consisting of eight Sphears with a Primum Mobile or First Mover and an Empyreal Heaven and a special Court as it were where God sets more especially enthron'd arched over with the roof of another Heaven for all which there is no more solid reason than Scripture to be found though some for want of soberness and better proofs as the Jewish Rabbi have presumed to determine the number of the Sphears from the expression in the eighth Psalm where it is said The Heavens are the work of thy fingers ten fingers Psal 8. 3. ten Heavens but the Scriptures speak of no more than three 2 Cor. 12. 2. And that they are rather to be understood as so many Regions distinguishable in the air than such superior bodies appears from the synonymous use of the Fowls of the air and the Fowls of Heaven as in Psal 79. 2. and Psal 104. 12. Jer. 7. 33. Ezek. 31. 6. Gen. 1. 26 28. Yet as no man can out of Philosophy or Scripture determine the nature or number of Heavens is it not to be peremptorily denied that there are distinctions of places of Bliss And though it be little otherwise than blasphemous to confine God to the highest largest fairest room called 2 Chron. 2. 6. an Heaven as that there should be any â—imits set to his Court or Throne of Glory yet may we well believe God is somewhere more gloriously revealed than commonly he is in all places though he be in all places and where he displays his Glory and beatifies his more immediate servants there is Heaven as we say There is the Court where the King is It is true we gather reasonably from the position and motion of celestial Lights a distinction in distance and motion of them and that a peculiar tract there is for most of them but that this space should be roof'd over round with a pellucide solid aetherial substance is an absurd collection of Philosophers no ways favoured by Scripture which as it hath touched things of this nature with greater simplicity so with much more probability inviting us rather to an admiration of the divine Power and adoration of its Providence in ordaining so admirably those bodies as for his Glory so for our instruction and edification in his service The same reason doubtless there is of Time and Place as weâ—l â—n respect of the Creator as the Creature It is impossible but the Creature should be limitable by time and space both and it is impossible God should by either be so and therefore no less derogatory to his Being is it to imagine God terminated by space than by time The other part of this visible World is that which we call Earth with the several bodies pertaining unto the same as Water Fire and Air all which though of very different nature or use to us are properly earthly The solid part and grosser which we signally call Earth and that liquid fluid and purer substance we caâ—l Water being the two most principal parts and elements out of which all things here proceed Fire and Air being no distinct bodies of themselves but subsisting upon their grounds and especially Air being nothing else but a purer composition of the substance of Earth and Water flying about the earth and ministring continuall refreshment to all earthly living things Fire indeed is of a wonderful subtil nature and operation most active but whether any thing in substance distinct from the other and not only in quality is scarce to be understood And though Philosophy busies it self to the losing of its way in the search after these things and presumes to determine and impose upon others its uncertain Conclusions yet the modesty of Religion contents it self to keep a mannerly distance where God by the Mysteries of Nature and much more of Theology seems to say Stand off which we shall contenting our selves at present with that brief narration of the manner and order of the Creation of all things found in the first Chapter of Genesis where we note the way of Gods working to be most like himself without any pains or trouble but by the simple and absolute word of his command given Let there be Light It is said indeed that God in six days made all things in Heaven and Earth as if the Creation took him up both time and pains to compleat it whence some fearing to make the matter too gross on Gods part have as Austin introduced an Evening and Morning relating rather to the Angels than Men making that the Morning when those holy Spirits beheld things to be Created in the divine Nature and Vision and that Vespertine when they were actually seen in themselves existing which interpretation hath not been received in the Church as solid But rather this Morning and Evening which could not be natural until the Sun was created which it was not at the first is understood of a competent distance of time which it might please God not out of necessity but free choice to work in to declare his order and give us a more distinct knowledge of things and especially to prevent that error to which man was too inclinable in conceiving all things were eternal which we now see For if they were so then could there be no distinction or distance of time between one thing and another but where there is such a diversity of time there of necessity must be posteriority and priority and so no eternity For that which some bring out of Ecclesiasticus to prove the production Eccles 18. 1 of all things in one moment viz. He that liveth for ever created all things together is a mistake in the Latin Translation only which renders 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Greek so which is better translated as we do In general intimating that nothing subsisted but by him Or it may be said All things were created together or at once meaning that what God did produce he did it not after the manner of men who bring their work to perfection by degrees and many acts but every thing that was made by him was made at once in an instant And this general consideration of the six dayes Work of God may suffice here not descending to each particularly only we shall speak of the Creation of Man in particular as the chief of Gods wayes and the Rule and end of other Creatures CHAP. VII Of the Creation of Man in particular according to the Image of God Of the Constitution of him and of the Original of his Soul contrary to Philosophers and the errors of Origen concerning it The Image wherein it consists principally CREATION we have shewed is the production of a thing from nothing and so the first man was not created immediately for it is said God formed man of the dust of the ground and Gen. 2. 7. breathed into his nostrils the breath of life And St. Paul likewise to the Corinthians saith The first man was of the earth 1 Cor. 15. 47.
we have in good degree answered before and there shewed how that the fore-knowledge in God of mans fixed estate whether by his own will electing as they say freely or Gods will determining which fore-knowledge is yielded to God by these Objectors doth oblige them as well as me to shew what profit it would be to man to move or endeavour towards Grace and Life when he is already determined only this is the difference between them The one seems to hold That God by an antecedent act drives the nail whereby man is immoveably fastned to one thing and the other holds That by a subsequent act of knowledge he clincheth it which man himself drove so that it can never stir St. Augustine Aug. Civ Dei l. 5. c. 5. confuting Tullies opinion of Fate impending over all things doth notwithstanding confess and affirm plainly They are much more to be tolerated who hold a Sydereal Fate than he that takes from God the praescience of things future for says he it is most apparent madness for to grant there is a God and to deny he foresees things future And they that put the cuestion to this issue have mended the matter very little or reliev'd themselves all necessity and certainty being a direct enemy to their design of setting man free to do what he list and change his fortune as we say at his pleasure I find in a very grave and learned Author a distinction which I find no where else designed to ease this doubt between Inevitable and Infallible which in truth are not distinct and therefore he is constrained contrary to the agreed way of speech to make Infallible the same with Necessary whereas the distinction is between Necessity and Infallibility or Inevitability which is the very same For what is infallible but that whose act or object shall have a certain event and this event not to be avoided or declined is called Inevitable But whether the Necessity of Causes be such that this event must in nature succeéd is the question and that notwithstanding the Inevitableness or Infallibility of the event there may not be free motions in the Cause tending to that event So that for instance a man may freely choose and will to do that which he certainly shall choose and consequently be properly and truly said to be author of the same be it his damnation or salvation But you will say If Gods Preterition be such that a man is unable to move himself to saving good without it then must he infallibly fall into sin and necessarily and after this all counsels and commâ—nations and exhortations come to nothing and are in vain Nay unless there be unrighteousness with God man cannot be judged for not doing that which he cannot do is not in his power To this St. Augustines Answer is this Because the whole Mass was Aug. Epist 105 sixte damned deservedly in Adam God repays its deserved reproach and bestows an undeserved honour by Grace not by any prerogative of merit not by necessity of Fate not by the unsteadiness of fortune but by the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God which the Aposile doth not open but admires concealed crying out O the depth of the wisdom c. But if this yet doth not absolutely satisfie as I know it doth not some because say they it is to delude man to offer that and exhort to that which it is impossible to attain to so that though God by his absolute and divine Prerogative might have deserted man yet it stands not with his natural equity or simplicity towards his Creature to exhort and threaten when there is such inevitable necessity upon him and condemn him for not doing that which he knows he cannot do without him refusing effectually to assist him I answer It might very well call in question the fair dealing of God towards his Creature if so be he should make an act for him after he was disabled to observe and perform the same not assisting him to the performance of his will But God doth not so for though the Command stands in force against him yet it was not prepared for him in his destitute condition and no reason that Gods right of ruling should change with the vanity of the Creature It suffices that once it was proportionable to him and that the impotency now pleaded is owing to himself and that Gods Laws now are rather recited and propounded to him than made for him in the condition he is in But secondly Gods Commands indeed though but urged anew should be ludicrous and in vain did they totally miss of their ends in being thus repeated and inculcated if they had no success But so it is not as though the Word of God had taken no effect For they are Rom. 9. 6. not all Israel wh are of Israel as St. Paul hath it that is the case is not the same with all men For as St. Paul afterwards What then Israel Rom. 11. 7. hath not obtained that which he seeketh for but the election hath obtained it and the rest were blinded It sufficiently answers the purpose of God in giving his Law and admonishing and threatning and promising thereupon that it obtaineth its ends upon the election For how many things else might we accuse God and Nature for sending us when they do no good at all that we can perceive but rather mischiefs As deluges of waters in a wet time and in droughts great showers of rain emptying themselves into the Sea or sandy deserts from whence nothing springs answerable to such divine bounty But we are taught that God and Nature made things and ordained them in their kind useful for the Universe and never by a particular purpose that every single act or part should have the same visible and proportionable effect that the whole hath And so in the dispensations of his spiritual Graces it suffices to acquit and justifie divine providence that they have their due ends though not the same that man may expect who certainly would never have it rain might he order matters and choose but at such times and in such places as he thinks fit and then alwayes Again It would go harder against this opinion if so be that the only end why God published his Word and gave his Laws weâ—e to convert men that they might be saved This is indeed a principal but not the only intent God hath but the publication of Gods holiness and justice and righteousness and mercy and the like glorious attributes in which publication God is much more known admired and glorified by wicked men and reprobates than otherwise though they oppose and dislike the same even against their own wills giving such like glory to God on earth as they shall in Hell hereafter And we know that no accession of real good being possible to be made to God the outward manifestation is of principal concernment Last of all Could there be an infallible
there was no intention to divide that Period into two Precepts For then in all probability the Persons should have been ranked by themselves and the Goods by themselves so to distinguish them but no heed being given to this no intention seems to be for that To this they answer most colourably That in Deuteronomy the order is otherwise Coveting ones Neighbours wife being first prohibited and Deut. 5. 21. that the Law as there repeated and revised is to be a President to us But first the contrary to this is most true That the Law was more exactly delivered in Exodus than in Deuteronomie in all those points which are in common to them as hath been shewed out of Grotius For Deuteronomy according to its Name being indeed a Repetition in a compendious manner of what was more expresly and at large handled in the four first Books of Moses it cannot be supposed but many if not all things should be in them more plainly and accurately treated of than in this For as St. Augustine Evangelista autem Lucas in oratione Dominicà Petitiones non septem sed quinque complexus est c. Aug. Enchirid ad Laurent cap. 115. hath observed of the diverse manner of reciting the Lords Prayer in Saint Matthews Gospel and St. Lukes St. Matthew setting down seven Petitions and St. Luke but five and thereupon directs us to make St. Matthews words the Rule of understanding St. Lukes So questionless where a thing in the Pentateuch is more distinctly and fully expressed there ought we to take our measures for the interpretation of what is more confusedly or breifly rehearsed elsewhere and by consequence the Law in Deuteronomy is to be regulated by that of Exodus But farther The order of persons or things is not in Deuteronomie observed For first it is said Thou shalt not desire thy Neighbours Wife then Neither shalt thou covet thy Neighbours House and then follows his Servants and then again his Goods which shew that God would not have us too rigorously to seek for methods in his word but matter Therefore the sum of all is this That God knowing how imperfect mans understanding was in the matter wherein his senses were concerned and how willing he was to be deceived and ignorant of his duty and lastly how prone a man is to proceed from evil thoughts to evil deeds he doth here inform his people in an higher point of Sobriety and Justice than Gentile Philosophers or common light of Nature could direct men For Saint Paul saith he had not known lust to be a sin except the Law had said Thou Rom. 7. 7. Matth. 5. 28. shalt not covet And our Saviour in the Gospel interdicteth all vain and lascivious looks whereby Lust may be conceived The reason of all which is this because as the Scripture often intimates unto us God accepteth the heart for the act and the will for the deed where there is a defect of power to bring things to perfection which are righteous and holy so doth God judge that Evil to be done against him which is so conceived and resolved upon in the mind as to want nothing but ability and opportunity to put in execution For as an holy Father saith No man is righteous who cannot do 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Basil Mag. Per hoc etiamsi minora mala faciant quia minus possunt non minus tamen mali sunt quia nollent minus esse si pâ—ssent amiss And as another speaks of wicked mens inclinations By this though peradventure they commit less evil they are no less evil because they would not be less wicked if they could tell how to shift it Thus Salvian And necessary was this Commandment not only for the reasons now given but also for the general pronity of all men to fall into this sin All men naturally having this unnatural called sometimes for the commonness Natural Concupiscence in them inclining and urging them to evil none but Christ himself not the Virgin Mary being exempted from it in the root and first seed called Original sin But Original sin is not here forbidden as that which surprises a man inevitably and cannot possibly be prevented but the actuating or drawing that evil principle which lurks in our nature forth Neque enim ea dimitti nobis volumus quae dimissa non dubitamus in baptismo sed illa c. Aug. Epist 108 to particular evil motions of the will For as St. Austine hath observed We do not pray God to forgive us those sins which we doubt not but are forgiven in baptism but those which through human frailty creep upon us unawares which though small are frequent So are we not here advised to pray against or resist Original sin which is irresistible but the vermine of evil thoughts which are apt to breed in the remains of natural Concupiscence as Snakes in a dunghil which coming to get strength creep out in evil outward acts to the endangering of the soul Hence it is that the Scriptures exhort us to avoid the occasions and resist the Devil at first and by Faith to quench these fiery darts of the Devil that shall be shot into our souls with some of which proper and useful means so to do I shall conclude this Chapter First the outward occasions of wicked thoughts are carefully and resolutely to be avoided such as are Idleness evil Objects evil Authours and evil Company Secondly Not to give way to the least friendly entertainment to the first motions or injections of the Tempter but crush the Cockatrice egg and quench the spark and growing flame at the very first For as when an enemy without throws in a Granado into a Fort to ruin it if they within take it up presently and throw it back again before it breaks it confounds the Enemy rather then them in the Fort so do evil thoughts cast into the Soul by the Devil rather torment him than hurt the Soul when they are rejected suddainly and cast out Thirdly By being instant and fervent Wisd 8. 21. Matth. 17. 21. in prayer whereby God is called to the assistance of the labouring Soul as some good hand by crying out is ready to pull out one sinking in waters Fourthly Imploying a mans self constantly and carefully in some laudable and profitable actions much secures him from the vain illusions of the mind from whence do spring that Lust of the Flesh Lust of the Eyes and Pride of Life against which St. John warns us and all which with their particular branches are forbidden by this last Commandment CHAP. XXI Of Superstition contrary to the true Worship of God and Christian Obedience AS Heresie is a corruption of the Faith or Doctrine of the Church and Schism of its Unity and Christian Communion so necessary to its well being so is Superstition a degeneration and corruption of the true worship of God now last spoken of And therefore as to the more compleat