time to enquire any further after the beginnings of things who made them and did first extract them out of the common masse or Chaos where before they lay Quid quaeâ—am saith he quae sint initia universorum quis rerum formator qui omnia in uno mersa et materia inerti convoluta disâ—reverit Macrobius speaks more plainly yet although he somewhat failed in his computation affirming that the World must be lately made Cujus cognitio bis mille annos non excedat considering that there was no monument or record thereof which could entitle it to the age of two thousand years The like may be affirmed of the Poets who do ascribe the glory of the Worlds Creation unto God alone Ovid in plain significant termes Sine ulla nominis dissimulatione as Lactantius hath it without boggling or scrupling at the name of God Virgil more covertly under the names of Mens and Spiritus under the which names the old Philosopers used to mask him For Ovid having before described the general Chaos then addes Hanc Deus et melior litem natura diremit Nam Coelo terras et terris abscidit undas That is to say But God the better nature this decides Who Earth from Heaven the Sea from Earth divides And shortly after speaking of the Creation of Man he gives God these most honourable titles the Maker of all things the Authour of a better World or Ille opifex rerum mundi melioris origo in his proper language Virgil although he speaks more covertly as before was said yet he ascribeth that to his Mens or Spiritus which Ovid in more plain terms doth assigne to God and so coâ—es somewhat near the truth Non longe fuit a veritate as Lactantius noteth For in his Aeneads thus he tels us Principio Coelum et Terras camposque liquentes Lucentemque globum Lunae Titaniaque Astra Spiritus intus alit totamque infusa per artus Mens agitat molem et magno se â—orpore miscet Which may be Englished thus in brief Heaven Earth and Seas the Sun and Moons bright sphere In the beginning by some Spirit were Divinely cherish'd which diffus'd through all Did like the Soul quicken this massie Ball. In which we have not only intimated the powerfull influence of the Spirit but the words In principio which are used by Moses But to returne again to the Word of God we finde not only there that God made the World and that he made it in such time as himself best pleased but also the course and method which he used in so great a work A work which took up six whole dayes as before was said God taking a delight as it were in his own productions and giving them the commendation of good as they were created or pretermitting that commendation as sometimes he did when any thing was wanting unto that perfection which was after added For in the work of the second day wherein God did divide the waters above the firmament from those which were disposed beneath it we do not finde this approbation et vidit Deus quod esset bonum because that did not bring the waters to that use and perfection which after they received when they were separated from the Earth and gathered together into one body which he called the Sea And this consideration is alone sufficient to consute a strange conceipt of some late Divines Who on pretence of some authority out of Augustines works have told us that all things were created at once by the power of God and that not only in one day sed in eodem momento or eodem nunc as Vallesius phraseth it the distinction of six days being made by Moses the better to complie with our incapacities For questionlesse there cannot be a better reason why God should passe no approbation on the second days work and double it upon the third but that the separation of the Waters not being fully perfected till the said third day required one special approbation from the mouth of God as the production of the earth and the fruits thereof which was the work of that day also did require another But here a question may be made concerning those waters which are said to be above the firmament or rather of the firmament which is said to divide them I know the general opinion of most writers is that by the Firmament in that place we are to understand the Air as being interposed inter aquosam et humidam superioris Regionis molem etâ— aquas marium fluminumque between the waters of the upper Regions and that which is dispersed in the Seas and Rivers So Iunius for the Protestant Doctors and Estius for those of the Church of Rome do expound that Text and for my part I have not been unwilling to conforme to that in which both parties are agreed But I have met of late with the Observations of a right learned man upon some passages of Scripture in which I finde some strong presumptions that an Abysse of Waters must needs be granted to be above the highest Orbe whose Arguments I shall lay down as I finde them there and so refer the matter wholly to the Readers judgment For first he saith and I think very truly that the Waters above the Heavens called upon by David and the three Children in their Song to praise the Lord cannot be taken for the watery Region of the Air because in the same Canticle by an expresse enumeration of all the Meteors this Region is invited to the like celebration O every showres and dew blesse ye the Lord and magnifie his name for ever saith the Benedicite Fire and hail snow and vapour winde and storm fulfilling his word saith the book of Psalmes Psal. 148. He telleth us secondly that in the separation of the waters spoken of by Moses the waters below the firmament were gathered together into that Receptacle which he called the Sea and that in the space above the firmament he laid up the rest of the deep as in a store-house Psal. 33.7 From whence when he uttered his voice as at the flood there was a multitude or noise of waters in the Heavens Ier. 10.13 Which lest it might be gratis dictum he proves it by the story of the generall Deluge in which the waters being said to prevail at least 15. cubits above the top of the highest mountains must needs have more time then 40. days and 40. nights for their falling down according to the course of nature unlesse there had been some supply from this great Abysse and that God by an high hand had forced down those waters which he had laid up there as in a store-house And that there was such a supplie from this infinite and inexhaustible store-house he shewes out of those words of the 7. of Genesis where it is said that the fountains of the great deep or as the Angell calleth them in the Book of
before the beginning of time and shall be also as it is when time it self shall be no more In this regard he tels us also of himself that he is A and Ω or the first or the last which was and is and is to come still the same for ever And finally in this respect it is said by Tertullian Ante omnia Deus erat solus et erat sibi tempus mundus et omnia i. e. Before all things were God was and he was also to himself time the world and all things He was alone quia nil aliud extrinsecus praeter illum because there was not any thing without or besides him and yet not then alone if we weigh it rightly Habebat enim Deum quod habebat in semet ipso c. for he had alwayes with him that divine wisdome which he had alwayes in himself And so the old Philosophers are to be expoonded when they say of God that he is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 immortal and eternal or everlasting that is to say not only a parte post as Angels and the souls of men are called mortal but also a parte ante which none was but God Which makes up that conclusion of the royal Psalmist Before the mountaines were brought forth or ever the earth and the world were made thou art God from everlasting and world without end world without end a parte post from everlasting also a parte ante but in both eternall Of the same nature is that infiniteness in Almighty God in respect of dimensions which by a name distinct may be called immensity whereby he is of infinite extension not circumscribed with any bounds filling all places whatsoever but contained of none Of this immensity or unmeasurableness doth the Prophet speak saying Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his Hand and meted out heaven with his span and comprehended the dust of the earth in his three fingers after such a manner as men take up a dust or sand and weighed the mountaines with scales and the hils in a balance Who taketh up the Isles as a very little thing before whom all nations are as nothing as the drop of a bucket This by an other name and in other respects is also called Vbiquity or Omnipresence by which our GOD is present in all places every where and confined to none but as a sphere as very understandingly said Trismegistus whose Center is every where his circumference no where In reference to this we finde it said by Moses of the Lord our God that he is God in Heaven above and in the earth below The very same with that of the royal Psalmist If I climb up into Heaven thou art there if I goe down into Hell thou art there also And so we have it both in Moses and in the Psalms In reference unto this it is said by Ieremy Do not I fill Heaven and Earth saith the Lord And Can any man hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him And so we have it in the Law and the Prophets too And though the Gentiles did exceedingly stomach at the primitive Christians for giving this Vbiquity or Omnipresence to their Lord and God Discurrentem scilicet illum volunt et ubique praesentem as Cecilius in the Dialogue did object against them yet did the Fathers of all times stand most stoutly to it and would not yeild a jot to their importunities For thus saith the renowned Augustine Deus meus ubique praesens ubique totus nusquam inclusus My GOD saith he is in all places present in all places wholly but so in all places as contained in none More fully Gregory the great Deus est intra omnia non inclusus extra omnia non exclusus supra omnia non elatus i. e. GOD is in all things but not inclosed he is without all things but not excluded he is above all things but not lifted up and finally beneath all things and yet not depressed And though it may be truly said of the sons of men Qui ubique est nusquam est he that is every where is no where that is to say he that ingageth himself in every business will goe thorow with none yet so it cannot be affirmed of the God of Heaven unlesse perhaps it be in a qualifyed sense interpreting nusquam esse by non includi And in that sense is that saying of St. Bernard exactly verifyed Nusquam est et ubique est i. e. He is no where because no place either reall or imaginary can comprehend or contain him and he is every where because no body no space nor spirituall substance can exclude his presence Proceed we next to the third species or kinde of infiniteness which we called the infinity of comprehensions by which all things whatsoever as well things future as things past are alike present to him and for ever before him by which he knoweth things that are not as if they were and doth accordingly decree and determine of them with as much perspicacity of wisdome and infallibility of judgment as if they were actually before his eyes For first God being of an infinite knowledge most perfectly and simply knoweth all things in himself which ever were or shall be in the times to come and then being of an infinite wisdome to dispose of all things as may conduce most to his honour and glory hath either given them bounds which they shall not passe or left them a dispositive power of their own occasions putting upon things necessary the law of necessity and leaving things contingent to the lot of contingency The due consideration of which weighty point brought the Apostle to cry out 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 O the depth of the riches of the wisdome and knowledge of God Which two though two distinct acts and attributes in our apprehension yet differ not in GOD as before was said nor perhaps very much in themselves at all For wisdome is but the excellency of knowledge consisting either in the dignity or usefulnesse of the matter known or the more perfect manner of discerning what they truely are And of this wisdome or more usefull kind of knowledge there are these two offices the one stedfastly to propose a right end the other to present a right choice of means for effecting thereof But being it is equally consonant to Gods infinite wisdome and not a whit derogatory to his infinite power that some things should be as truely contingent as other are really and truely necessary therefore hath God been pleased as well to decree contingency as to decree or fore-determine of necessity Hereupon it will follow by good rules of Logick that though there be an immutability in the counsails of God arising from the infiniteness of his knowledge and wisdome yet that there are some things which might not have been and that some things are not which yet might have been or might have been far
it denotes the first person in the Oeconomie of the glorious Trinity There are three that bear record in heaven as St. Iohn hath it the Father the Word and the holy Ghost and these three are one And in this notion or acception of the word GOD is the father of our Lord and Saviour IESVS CHRIST whom he hath begotten to himself before all worlds generatione 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by such a kind of generation as neither the tongue of Men nor Angels can expresse aright In this respect our Saviour saith of GOD the first person I and my Father are one and in another place which we saw before on another occasion I work and my Father also worketh In this sense God the Father saith of the second person This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased And finally in this as no man living no not any of the host of Heaven is to be called the Son of God but the second Person so none of the three Persons takes the name of Father but the first alone Though GGD hath severall sons and by severall means as shall be shewed anone in the place fit for it yet only CHRIST is called his begotten son and therefore God a naturall Father if I may so say unto none but him And this is that which Gregory Thaumaturgus hath told us saying 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God hath no other son by nature but thee my Saviour The name of this generation I forbear to speak of It is a point I waived from the very first when first I undertook to expound this Creed as being of too sublime and transcendent nature for the shallowness of my capacity to inquire into It is enough that I acknowledge God to be the Father of our Lord IESVS CHRIST by an eternall generation though I professe my self unable to discourse thereof with any satisfaction to my self or others And for the generation of our Saviour in the fulnesse of time by which he was conceived of the Virgin Mary I shall have opportunity to speak in a place more proper So that not having more to speak of the name of Father as it is personall and hypostaticall in the first Person only I shall proceed to that acception of the word wherein it is taken 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or essentially and so given to GOD that every person of the Trinity doth partake thereof But first I cannot choose but note that even in that equality or unity which is said to be between the Persons of the blessed Trinity the Father seems to me to have some preheminency above the others For not only the Greek Church doth acknowledge him to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the root and fountain of the God-head but it is generally agreed on by all Orthodox writers that the Father is first in order though not in time Pater est prior ordine non tempore as Alstedius states it and by Aquinas amongst those of the Church of Rome that the Son or second person is Principiatus non essentiatus that is to say if I rightly understand his meaning that there was a beginning of his existence though not of his essence or a beginning of his Filiation but not of his God-head And yet I dare not say that I hit his meaning for I professe my self uncapable of these Schoole-niceties because I finde it generally agreed on by most learned men that CHRIST receiveth the being and essence which he hath from the Father although not in the way of production of an other essence which was condemned as an impious heresie in Valentinus Gentilis but by communication of the same Add here that those who have most constantly stood up in the defence of the doctrine of the Trinity against some Hereticks of this Age doe notwithstanding say and declare in publick that CHRIST though looked upon as the Son of God in his eternall generation cannot be said to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or self-essentiate And that both Genebrard Lindanus and some others of the Romish Doctors have quarrelled Calvin whom Beza laboureth to excuse in that particular for saying that he is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and hath his God-head from himself wherein he is deserted by Arminius also and those of the Remonstrant party in the Belgick Countries But that the Father Almighty mentioned in my Creed was not and is not both 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 too hath never been affirmed nor so much as doubted of by any Christian writer of what times soever Next look we on the name of Father as it is taken 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 essentially in the holy Scriptures and then it is appliable to every person of the blessed Trinity each of which in his severall person or subsistence may be called our Father Thus read we of the second person for of the first there is no question to be made in the 9. of Esay that unto us a Son is born and that he shall be called wonderfull the mighty God the everlasting Father Vers. 6. Thus in St. Iames we finde that the holy Ghost is called Pater luminum the Father of lights it being his office to illuminate every soul which is admitted for a member of the Church of CHRIST in which respect the Sacrament of Baptisme in which men are regenerated and born again of water and the holy Spirit was antiently called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or illumination The reason why the name Father doth in this sense belong respectively to each is because they equally concur as in the work of Creation God the Father creating the world in the Son by the holy Ghost so in those also of Redemption and Sanctification From whence that maxim of the Schools Opera Trinitatis ad extra sunt indivisa that is to say the outward or externall actions of the Trinity are severally communicable to the whole essence of GOD and not appropriated unto any particular person And yet the name of Father even in this acception is generally 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and in the common course of speech referred to the first Person only as he that is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the root and fountain of the God-head as before was said For thus hath CHRIST himself instructed us to pray and say Our Father which art in heaven And the Church following his command who hath willed us to pray after that manner beginneth many of her prayers in the publick Liturgy with this solemn form of compellation Almighty and most mercifull Father Not that we do exclude the Son or the holy Ghost in our devotions but include them in him In Patre invocantur filius et spiritus sanctus as Bellarmine hath most truly noted And therefore though we commonly begin our prayers with a particular address to God the Father yet we conclude them all with this through Christ Iesus our Lord and sometimes add to
of mankinde and a necessity was laid upon them to obey his pleasure Nec quicquam est in Angelis nisi parendi necessitas said Lactantius truly And so far we have all things clear from the holy Scriptures But if we will beleeve the learned as I think we may there is no signal punishment of ungodly people ascribed to God in the old Testament but what was executed by the ministry of these blessed spirits except some other means and ministers be expresly named That great and universal deluge in the time of Noah was questionless the work of Almighty God I even I do bring a flood of waters upon the Earth Gen. 6.17 But this was done by the ministery and service of the holy Angels Ministerio Angelorum saith Torniellus whom he employed in breaking up the fountaines of the great deep and opening the cataracts of Heaven for the destruction of that wicked unrepenting people Thus when it is affirmed in the 14. of Exodus that the Lord looked into the hoste of the Egyptians through the pillar of fire and overthrew them in the midst of the Sea v. 24.27 Non intelligendum est de Deo sed de Angelo qui erat in nube we must not understand it of the Lord himself as Tostatus hath it but only of the Angel or ministring spirit of whose being in the cloud we had heard before And when we read that in the battail of the five Kings against the Israelites the Lord cast down great stones upon them from Heaven Iosh. 10. it is not to be thought saith he Quod Deus mitteret sed Angelus jubente Deo that this was done by Gods own hand but by the holy Angels at the Lords appointment The like may be affirmed of those other acts of power and punishment whereof we finde such frequent mention in the book of God which though they be ascribed to God as the principall Agent yet were they generally effected by his holy Angels as the means and instruments But the most proper office of the holy Angels is not for punishment but preservation not for correction of the wicked but for protection of the just and righteous person That 's the chief part of their imployment the office which they most delight in and God accordingly both hath and doeth employ them so from time to time For by the ministery of his Angels did he deliver Ismael from the extremity of thirst Daniel from the fury of hunger Lot from the fire and trembling Isaac from the sword our infant Saviour from one Herod his chief Apostle from another all of them from that common prison into the which they had been cast by the Priests and Pharisees But these were only personal and particular graces Look we on such as were more publick on such as did concern his whole people generally and we shall finde an Angel of he Lord incamping between the hoste of Egypt and the house of Israel to make good the passage at their backs till they were gotten on the other side of the Sea another Angel marching in the front of their Armies as soon as they had entred the land of Canaan and he the Captain of the Lords hostes Princeps exercituum Dei as the vulgar readeth it but whether Michael Gabriel or who else it was the Rabbins may dispute at leasure and to them I leave it Moreover that wall of waters which they had upon each side of them when they passed thorow the Sea as upon dry ground facta est a Deo per Angelos exequentes that was the work of Angels also directed and imployed by Almighty God as the learned Abulensis notets it Which also is affirmed by the Iewish Doctors of the dividing of the waters of Iordan to make the like safe passage for them into the promised land the land of Canaan The like saith Peter Martyr a learned Protestant touching the raysing of the Syrians from before Samaria when the Lord made them hear the noise of Cariots and the noise of horse-men that it was ministerio Angelorum effected by the ministery of the holy Angels whom God imployed in saving that distressed people from the hands of their enemies And by an Angel or at least an angelical vision 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by a dream or Oracle delivered to them in their sleep as Eusebius telleth us did he forwarne the Christians dwelling in the land of Palestine to remove thence to Pella a small town of Syria and so preserved them from the spoyle and fury of the Roman Armies This was Gods way of preservation in the times before us and it is his way of preservation in all ages since GOD is the same God now as then his holy Angels no lesse diligent in their attendance on us then they have been formerly Let us but make our selves by our faith and piety worthy to be accounted the Sons of God and the heires of salvation and doubt we not of the assistance of these ministring spirits in all essaies of personall or publick dangers T is true the apparitions of the Angels in these late times have been very rare not many instances to be found in our choycest Histories But then it is as true withall one of the most eternall truths of holy Scripture that the Angel of the Lord encampeth about all them that fear him and delivereth them Whether we see or see them not it comes all to one and so resolved by Clemens of Alexandria an old Christian writer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Lord saith he doth still preserve us by the ministery of his holy Angels though we behold them not in any visible shape as the antients did And to say truth this general protection of the Angels is a point so clear so undeniable in true Divinity that he must needs renounce the Scripture which makes question of it Some difference indeed hath been about Angel-gardians and the particular protection which we have from them to whom God hath committed the tuition of our severall persons And yet even this if we make Scripture to be judge according to the exposition of the antient Writers will prove a point as clear and as undeniable as that of the protection which we have in general For Origen who lived in the third century from our Saviours birth reckoneth it for a tenet of undoubted truth and generally imbraced in the Christian Church long before his time that all Gods children from their birth or at least their Baptisme had their angel-keepers Lactantius speaks more generally as of all mankind Ad tutelam generis humani misit Angelos though possibly he might mean no otherwise then did the other Catholick writers of the times he lived in and those who followed close in the age succeeding St. Basil in Psal. 33. and Psal. 58. St. Chrysost. on the 18. of Matthew The Authour of the Imperfect work Hom. 40. Theodoret in l. 5. divinorum Decretorum do
meaning of the holy Evangelist it is like he would have rather called it The purification of the Pharisees than the Purifying of the Iews We also have the testimony of St. Paul himself affirming That the service of God under the first Tabernacle consisted onely in meats and drinks and divers washings and carnal Ordinances where we see divers washings put for part of the Legal Ceremonies Not to run over more particulars that washing of the hands was used as a sign of innocency a sign of freedom from such guilt as men stood accused of is not apparent onely by those words of the Royal Psalmist I will wash my hands in innocency Psal. 26. But by that memorable passage in the Book of Deuteronomy where the Elders and Iudges of the people in the case of an accidental undiscovered murder are commanded to wash their hands and say Our hands have not shed this blood neither have our eyes seen it In imitation of which custom for the Romans had no such for ought I have read Pilate forsooth must wash his hands at the death of Christ as if it had been an accidental chance-medley as we use to call it not a studied murder Next to proceed unto the Gentiles these Legal washings of the Iews in case of pollution were quickly taken up by the Neighbor-nations near whom they lived and amongst whom their ordinary business and affairs gave them correspondence insomuch that they had not onely frequent washings to cleanse them from ordinary offences but used them also as purgations for their greater crimes and as preparatories to their Sacrifices and Divine solemnities Of sprinkling the common people with this holy water we finde this of the Poet Spargere rore levi ramo foelicis Olivae lustravitque viros that is to say That the Priest sprinkled the by-standers with an Olive-bough and thereby hallowed them as it were for the present service Of the opinion which they had of doing away their greater crimes by the washing of water we have the example of Orestes who having killed his Mother and so lost his wits is said by Homer to have recovered his understanding again by this kinde of washing The like did Theseus on the murder of the sons of Pallas the like Apollo and Diana on the slaughter of Pytho as we read in Pausanias a learned writer of the Greeks Tertullian hath delivered it for a general rule Penes veteres quisquis se homicidio infecerat purgatrice aqua se expiabat That antiently they which were guilty of homicide or wilful murder did use to expiate the crime with a purging water and that they also did the like in the case of Perjury Nay he that was returned from war and was no otherwise involved in the blood of mankinde than according to the ordinary course of battels did either in piety or modesty think himself unfit to deal in any civil much less sacred matters Donec me flumine vivo abluero as the Poet hath it till he had washed himself in the running waters Of which and of the Expiations which were conceived to be attained by means thereof we finde this in Ovid O nimium faciles qui tristia crimina caedis Fluminea tolli posse putatis aqua In English thus Too facile souls who think such heinous matters May expiated be with river-River-waters Wherein although he hit it right as to the humor of the people in those expiations yet he was somewhat out in the word fluminea the waters onely of the Sea serving for expiation of the greater crimes Propter vim igneam magnopere purgationibus consentaneam as my Author hath it For which cause questionless the Papists in the composition of their holy water make use of Salt as one of the chief ingredients that it may come more near in nature unto the water of the Sea of which there is enough to be seen in the Roman Rituals Last of all in their Sacrifices and solemn service of the Gods it is observed by Alexander ab Alexandro In omnibus sacris sacerdotem cum diis immolat rem divinam facit corporis ablutione purgari That the Priest used to wash himself all over in the way of Purgation The reason was because that by such washings they did not onely think themselves to be cleansed from sin Sed castimoniam praestari putant but that chastity and purity of minde was conferred withal And to come nearer to our business Tertullian tels us Sacris quibusdam per lavachrun initiari that unto some of their sacred offices as to those of Isis Mithras and the Games of Apollo they were consecrated or initiated by a kind of Baptism So that our Savior finding such a general consent both of Iewes and Gentles in ascribing unto water such an expiating and cleansing power retained it as the fittest element for the initiating of his followers in his holy Church and the cleansing of their souls from that filth of sin which nature and corrupt education had contracted in them No otherwise than in the institution of the other Sacrament he made not onely use of the bread and Wine but almost also of the accustomed formal words which were in use amongst the Iews at their Paschal Supper his heavenly wisdom so disposing of these former Rites that he seemed rather to direct and sanctifie them to his own great end than any way to innovate in the institution Having thus spoke a little of these Baptismal washings used amongst the Iews for by that name they do occur both in St. Marks Gospel and in Pauls Epistle and of the efficacy falsly and erroneously ascribed unto them by the ancient Gentiles We must next look upon them as an Institution of our Lord and Saviours and of the true effect of that institution in cleansing of our selves from the filth of sin Not that we give this power to water as it is an Element but do ascribe the same to Baptism as it is a Sacrament ordained by Christ himself to that end and purpose And so far it is pleaded by Tertullian strongly that if the Gentiles did ascribe so great power to water in all their Expiations and Initiations Quanto id verius aquae praestabunt per Dei authoritatem How much more truly may it be made effectual to those very purposes by the authority and appointment of Almighty God All waters in themselves were alike effectual as to the curing of Naamans Leprosie Abanah and Pharphar Rivers of Damascus as proper to that cure as the river of Iordan had not God in the way of a present remedy conferred that blessing upon Iordan which was not to be found in those other Rivers It was Gods blessing not the water which produced that Miracle to which all other waters might have been as serviceable if God had said the word and disposed so of them And so it is also in the work of regeneration which we ascribe not
Here is we see variety of Interpretations and those well backed and countenanced by no mean authorities But for all that I stand to my first Exposition and doubt not but to make it more above all exception than any of the rest before delivered And for the proof of this I shall take for granted that the Church of Corinth did consist especially of converted Gentiles and such of the Grecizing Iews which imbraced the Gospel and therefore being a mixt Assembly were to be spoken to in such forms of speech as were intelligible unto both Secondly I shall take for granted too that howsoever the words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 be taken in the Ecclesiastical notion for giving or receiving of the Sacrament of Baptism by which we are initiated in the Church of Christ yet in the natural and original notion they signifie no more than a simple ordinary or common washing And so they signifie not onely in the Heathen Authors who understood no doubt the Idiom of their own natural language but in the sacred Writers also Certain I am that so the word is used by St. Mark himself after the institution of that holy Sacrament and the appropriating of the word to that signification For speaking of the often washings used amongst the Pharisees he telleth us that when they come from the Market they eat not except they wash and that they use the washing of pots and cups of brazen vessels and of Tables They do not eat unless they wash as our English reads it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 unless they be baptized saith the Greek Original and answerably thereunto the Vulgar Latine nisi baptizentur So also for the following words that they observe the washing of Pots and Cups the Greek Text calleth it in plain terms 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. accordingly the Vulgar Latine Baptismata Calicum Vrceorum i. e. the baptizing of their Cups and Pots We may add here a sort of Hereticks amongst the Jews who teaching the necessity of these daily washings or baptizings were called Hemerobaptists Not that they did every day reiterate the Sacrament of Baptism they had not then been Iews but Christians though erroneous Christians but that they thought it necessary to dip themselves every day in water over head and ears Singulis diebus in aqua mergi the better to preserve themselves as they did suppose from the pollutions of the flesh Which being granted or premised concerning the original and natural use of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Baptizare We will next endeavor to prove out of good authority that both the Gentiles and the Hellenistical or Grecizing Iews whereof the Church of Corinth at this time consisted used constantly to wash or if you will baptize the bodies of their dead before their Funerals and that this custom was observed also amongst the Christians for a long time after That it was in use amongst the Gentiles is evident by that of Ennius where he telleth us of the good woman who washed and anointed the body of Tarquin Tarquinii corpus bona faemina lavit unxit to make it ready for the Grave By that of Virgil touching the washing and annointing of the body of Misenus viz. Corpusque lavant frigentis ungunt Thirdly By those Funeral Officers whom they called Pollinctores which Tertullian speaks of in his Apologetick who were to take the charge of burials and to see men decently interred And they were called Pollinctores quasi pollutorum i. e. mortuorum unctores saith the learned Scholiast from the annointing of dead bodies according to that of Apuleius Pollinctor ejus funeri dum unctionem parat c. And finally it will appear by that antient custom of embalming their dead bodies used amongst the Egyptians mention whereof is made in the last of Genesis one part whereof consisted as we read in Herodotus of washing the corps and wrapping it in a fine linnen cloth So was it also with the Hellenistical or Grecizing Iews as appears plainly in the Acts concerning Tabitha whom being dead they washed and laid her in an upper chamber And though perhaps the Gentiles whether Greeks or Romans thought not of any such thing as a Resurrection when they used this Ceremonie yet I conceive that at the first institution of it before the light of rectified Reason was quite darkned in them it did look that way a resurrection unto judgement being so naturally imprinted in the soul of man that it is every good mans hope that it shall be so and every wicked mans fear that so it will be Nor was this custom of washing the bodies of the dead in the Church of Corinth peculiar unto them alone or reckoned for a remnant of their old superstitions but constantly retained as a decent Ceremony in most Christian Churches to keep them up in hope of a resurrection That so it was at Rome for the Western Churches is affirmed expresly by Tertullian in his Apologetick Rigere pallere post lavacrum mortuus possum saith he in his old vain of writing which is dark and difficult his meaning is as Rhenanus and Pamelius after him observe to shew that it was the custom of the Primitive Church defunctorum corpora lavare to wash the bodies of the dead when they laid them out More plainly speaks Eusebius for the Eastern Churches or rather Dionysius out of whom he cites it where making mention of the great plague in Alexandria and the remarkable piety of the Christians towards their sick Brethren he telleth us that they did not onely close the eyes of the deceased but also washed their dead bodies corpora lavarunt ad sepulturam ornarunt as the story hath it and decently adorned them for their burial Lay all which hath been said together and St. Pauls meaning will appear to be onely this that by the washing or baptizing of their dead call it which we will by their annointing the dead bodies with such costly unguents they might themselves conclude of a Resurrection To what end else served all that cost and charges which they laid out on them if they looked not for the resurrection of those bodies with such cost interred And I the rather am confirmed in this Exposition because I meet with the like phrase in another place For as here we have 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a washing or baptization of the dead So in the book called Ecclesiasticus we meet with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the washing or baptization of a man which ignorantly or unawar◠had polluted himself by the touching of a dead corps or carkass and was by such a washing or baptization to be made clean again Qui baptizatur à mortuo iterum tangit eum c. He that washeth himself so our English reads it after the touching of a dead body if he touch it again what availeth his washing where though in our
Esdras the springs above the firmament were broken up which on the abatement of the waters are said to have been stopped or shut up again Gen. 8.2 A thing saith he not to be understood of any subterraneous Abysse without an open defiance to the common principles of nature Besides it doth appear from the Text it self that at the first God had not caused it to rain on the earth at all perhaps not till those times of Noah but that a moysture went up and watered the whole face of the ground Gen. 2.5.6 as still it is observed of the land of Egypt And that it did continue thus till the days of Noah may be collected from the bow which God set in the Clouds which otherwise as Porphyrie did shrewdly gather had been there before and if no clouds nor rain in the times before the Cataracts of heaven spoken of Gen. 7. 11. 8.2 must have some other exposition then they have had formerly Nay he collects and indeed probably enough from his former principles that this aboundance of waters falling then from those heavenly treasuries and sunke into the secret receptacles of the earth have been the matter of those clouds which are and have been since occasioned and called forth by the heat and influence of the Sun and others of the stars and celestiall bodies These are the principall reasons he insists upon And unto those me thinks the Philosophical tradition of a Crystalline heaven the watery Firmament we may call it doth seem to add some strength or moment which hath been therefore interposed between the eighth sphere and the primum mobile that by the natural coolness and complexion of it it might repress and moderate the fervour of the primum mobile which otherwise by its violent and rapid motion might suddenly put all the world in a conflagration For though perhaps there may be no such thing in nature as this Crystalline heaven yet I am very apt to perswade my self that the opinion was first grounded on this Text of Moses where we are told of Waters above the Firmament but whether rightly understood I determine not But I desire to be excused for this excursion though pertinent enough to the point in hand which was to shew the power and wisdome of Almighty God in ordering the whole work of the Worlds Creation To proceed therefore where we left As we are told in holy Scripture that God made the World and of the time when and the manner how he did first create it so finde we there the speciall motions which induced him to it Of these the chief and ultimate is the glory of God which not only Men and Angels do dayly celebrate but all the Creatures else set forth in their severall kindes The Heavens declare the glory of God and the Firmament sheweth his handy work saith the royall Psalmist And Benedicite domino opera ejus O blesse the Lord saith he all ye works of his Psal. 103.22 The second was to manifest his great power and wisdome which doth most clearly shew it self in the works of his hands there being no creature in the world no not the most contemptible and inconsiderable of all the rest in making or preserving which we do not finde a character of Gods power and goodness For not the Angels only and the Sun and Moon nor Dragons only and the Beasts of more noble nature but even the very worms are called on to extol Gods name All come within the compass of laudate Dominum and that upon this reason only He spake the word and they were made he commanded and they were created In the third place comes in the Creation of Angels and men that as the inanimate and irrational creatures do afford sufficient matter to set forth Gods goodness so there might be some creatures of more excellent nature which might take all occasions to express the same who therefore are more frequently and more especially required to perform this duty Benedicite Domino omnes Angeli ejus O praise the Lord all ye Angels of his ye that excel in strength ye that fulfil his commandements for the Angels are but ministring spirits Psal. 104.4 and hearken to the voyce of his words And as for men he cals upon them four times in one only Psalm to discharge this Office which sheweth how earnestly he expecteth it from them O that men would therefore praise the LORD for his goodness and declare the wonders which he doth to the children of men Then follows his selecting of some men out of all the rest into that sacred body which we call the Church whom he hath therefore saved from the hands of their enemies that they might serve him without fear in righteousness and holiness all the days of their lives And therefore David doth not only call upon mankinde generally to set forth the goodness of the Lord but particularly on the Church Praise the Lord O Hierusalem Praise thy God O Sion And that not only with and amongst the rest but more then any other of the sons of men How so because he sheweth his word unto Jacob his statutes and his Ordinances unto Israel A favour not vouchsafed to other Nations nor have the Heathen knowledge of his laws for so it followeth in that Psalm v. 19 20. The Church then because most obliged is most bound to praise him according to that divine rule of eternal justice that unto whomsoever more is given of him the more shall be required And last of all the Lord did therefore in the time when it seemed best to him accomplish this great work of the Worlds Creation that as his infinite power was manifested in the very making so he might exercise his Providence and shew his most incomprehensible wisdome in the continual preservation and support thereof And certainly it is not easie to determine whether his Power were greater in the first Creation or his Providence more wonderful and of greater consequence in the continual goverance of the World so made which questionless had long before this time relapsed to its primitive nothing had he not hitherto supported it by his mighty hand For not alone these sublunary creatures which we daily see nor yet the heavenly bodies which we look on with such admiration but even the Heaven of Heavens and the Hosts thereof Archangels Angels Principalities Powers or by what name soever they are called in Scripture enjoy their actual existence and continual beeing not from their own nature or their proper Essence but from the goodness of their Maker For he it is as St. Paul telleth us in the Acts who hath not only made the World and all things therein but still gives life and breath unto every creature and hath determined of the times before appointed and also of the bounds of their habitation And so much Seneca Pauls dear friend if there be any truth in those letters which do bear their names hath affirmed also