited unto us 5. All the Prayers and Devotions of the Church were there offered unto God and no where else for many hundred years and still are in all
us was none of the Sublata though somewhere it be as well as the rest And the field of my defence is so much the larger if it be considered that one of the three Res sacrae is capable of Subdivision But enough of this it being no well-becoming Theme to dispute upon I said there was eadem ratio Loci temporis not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but eadem ratio Loci Temporis sacri to wit for the Sanctification i. e. holy and discriminative usance due unto them both and the formal reason in respect whereof it is due For the reason why a thing is to be Sanctified or Sanctè habendum is because it is Sanctum or Sacrum Now whatsoever is appropriate unto God and his Service is such whether the determination thereof be by God's own immediate Ordination or mans Devotion it is all one in this respect so the Appropriation or Dedication thereof be supposed lawful and agreeable to the Divine will For this Sanctification we speak of depends not either upon the difference of the cause or manner whereby the thing is consecrated nor upon the diversity of Natural and Artificial being but upon the Formalis ratio of the Object because it is Holy or Sacred therefore to be sanctified with holy usance For to Sanctifie in Scripture is not only to make holy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but to do unto a thing as becometh its holiness 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Moreover I believe the Sanctification of Place to be intended in the Fourth Commandment as well as that of Time and that not only from the Rule observed in the interpretation of the rest of the Commandments by one of the kind named to understand all the rest ejusdem generis but especially the Lord himself hath conjoyned them as pairs Levit. 19. 30. Keep my Sabbaths and reverence my Sanctuary And why not when they are so near a-kin being both Circumstances of Action why may I not then say Quae Deus conjunxit nemo separet And it may be if it be well looked into the Sanctification of the Lord's-day might be urged with far more advantage upon the ground I intimate than upon that other which is so much controverted But it is partialitie that undoes all It seems by this Objection I have now answered you supposed the Argument of my Book to be The Reverence of holy Places which is only The Antiquity of them You ask me if I believe indeed that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was Ignatius his word I say I do till I hear some sufficient reason why I should not For that of my not being able to give an instance of the like either in his time or within 100 years after seems to me to have no force of concluding at all When I affirmed in my Altare That the name of Table could not be shewed given to that whereon the Eucharist was celebrated in any Ecclesiastical Writer confessed to be genuine before 200 years after Christ I inferred not therefrom that therefore the name Table was never used all that time nor if I had would you have believed me And yet to tell you the truth when I wrote that I had some persuasion or suspicion that that Name could not be shewed in any Writer for 3 hundred years after Christ but durst not affirm so much as I thought because I was not sure of Origen But when a Friend of mine soon after wondred how I durst avouch in publick a thing so incredible as this to him seemed to be I discovered that I had affirmed somewhat less than I believed and desired him to make trial whether he could find it in 300 years or not wherein when he had spent some time he could not He alledged indeed Cyprian de Coena Domini but I told him that was confessed of all sides to be none of his c. And now see the luck of it The week before I received yours a Friend shewed me the New Articles of the New Bishop of Norwich his Diocesan wherein besides some other unwonted things which some body will startle at the Bishop avouches upon the credit of his reading That the name Table in that sense is never to be found in any Ecclesiastical Writer of the first 300 years save only once in an occasional passage of Dionysius Areop agita Now Sir what think you of this Yet you see I can shew the name 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 oftner than once in those first 300 years Yea if you would grant me that the Author of that Hierarchical Treatise whosoever he were lived but within the compass of 200 years after Christ I could give you an instance both of the name 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 within the time by you limited For this Dionysius in his Mysterium Synaxeos describes the Deacons standing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and in his Theory of the same mentions the sending of the Euergumeni at the time of the Eucharist 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 However it be it follows not that because I can shew it but once within that 200 years therefore I should believe it was used never Besides methinks I observe some unreasonableness used in this kind viz. Notwithstanding such paucitie of Monuments remaining unto us of those first Ages upon every unconcluding suspicion to discredit those we have and then when we have done to require proof that such things were in those times which we without proof deny when those who alone could give testimony are disenabled and sometimes for no other reason but because they give such testimony Is this dealing reasonable As for the taking down of S. Gregorie's Church I answer In the Law some things Sacred were unalienable even quoad Individuum as for example such as were consecrated by way of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 See Levit. 27. 28 29. Others were unalienable as touching the kind only and therefore if need were the Individuum might be changed so it were for the better and with the Lord's advantage which the Law provides should be by adding a fifth part thereunto See the rest of the Chapter quoted But what is this to the deciding of the lawfulness or truth of what is in question to alledge that which men do Is not all the world full of Contradictions I verily believe that even those who are zealous for the Sanctification of the Lord's-day do in their practice if not in their Theory too overthrow the Principles whereupon it stands I think I have no more to make answer to and I confess I have done this not without some tediousness For you must pardon me if judging as a Stander-by I am not persuaded you are by nature so prone and pliable as you think to the way which you say I take Yes I now find one thing more S. Gregorie's Church you say is going down at least is to be built elsewhere but we never yet heard the like of the Lord's-day◠No but I have namely that
Ante or Sub-fundamentals though the most of them not proper to Christianity but common to it with Iudaism For the Church of the Gospel is built or graffed upon the Iewish the common Foundation remaining the same in both But as for the third sort of Fundamentals or Super-fundamentals which he makes such as are by immediate or necessary consequence deducible from the Fundamentum Salutis I make some question whether all such are necessaria cognitu creditu ad Salutem simply First because the necessity of such consequence may not be apprehended by all who hold the Fundamentum Secondly because I am not yet perswaded that to deny or be ignorant of a Truth which is merely Speculative such as some of these Consequences may be is damnable but only of such Truths the knowledge and acknowledgment whereof hath necessary connexion with some practical requisite unto Salvation I mean whereon depends necessarily the acquiring of some Act necessary or the avoiding some Act repugnant to Salvation So that still it seems to me the readiest and easiest way for resolution in this matter is To enquire and examine what those Acts are wherein consists our Spiritual life or that Union and Fellowship which we have with the Father and his Son our Mediator Iesus Christ. That which is necessarium cognitu creditu unto these is Fundamental ad Salutem i.e. cujus agnitioni Salus tanquam Fundamento innititur That which is not so is not Fundamental ad Salutem For example He that comes unto God saith S. Paul must believe that God is So likewise He that comes unto Christ or unto the Father by him as every one must do that will be saved must believe that Christ is and that he is constituted the Mediator between God and us He that comes unto and relies upon Christ for remission of sin must believe that Christ suffered and was offered a Sacrifice for the sins of men and thereby purchased that power to confer remission unto all that should repent and believe in his Name He that bids a true farewel to sin and savingly buckles to the works of a new life must believe there is a life to come and a Day wherein God by the Man he hath ordained shall judge both the quick and dead and give unto every one according to his works according to that of S. Paul Acts 24. 15 16. I have hope towards God that there shall be a Resurrection of the dead both of the just and unjust For this cause do I exercise my self to have always a conscience void of offence toward God and toward men According to these examples you may examine more The difference between Mr. Streso's way and mine is this He measures his Fundamentals by their relation to one Fundamentum I measure all by the relation they have to Eternal life in regard of those Acts and Dispositions whereby we are capable thereof Take this Similitude In a Creature indued with animal life are many Members or Organs whereof though none can be wanting hurt or wounded without some deformity defect or detriment of the whole yet all are not essential unto the Life of the Body but such only from whence those Faculties and Functions flow whereon Life necessarily depends such as are Respiratio Nutritio Gustus Tactus Pulsus Somnus and the like Therefore the Organs whereon these depend can neither be wanting nor notoriously hurt or wounded but the Body presently dieth Without Legs Arms Tongue Eyes Ears Nose a man may live though a most pitiful ugly and loathsome spectacle and more fit for the Spittle than the publick society of men But without Head Heart Lungs Stomach and the like he cannot namely because these Members and the sound and good temper of them in some degree are necessary to those Faculties and Functions which are requisite unto Life Apply this and improve it by your Meditation Vale. Yours Ios. Mede February 27. EPISTLE LXXXV Mr. Mede's Letter to Mr. Hartlib touching the Acta Lipsiaca as also touching a Confession of Faith and the way of determining Fundamentals that it should be short easie and evident Worthy Sir I Have received the Acta Lipsiaca but if I could have given you notice in time I would have saved you that labour and borrowed of Dr. W. for he had promised to lend me his When I had read it over Lord me thought what little differences are these to break communion for viz. for one or two Speculative Subtilties for some Logical or Metaphysical Notion So I believe much of these disputes when the wisest and moderatest of both sides have expounded themselves is I will not say mere 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For your Extracts I read them presently and laid them by and to confess the truth some business following presently took me so much up that I had almost forgot I had them till your admonition put me now in mind of them That George Francis his way Degradibus necessitatis dogmatum Christianorum quibus Fidei Spei Charitatis officia reguntur methinks by the Title should come somewhat near that fansie 'T is true that he says Some men have such an unhappiness of Logick that by an affected following their methods and Technological artifices they make things more obscure and intricate which in the true use of Logick should be made more easie and perspicuous I have not yet attentively read Mr. Dury's Consultation which I will do and then send it back For mens minds here are so remote from thoughts of this nature that it is to little purpose to communicate it to many The way to determine Fundamental Articles must be made very short easie and evident or it will breed as many Controversies as are about the Points themselves in question I can gather that by what I sometimes meet with It is not fit that a Confession which concerns all that will be saved to know and remember should be any long or tedious Discourse The Ten Commandments given by God are an Epitome faciendorum The Lord's Prayer is Summa or Epitome petendorum According to which Pattern the Confession we seek for should be but Summa credendorum Thus with my prayers and best affection I rest Christ's Coll. Iuly 24. Your assured Friend Ios. Mede EPISTLE LXXXVI Mr. Mede's Letter to Mr. Hartlib touching the defining of Fundamental Articles Mr. Hartlib I Have received yours It seems strange to me that men should hold that those who erre in Fundamentals cannot be saved and yet maintain it scarce possible to set down the Ratio of a Fundamental Article or any 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whereby to know them What though Fundamentum Fundamentalia be Metaphorical terms yet may they soon be turned into proper ones namely Articuli cognitu creditu necessarii ad Salutem Here is no Metaphor Whether therefore may there any Ratio or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 be given to discern these I believe not that Canon
of the Council of Ephesus intended to prescribe to any other Council of like Authority not to explicate or improve the Creed of Nice as they did that of the Apostles but that no private Bishop should compose any other Formula Fidei to be a Rule and Symbolum of Communion than that of Nice Thus with my Prayers and best affection I remain Christ's Colledge ult Iuly 1637. Your assured Friend Ioseph Mede EPISTLE LXXXVII Another Letter more fully treating about the defining the Ratio of Fundamental Articles Mr. Hartlib YOU wish I had declared my self more largely But what needed it you had the substance of all I had to say But if you would have it more fully then thus 1. By Fundamental Articles in the inquiry we mean such as are Necessarii cognitu creditu ad Salutem that is Fundamenta Salutis Fundamental to Salvation not Fundamenta Theologicarum Veritatum Principles whence Theological Verities are deduced For these though they may be sometimes coincident are not the same 2. What then though the Term Fundamental be Metaphorical and improper yet we see it may easily if we understand our own meaning be expressed in clear and proper terms And therefore this can be no impediment to the finding or defining the Ratio of such Articles whereby they may be known and distinguished from others 3. And what though the whole Scripture be Fundamentum or Principium Veritatum Theologicarum or Dogmatum Fidei Yet is not every content in Scripture necessary to be known and believed explicitely unto Salvation and therefore this Notion of Fundamentum nothing to the purpose since as I said Principia Theologica or Fundamentalia dogmatum and Fundamentalia Salutis are not the same but differ formally though some of them may be materially coincident 4. But the Definition of such Fundamental Articles would be dangerous inconvenient and subject to much reprehension yea in respect of the diversity of mens judgments is in a manner impossible This methinks is very strange That any who acknowledge there be some Truths necessary to be known and explicitely believed unto Salvation should yet deny there can be any Ratio or Character given whereby to know them yea affirm it to be unsafe to determine any such if it might be found or that any enumeration of such Articles should be made What Cannot or may not those Truths be defined and known without an explicite belief whereof we cannot be saved What will follow upon this Neither when we speak of defining here do we mean any such matter as the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or exactness of a Logical definition which might entangle us in School-niceties and janglings but any description or designation of that Ratio or distinguishing Character whereby such Truths as are cognitu creditu necessaria ad Salutem might be known from others And this sure might be done without any such engagement in Logical scrupulosity 5. As for the Objection of the Canon of the Oeeumenical Council of Ephesus Certainly that Council never intended to restrain the power of any Council or other publick Ecclesiastical Authority like it self but only private Persons from attempting to make any such Creed Formula or Confession of Faith besides that of Nice This I suppose may be gathered from those words Si Episcopi c. Si Clerici c. Si Laici c. and the Censure to be laid upon them Nor does it seem simply and altogether to forbid them neither to compose any such for private instruction or use but only for a publick intent to be tendered as a Form of Confession of Faith to Pagans or Iews at their Baptism or to Hereticks when they were again received into the Church For why should not the Churches now as well as then have the like power upon the like occasion further to explicate or make more explicite the former Symbols of Faith as the Council of Nice did that of the Apostles yea or any Church or Churches that are or would be of the same Communion to do it for themselves For then we know the Churches were all of one Communion now they are not and therefore may provide for themselves according to their condition Besides how came the Creed of Athanasius to be since publickly received in the Church or the Council of Chalcedon after this of Ephesus to make a new Exposition of Faith unless this Canon were understood as aforesaid since neither of them are the same with that of Nice Or how could the Reformed Churches make such publick Confessions for themselves as they have done Thus I think I have declared my self largely enough now and perhaps more largely than befitted me when I consider to whom it hath reference But my hope is you will conceal the Author's name from any man and not reveal it save to Mr. Dury alone And so with my best affection I remain Your assured Friend without subscription of my name EPISTLE LXXXVIII Mr. Mede's Letter to Mr. Hartlib containing his advice for framing a Fundamental Confession agreeably to the practice of the Ancient Church in composing their Creeds or Symbols of Faith Mr. Hartlib WHen I read over Mr. Dury's Consultation before his Discourse ad Dominum Forbesium came to my hands I perceived he aimed at the self-same ground for the discovery and discerning of Fundamental Verities from not-Fundamental that I had formerly done in mine to you though in a differing way of expression as men that conceive apart are wont to do I made them to be such Truths as have necessary influence upon the Acts and Functions of Christian life or without the explicite knowledge whereof those Acts and Functions cannot be exercised He goes further and specifies wherein this Christian life consisteth namely As Natural life consists in the conjunction of the Soul with the Body so doth Spiritual life in the conjunction of Men with God that is in being in Covenant with him All those Verities therefore the knowledge and belief whereof is necessary to the Acts and Functions requisite to the being and continuation in the Covenant with God in Iesus Christ are Fundamental Verities without the explicite knowledge and belief of which a man cannot be saved But for the framing or composing such a Fundamental Confession as is sought for let me discover my Opinion Fancy or whatsoever it be I observe That the Confessions or Creeds of the Ancient Church which were their Symbols of Communion were always the former Creeds or Confessions enlarged with such further additions or explanations subjoyned to the former Articles respectively as the Heresies of the Times made requisite for the distinction of Orthodox Believers So the Nicene Creed was the Creed of the Apostles enlarged in the Articles of the Father and Son and one or two other The Creed of Constantinople added to the Article of the Holy Ghost in that of Nice those words The Lord and giver of life who proceedeth from the Father and the Son who with the
Father and the Son together is worshipped and glorified against Macedonius This is the Creed we say at the Communion in our Church That of Athanasius yet more enlarges that of Nice as doth that of Chalcedon also the Article of the Son against Eutyches Were it not fit therefore that we should tread in their steps and frame our Confession or Symbolum in like manner to wit not making the Form of our Confession wholly new but taking the former Creeds or some of them for our ground to enlarge their Articles with such further additions and explanations as the state of the Times requires that so our Confession might be the Creeds of the Ancient Church specified only to the present condition of the Churches and no other Thus we should both testifie to the world our communion and agreement with the Ancient Catholick Church a matter of no small moment that we may not seem to have made a new Church or Religion as we are charged and yet withal distinguish our selves from the Sects Heresies and Apostasies of the Times To which end it were fit the words of the Ancient Creeds should be retained as much as could be and for the more easie reception thereof that the additions and insertions should be made in the express words of Scripture as near as the nature of the composure would suffer it and not otherwise As for the meaning of them their application to the several Articles would specifie it as far as were needful to the end aimed at by such a Confession Compare the Creeds of Nice Athanasius and Chalcedon with that of the Apostles and you will understand my meaning And consider that in such a business as this we must not be too much in love with Methods of our own devising though perhaps they seem better but follow that which all the Churches will most easily yield unto and cannot except against I believe our own as may by some passages be already guessed would hardly be brought to subscribe to any other Form than of such a mould Take this also before I conclude That my meaning is not we should do as the Council of Trent hath done by adding Twelve more Articles to the Creed but that our Additions should be inserted into the several Articles of the Ancient Creed as subordinate to them and farther Explanations of them Which those of Trent indeed could not well do those which were added being the most of them incompatible and inconsistent with the former Articles according to the true and original meaning of the same and therefore not to be incorporated with them I send you home the Consultation I will keep the Discursus a while longer For Comenius his Praeludium I thank you but I have not had leisure to consider so much of it as were needful to give a censure I believe such a thing is fecible but for the way Hic labor hoc opus est So with my best affection I rest Christ's Colledge Aug. 14. 1637. Your assured Friend Ios. Mede EPISTLE LXXXIX Mr. Hartlib's Letter to Mr. Mede for a sight of his Papers about the Millennium Worthy Sir I Had occasion to exchange some Letters of late with Dr. Twisse In his last he writes thus unto me As for Regnum Sanctorum Christi in terris Resurrectic prima c. Passages there have been between me and Mr. Mede thereabouts and I am but his Scholar therein and I know full well you are so well acquainted with him that you may have any thing from him who is my Master in this I have yet no liberty to take into consideration the matter of Fundamentals neither have I any affection to it as finding no sure footing in that argument Thus far he I pray let me reap the fruit of his confidence in the enjoying of those Papers which have passed between you on the fore-mentioned Subject Truly I shall count it a great favour if you shall be pleased to communicate them and having perused them I will be careful to return them safely into your hands with my hearty thanks Thus craving pardon for my freedom I take my leave remaining always Worthy Sir London Octob. 19. 1637. Your most assured and willing Friend to serve you S. Hartlib EPISTLE XC Mr. Mede's Answer with his judgment upon a Discourse arguing from some Politick Considerations against the composing a Fundamental Confession Mr. Harlib I Answered not your first Letter because I had not wherewith to satisfie you For that which Dr. Twisse says he had of me concerning the Millenary opinion the grounds and stating thereof was only in Letters between him and me whereof I kept no Copies and now it would be tedious to me to renew what I then wrote In conference I could do it with ease but writing is very tedious to me and my notions and wit too die presently when I intend my mind to express them by writing Concerning the Paper you now send what judgment should I give but that I like it not It favours methinks of too much averseness from that business I believe you think so The Gentleman whosoever he be seems himself to be one of those he speaks of that hath in his eyes to preserve his own opinions from iudemnity But if every man do so what hope of conciliation Besides the matter aimed at in this business is not that either side should presently relinquish their opinions of difference but only take notice that notwithstanding these differences both sides do so far agree in other Points that they may and ought to acknowledge each other as Brethren that so their Affections being united and exasperation abolished they might be the better disposed and fitted to judge of the Points of difference between them And whereas he objects That such Points being declared not Fundamental would lose part of their strength and be shaken this inconvenience would be recompensed in that the Opinions of the opposite party will suffer as much and so what we lose at home we should gain abroad Howsoever it seems to me no very warrantable policy That for the better strengthning and propagating a Truth men should be born in hand that the belief thereof is Fundamental when it is not that is that a Truth should be maintained by a Falshood I cannot believe that Truth can be prejudiced by the discovery of Truth but I fear that the maintenance thereof by Fallacy may not end with a blessing I would know whether the Author of this Letter thinks that the Lutherans and Calvinists agree not in so much as is necessary unto Salvation If they do would not a Confession composed of such things wherein they agree contain all things necessaria cognitu ad Salutem and yet no necessity that this or that particular Tenet should be defined by such Confession to be or not to be Fundamental I would know also whether he thinks it fit that particular Churches should have particular Confessions whereunto their Members should profess their assent
the Sea there are Islands to be met with which are commodious for habitation fruitful and well watered and accommodated with convenient harbors and ports for those who are distrestat Sea to repair to for their safety so is it in the world which is a very troubled Sea tempestuous and tossed by reason of sin God hath here providâ—d Synagogues or Holy Churches as we call them wherein the Truth is diligently taught and whither they repair who are lovers of the Truth and desire in good earnest to be saved and to escape the judgment and wrath of God * Clâ—m Alex. in Opere Quis fit ille dives qui salvetur apud Euseb. Hist Eccl. lib. 3. â— 17. Gr. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Also in this Century undoubtedly were extant those Fabricks in the Cemeteries of S. Peter in the Vaticane and of S. Paul in via Ostâ—nsi which could be no other thaâ— some Christian Oratories whereof Gains speaks in â—usib and calls Throphaea Apostolorum lib. 2. cap. 24. Ab Anno 200. ad 300. a All the day long shall the zeal of Faith speak to this point bewailing that a Christian should come from Idols into the CHURCH that he should come into the HOUSE OF GOD from the shop of his enemy that he should lift up to God the Father those hands which were the mothers and makers of Idols and adore God with those very hands which namely in respect of the Idols made by them are adored without the Church viz. in the Heathens Temples in opposition to God and that he should presume to reach forth those hands to receive the Body of our Lord which are imploy'd in making Bodies that is Images for the Demons That according to the Gentiles Theology Images were as Bodies to be informed with Demons as with Souls see the Treatise of the Apostasie of the latter Times chap. 5. in Book III. b The house of our Dove that is of our Dove-like Religion or the Catholick flock of Christ figured by the Dove c In short The Dove is wont to point out Christ. d Plain without such a multiplicity of doors and curtains e In high and open places 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cyril Hier. * Luke 1. 78. * Lib. 2. c. 57. al. 61. a Let the House be long and built Eastward * Apol. c. 16. * De Spect. â— 25. ad Vxoâ— l. 2. c. 9. De coâ—on miâ—t cap. 3. De velandiâ— virginiâ—us c. 3 13. b Coming to the Water to be baptized not only there but also somewhat asore in the CHURCH under the hand of the Bishop or Priest we take witneâ—s that we renounce the Devil and his Pomp and Angels and afterwards we are drenched thrice in the Water c The Temples of God shall be as common and ordinary Houses Churches shall be utterly demolished every where the Scriptures shall be despised d The Sacred Edifices of Churches shall become heaps and as a desolate lodge in an Orchard there shall be no more Communion of the precious Body and Bloud of Christ Liturgy shall be extinguished Singing of Psalms shall cease Reading of the Scriptures shall no more be heard * Ex Psal. 79. 2. caelesis similibus â—uâ—ta LXX IIebr in â—cervâ—â— seu 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 desolationes Cap. 49. e The Christians being in possession of a certain publick place and challenging it for theirs and on the other side the Taverners alledging that it belong'd of right to them the Emperor's Rescript in favour of the Christians was this That it was better that God should be worshipt there after what way soever than that it should be delivered and given up to the Taverners a 1. Weeping the first degree of Penance was without the Porch of the Oratorie where the mournful sinners stood and beg'd of all the Faithful as they went in to pray for them 2. Hearing the second degree was within the Porch in the place called Narthex the place where these penitent Sinners being now under the Ferula or censure of the Church might stand near to the Catechumens and hear the Scripture read and expounded but were to go out before them 3. Prostration or Lying along on the Church-pavement These Prostrate ones were admitted somewhat further into the Church and went out with the Catechumens 4. Standing or Staying with the people or Congregation These Consistentes did not go out with the Catechumenes but after they and the other Penitents were gone out stay'd and joyn'd in prayer with the Faithful 5. Participation of the Sacraments b How that by becoming all things to all men he had in a short time gained a great number of Converts through the assistance of the Divine Spirit and that hereupon he had a strong desire to set upon the building of a Temple or Place for Sacred assemblies wherein he was the more encouraged by the general forwardness he observed among the Converts to contribute both their moneys and their best assistances to so good a work This is that Temple which is to be seen even at this day This is that Temple the erection whereof this Great person being resolved to undertake without any delay he laid the foundation thereof and therewithal of his Sacerdotal i.e. Episcopal Prefecture in the most conspicuous place of all the City c Whereas all other Houses whether Publick or private were overthrown by that Earthquake this Gregorian Temple alone stood firm without any the least hurt He was made Bishop Anno 249. lived until 260. d The Lord's House e The Church f Thinkest thou O Matron which art rich and wealthy in the Church of Christ that thou dost celebrate or commemorate the Lord's Sacrifice that is that thou dost participate the Lord's Supper worthily as thou oughtest who dost not at all respect but art regardless of the Corban who comest into the Lord's House without a Sacrifice or Offering nay who takest part of the poor mans Sacrifice feedest on what he brought for his Offering and bringest none thy self Script â—n 253. a What then remains but that the Church should yield to the Capitol and that the Priests withdrawing themselves and taking away the Altar of our Lord Images and Idol-Gods together with their Altars should succeed and take possession of the Sacrary or place proper to the sacred and venerable Bench of our Clergy b The Altar of our Lord and the place for the sacred and venerable Bench of the Clergy c Idol-Gods and Images together with the Altars of the Devil d might enter into the House of God e The Emperour C. P. L. Galienus to Dionysius Pinnas Demetrius and the rest of the Bishops Greeting What I have been pleased graciously to do for the Christians I have caused to be published throughout the world viz. That all men should quit the Worshipping-places for the Christians use And therefore you may make use of the Copy of my Letters to the end ye may be secured from any future attempts to disturb you
blessed the Congregation which stood in the outward Court 2 Chron. c. 6. v. 12 3. and they sacrificed that day and all the time of the Feast viz. in the Courts though the Priests could not enter the Covered Temple for the glory of the Lord which filled it * Viz. the Trumpets * Chap. 8. 10. See before in Chap. 2. Sect. 6 * See before in Chap. 3. Sect. 1. * Chap. 7. * Chap. 14. 1. * Chap. 13. 11. * Chap. 14. 4. * Vers. 15. * Vers. 18. * Vers. 20. * Decemb. 27. * Num. 2. 2. a Ch. 3. 4. ch 6. 11. ch 7. 13. b Ch. 2. 11. ch 20. 6. 14. ch 21. 8. * The Lxx. have 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 * Israil is often in the Psal. and elsewhere in Scripture called God's inheritance * Vers. 4. * Vers. 4. * 〈…〉 Vide Commâ—ns Apocal ad cap. 8. vers 8. * The Caesars were Pontifices maximi as well as Augusti and received the Pontifical Stole at their inauguration yea Constantine and his sons received the Stole and bore the Title though they executed not the Office Gratian was the first that refused both * The Demi-Caesars kept their Court at Ravenna never at Rome The Numbers of Times in Dan. 12. have also been taken definitely by those who yet differ about their Epocha * This is more fully demonstrated in the next Chapter * Roma meretrix rides the Beast under his last Head * Chap. 9. v. 5. * Vers. 15. * Chap. 16. 12 c. Dan. 10. 2â— * Targum Hierosolym Targum Ionâ—thanis * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 * This is the Author 's own Argument to what follows See the meaning of those days in the Author 's learned Discourse De Nuâ—heris Danielis c. which is the last Discourse in this Third Book * Compare Dan. 11. 31. Chap. 12. 11. See page 531. * See pag. 534. * See in Book V. the words of Gaius out of Eusebius with the Author's Animadversions Thâ—s was wroté before his Comment on the Apocal. and so were the other Tracts in these Râ—mains except that in Chap. 9. be of a later date Dan. 7. 13. Zach. 12. 10. See in Book V. the Author 's short Tract styled The Mystery of S. Pauls Conversion or The Type of the Calling of the Iews Revel 20. 4. Chap. 20. 6. * See in Book IV. the Authors 2d Letter to D. Meddus where this is largely treated of See also above in this Book in the Appendix to the Apocal. his Epist. ad Amicum De Resurrectionâ— Prima c. ‖ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 * Vid. Act. Concil Niceni apud Gelas. Cyzicen l. 1. c. 23. â—l 24. ‖ In Catech. 14. * Hades is properly the place of Separate Souls whether good or bad after death * Ezek. 38. 15. chap. 39. 2. a If that which S. Peter here describeth were foretold by the old Prophets then must S. Peter be so expounded as it may be shewn in them and agree with them a This 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or last days should seem to be the time of the Churche's Apostasie under Antichrist according to that of S. Paul 1 Tim. 4. 1. In the latter times some shall depart from the Faith giving heed to spirits of error and doctrines of Daemons For as the times of the fourth and last of Daniel's Kingdoms were the last times in general during which Christ was to come and found his Church and Kingdom so the latter times of the Fourth Kingdom being that period of a Time times and half a time wherein the wicked Horn should domineer are the latmost times of the last times or last times in special b I take Promise here for Res promissa the thing promised the Antithesis implying that to be the meaning viz. The scoffers say Where is the Promise of his coming Nevertheless we look for a New heaven and New earth according to his Promise But here is somewhat Reader in the application wherein thou mayest erre but be not thou uncharitable in thy censure nor think I am For although the crying down and condemning of the opinion of the Chiliasts will be found to be near upon the beginning of the times of the Antichristian Apostasie which I suppose to be called the last times and that the utter burying of that Opinion falls within these times yet thou must know 1. That there is not the like reason of the first Authors of crying down a Truth and of those who led by their authority take it afterward without further examination for an Error 2. To scoff is one thing and barely not to believe is another 3. 'T is one thing to deny a promise simply and another to deny or question the manner thereof as also to reject a Truth sincerely propounded and when it is intangled with errors as that of the later Chiliasts may seem to have been c I take Promise here for Res promissa the thing promised the Antithesis implying that to be the meaning viz. The scoffers say Where is the Promise of his coming Nevertheless we look for a New heaven and New earth according to his Promise But here is somewhat Reader in the application wherein thou mayest erre but be not thou uncharitable in thy censure nor think I am For although the crying down and condemning of the opinion of the Chiliasts will be found to be near upon the beginning of the times of the Antichristian Apostasie which I suppose to be called the last times and that the utter burying of that Opinion falls within these times yet thou must know 1. That there is not the like reason of the first Authors of crying down a Truth and of those who led by their authority take it afterward without further examination for an Error 2. To scoff is one thing and barely not to believe is another 3. 'T is one thing to deny a promise simply and another to deny or question the manner thereof as also to reject a Truth sincerely propounded and when it is intangled with errors as that of the later Chiliasts may seem to have been As touching the Iews and the impeachment of this Opinion amongst them in the latter times I find amongst the Doctors of the Gemara or Gloss of their Talmud which was finished about 500 years after Christ a Tenet of one R. Samuels often mentioned 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That there was to be no difference between the present state of the world and the days of Messiah but in respect of the bondage under the Kingdoms of the Gentiles only thereby opposing the more ancient opinion and tradition of the Renovation of the World After this time there appears to have been amongst the Iews a Sect of the followers of the opinion of this R. Samuel which at length was greatly advanced by the authority of that learned Maimonides who having drunk too deep of the Philosophy of Aristotle wherein he was admirably skilful became a