ESSAYES IN DIVINITY; By the late Dr DONNE, Dean of S Paul's. BEING Several DISQUISITIONS, Interwoven with MEDITATIONS AND PRAYERS:
Before he entred into Holy Orders.
Now made publick by his Son J. D. Dr of the Civil Law.
LONDON, Printed by T. M. for Richard Marriot, and are to be ſold at his Shop in St Dunſtan's Church-yard Fleet-ſtreet. 1651.
that in owning theſe leſs, yet more lawfull iſſues of this modern Author, you will prove a greater Mecaenas then thoſe former Writers ever had, in giving a livelihood to theſe Ofſprings, that had no proviſion left them by their Father.
And to beg this favour, they come (Sir) with the greater confidence, becauſe being writ when the Author was obliged in Civill buſineſs, and had no ingagement in that of the Church, the manner of their birth may ſeem to have ſome analogie with the courſe you now ſeem to ſteer; who being ſo highly intereſſed in the publick Affairs of the State, can yet allow ſo much time to the exerciſe of your private Devotions; which, with the help of your active wiſdom, hath ſo ſetled us, as the tempeſtuous Northwindes are not like to blaſt in the Spring before it come to a full growth, nor the South to over-ripen, till it arrive at ſuch a perfection as may equall the birth of PALLAS; which could be produced from nothing but the very brains of JUPITER; who although ſhee came arm'd from thence, yet it had not been ſufficient to have had a God for her Father, if ſhe had not had METIS to her Mother. Which ſhews us, that the Ʋnion is ſo inſeparable between Counſell and Strength, that our Armies abroad of this Book to your protection, and of my ſelf to your Commands.
IT is thought fit to let thee know, that theſe Eſſayes. were printed from an exact Copy, under the Authors own hand: and, that they were the voluntary ſacrifices of ſeverall hours, when he had many debates betwixt God and himſelf, whether he were worthy, and competently learned to enter into Holy Orders. They are now publiſh'd, both to teſtifie his modeſt Valuation of himſelf, and to ſhew his great abilities; and, they may ſerve to inform thee in many Holy Curioſities.
Fare-well.
I Do not therefore ſit at the door, and meditate upon the threſhold, becauſe I may not enter further;Apoc. 3.7. For he which is holy and true, and hath the key of David, and openeth and no man ſhutteth, and ſhutteth and no man openeth; hath ſaid to all the humble in one perſon, I have ſet before thee an open door, and no man2 can ſhut it, for thou haſt a little ſtrength. Lyra.And the holy Scriptures, ſignified in that place, as they have theſe properties of a well provided Caſtle, that they are eaſily defenſible, and ſafely defend others. So they have alſo this, that to ſtrangers they open but a litle wicket, and he that will enter, muſt ſtoop and humble himſelfe. To reverend Divines, who by an ordinary calling are Officers and Commiſſioners from God, the great Doors are open. Let me with Lazarus lie at the threſhold, and beg their crums. Diſcite à me, ſayes our bleſſed Saviour, Learn of me, as Saint Auguſtine enlarges it well,Mat. 11. not to do Miracles, nor works exceeding humanity; but, quia mitis ſum; learn to be humble. His humility, to be like us, was a Dejection; but ours, to be like him, is our chiefeſt exaltation; and yet none other is required at our hands. Where this Humility is,Prov. 11. ibi Sapientia. Therfore it is not ſuch a groveling, frozen, and ſtupid3 Humility, as ſhould quench the activity of our underſtanding, or make us neglect the Search of thoſe Secrets of God, which are acceſſible. For, Humility, and Studiouſneſſe,Tho. 2 a, 2 ae. 161. & 166. (as it is oppoſed to curioſity, and tranſgreſſes not her bounds) are ſo near of kin, that they are both agreed to be limbes and members of one vertue, Temperance.
Theſe bounds Daniel exceeded not;Dan. 10.11. and yet he was Vir Deſideriorum, and in ſatisfaction of ſo high Deſires, to him alone were thoſe viſions diſcovered. And to ſuch deſires and endeavours the Apoſtle encourageth the Corinths,1 Cor. 12.31. Aemulamini Chariſmata meliora, Deſire you better gifts, and I wil yet ſhew you a better way. It is then humility to ſtudy God, and a ſtrange miraculous one; for it is an aſcending humility, which the Divel, which emulates even Gods excellency in his goodneſſe, and labours to be as ill, as he is good, hath corrupted in us by a pride, as much againſt reaſon;4 for he hath fill'd us with a deſcending pride, to forſake God, for the ſtudy and love of things worſe then our ſelves. This averts us from the Contemplation of God, and his Book. In whoſe inwards, and Sanctum Sanctorum, what treaſure of ſaving myſteries do his Prieſts ſee, when we at the threſhold ſee enough to inſtruct and ſecure us? for he hath ſaid of his lawes,Deut. 6.9. Scribes ea in limine; And both the people, and Prince himſelfe,Ezek. 46. were to worſhip at the threſhold.
Before we conſider each ſtone of this threſhold, which are
we will ſpeak of two or three other things, ſo many words. Of the Whole Book; Of the Author of thoſe firſt 5 Books; And of this firſt book. For earthly princes look for ſo many pauſes and reverences, in our acceſſes to their table, though they be not there.
God hath two Books of life; that in the Revelation, and elſe where,Apoc. 3.5. which is an eternall Regiſter of his Elect; and this Bible. For of this, it is therefore ſaid,Joh. 5.39. Search the Scriptures, becauſe in them ye hope to have eternall life. And more plainly, when in the 24. of Eccleſiaſticus Wiſdome hath ſaid in the firſt verſe, Wiſdome ſhall praiſe her ſelf, ſaying, He created me from the beginning, and I ſhall never fail, v. 12. I give eternall things to all my Children, and in me is all grace of life and truth, v. 21. They that eat me ſhall have the more hunger, and they that drink me ſhall thirſt the more, v. 24. At laſt, in v. 26. All theſe things are the book of life, and the Covenants of the moſt high God, and the law of Moſes. And as our orderly love to the underſtanding this Book of life, teſtifies to us that our names are in the other; ſo is there another book ſubordinate to this, which is liber creaturarum. 6Of the firſt book, we may uſe the words of Eſay,Iſa. 29.11. It is a book that is ſealed up, and if it be delivered to one (Scienti literas) that can read, he ſhall ſay, I cannot, for it is ſealed. So far removed from the ſearch of learning, are thoſe eternall Decrees and Rolls of God, which are never certainly and infallibly produced and exemplified in foro exteriori, but onely inſinuated and whiſper'd to our hearts, Ad informandum conſcientiam Judicis, which is the Conſcience it ſelfe. Of the Second book, which is the Bible, we may uſe the next verſe; The book ſhall be given (As interpreters agree, open) Neſcienti literas, to one which cannot read: and he ſhall be bid read, and ſhall ſay, I cannot read. By which we learn, that as all mankind is naturally one flock feeding upon one Common, and yet for ſociety and peace, Propriety, Magiſtracy, and diſtinct Functions are reaſonably induc'd; ſo, though all our ſoules have intereſt in this their common paſture, the book7 of life, (for even the ignorant are bid to read;) yet the Church hath wifely hedged us in ſo farr, that all men may know, and cultivate, and manure their own part, and not adventure upon great reſerv'd myſteries, nor treſpaſs upon this book, without inward humility, and outward interpretations. For it is not enough to have objects, and eyes to ſee, but you muſt have light too. The firſt book is then impoſſible; The ſecond difficult; But of the third book, the the book of Creatures, we will ſay the 18th. verſe, The deaf ſhall heare the word of this book, and the eyes of the blinde ſhall ſee out of obſcurity. And ſo much is this book available to the other, that Sebund,Ray. Seb. in prolo. when he had digeſted this book into a written book, durſt pronounce, that it was an Art, which teaches al things, preſuppoſes no other, is ſoon learned, cannot be forgotten, requires no books, needs on witneſſes, and in this, is ſafer then the Bible it ſelf, that it cannot be falſified by Hereticks. 8And ventures further after,Tit. 166. to ſay, That becauſe his book is made according to the Order of Creatures, which expreſs fully the will of God, whoſoever doth according to his booke, fulfils the will of God. Howſoever, he may be too abundant in affirming, that in libro creaturarum there is enough to teach us all particularities of Chriſtian Religion,De immanifeſto Deo manifeſtiſſimo. (for Triſmegiſtus going farr, extends not his proofs to particulars;) yet St Paul clears it thus far, that there is enough to make us inexcuſable, if we ſearch not further. Rom. 2.And that further ſtep is the knowledg of this Bible, which only, after Philoſophy hath evicted and taught us an Unity in the Godhead, ſhews alſo a Trinity. Greg. Hom. 35. in Evang.As then this life compared to bleſſed eternity, is but a death, ſo the books of Philoſophers, which only inſtruct this life, have but ſuch a proportion to this book: Which hath in it Certainty, for no man aſſigns to it other beginning then we do, though all allow not ours: Dignity,9 for what Author proceeds ſo ſine teſte? (and he that requires a witneſſe, believes not the thing, but the witneſſe;) And a non Notis; (for he which requires reaſon believes himſelfe, and his own approbation and allowance of the reaſon.) And it hath Sufficiency; for it either rejecteth or judgeth all Traditions. It exceeds all others in the object, for it conſiders the next life; In the way, for it is written by revelation; yea the firſt piece of it which ever was written, which is the Decalogue, by Gods own finger. And as Lyra notes, being perchance too Allegoricall and Typick in this, it hath this common with all other books, that the words ſignifie things; but hath this particular, that all the things ſignifie other things.
There are but two other books, (within our knowledge) by which great Nations or Troops are govern'd in matter of Religion; The Alcoran, and Talmud; of which, the firſt is eſteemed, only10 where ours is not read. And beſides the common infirmity of all weak, and ſuſpicious, and craſie religions, that it affords ſalvation to all good men, in any Religion, yea,Epiſt. Pii ſecundi ad Morisb. Tunam. to Divels alſo, with our ſingular Origen, is ſo obnoxious, and ſelf-accuſing, that, to confute it, all Chriſtian Churches have ever thought it the readieſt and preſenteſt way to divulge it. And therefore Luther, after it had received Cribrationem, a ſifting by Cuſanus,Praefat. ad lect. ad lib. de moribus Turcarum. perſwades an Edition of the very Text, becauſe he thinks the Roman Church can no way be ſhak'd more, then thus to let the world ſee, how Siſter-like thoſe two Churches are. But that man of infinite undertaking, and induſtry, and zeal, and bleſſings from the Higheſt, had not ſeen the Alcoran when he writ this, though he mention it: Nor Cuſanus his book certainly; for elſe he could not have ſaid, that the Cardinall had only excerpted and exhibited to the world the infamous and ridiculous parts of it,11 and ſlipt the ſubſtantiall; for he hath deduced an harmony, and conformity of Chriſtianity out of that book. Melancthon alſo counſels this Edition,Praemonit. ad Edit. Alcor. Ʋt ſciamus quale Poema ſit. And Bibliander obſerves, that it is not only too late to ſuppreſſe it now, but that the Church never thought it fit to ſupreſſe it;Apolog. pro Edit. Alcor. becauſe (ſaith he) there is nothing impious in it, but is formerly reprehenſively regiſtred in the Fathers. As Cuſanus hath done from the Alcoran, Galatinus hath from the Talmud deduced all Chriſtianity,De arcanis Cathol. veritatis. and more. For he hath proved all Roman traditions from thence. We grudge them not thoſe victories: but this flexibility and appliableneſſe to a contrary religion, ſhews perfectly, how leaden a rule thoſe lawes are. Without doubt, their books would have been received with much more hunger then they are, if the Emperour Maximilian, by Reuchlyus counſell, had not allowed them free and open paſſage. If there were not12 ſome compaſſion belong'd to them who are ſeduced by them; I ſhould profeſſe, that I never read merrier books then thoſe two. Ours therefore, begun, not only in the firſt ſtone, but in the intire foundation, by Gods own finger, and purſued by his Spirit, is the only legible book of life; and is without doubt devolv'd from thoſe to our times. For God, who firſt writ his Law in the Tables of our hearts; and when our corruption had defaced them, writ it again in Stone-tables;Exod. 31.18. and when Moſes zealous anger had broken them, writ them again in other tables,Exod. 34.1. leaves not us worſe provided, whom he loves more, both becauſe he ever in his providence fore-ſaw the Jews defection, and becauſe in a naturall fatherly affection, he is delighted with his Sons purchaſes. For that interruption which the courſe of this book is imagin'd by great Authours to have had,Irenaeus. Tertul. Clem. Al. Euſeb. Hiero. &c. by the periſhing in the Captivity, cannot poſſibly be allowed, if either13 Gods promiſe, or that hiſtory be conſidered; nor, if that were poſſible, is it the leſſe the work of God, if Eſdras refreſh'd and recompiled it by the ſame ſpirit which was in the firſt Authour; Nor is it the leſſe ancient, no more then a man is the leſſe old, for having ſlept, then walked out a day. Our age therefore hath it; and our Church in our language; for ſince the Jeſuit Sacroboſous,Def. Conc. Trid. c. 1. and more late interpreters of the Trent Councell, have abandoned. their old ſtation, and defence of the letter of the Canon, pronouncing the vulgate Edition to be authentick, (which they heretofore aſſumed for the controverted point) and now ſay, that that Canon doth only preferre it before all Latine Tranſlations; and that not Abſolutà, (ſo to avoid barbariſmes) but In ordine ad fidem & mores; and have given us limits and rules of allowable infirmities in a Tranſlation, as corruptions not offenſive to faith, obſerving the meaning,14 though not the words, If the Hebrew text may bear that reading, and more ſuch: We might, if we had not better aſſurances, rely upon their words, that we have the Scripture, and nearer perfection, then they.
The Author of theſe firſt five books is Moſes. In which number, compoſ'd of the firſt even, and firſt odd, becauſe Cabaliſtick learning ſeems to moſt Occupatiſſima vanitas, I will forbear the obſervations, both of Picus in his Hepſaplus, and in the Harmony of Francis George, that tranſcending Wit,In Gen. l. 1. c. 8. whom therefore Pererius charges to have audax nimis, & ad devia & abruta opinionum praeceps ingenium, though they have many delicacyes of honeſt and ſerviceable curioſity, and harmleſs recreation and entertainment. For as Catechiſers give us the milk of Religion, and poſitive Divines ſolid nutriment, ſo when15 our conſcience is ſick of ſcruples, or that the Church is wounded by ſchiſmes, which make ſolutionem continui, (as Chirurgians ſpeak) though there be proper uſe of controverted Divinity for Medicine, yet there be ſome Cankers, (as Judaiſme. ) which cannot be cur'd without the Cabal; which is (eſpecially for thoſe diſeaſes,) the Paracelſian Phiſick of the underſtanding,Archangelus Apol. Cabal. and is not unworthily (if it be onely applyed where it is ſo medicinable) call'd praeambulum Evangelii. Apoc. 5.9.[They of the Synagogue of Satan, which call themſelves Jews, and are not, but do lie] as though they were ſtill in the deſert, and under the incommodities of a continuall ſtraying and ignorance of their way, (and ſo they are, and worſe; for then they onely murmured againſt their guide, for not performing Gods promiſes, now, they have no promiſe) are not content with their Pillar of fire, this Moſes, but have condenſ'd to themſelves16 a Pillar of Cloud, Rabbi Moſes,Druſ. in Not. ad nomen Tetra. call'd the Egyptian, but a Spaniard. [A Moſe ad Moſem non ſurrexit qualis Moſes] they ſay. This man quarelling with many imperfections, and ſome contradictions in our Moſes works, and yet concurring with the Jews in their opinion of his perfectneſs, if he were underſtood, accompliſh'd and perfected their legem Oralem; which they account to be delivered by God to our Moſes in his forty dayes converſation with him, and after delivered to Eſdras, and ſo deſcended to theſe Ages. His lateneſs and ſingularity, makes him not worth thus many words: We will therefore leave this Moſes, and haſten to the diſpatch of the other. Who, becauſe he was principal Secretary to the Holy Ghoſt, (I diſpute not other dignities, but onely priority in time) is very credible, though he be his owne Hiſtoriographer. Therefore, though his owne books beſt ſhow who, and what17 he was, let us endeavour otherwiſe to bring thoſe men to ſome reverence of his Antiquity, who bring no taſte to his Philoſophy, nor faith to his Story. Pererius ſeems peremtory that no Author is elder. In Ge. c. 1. I thinke it moved him, that Henoch's booke, mentioned in the Epiſtle of Jude, is periſh'd:Epiſt. Jud. So is the booke of the Battails of the Lord (for any thing we know,) and that is not ſpoken of till Num. 21.14. and then as of a future thing. He makes it reaſonable evident, that Linus,Num. 21.14. Orpheus, and all Greeke learning came after, and from him. But if we ſhall eſcape this, that Abraham's booke De formationibus is yet alive, by ſuſpecting and pronouncing it ſuppoſitious, (yet Archangelus ſaies, he hath it, and hath commented it,Apol. Cabal. Problem. and Francis George often vouches it;) how ſhall we deliver our ſelves from Zoroaſters Oracles? whom Epiphanius places in Nembrots time,Fra. Patricius. and Euſebius in Abraham's; ſince his language is Chaldaick, his18 works miraculouſly great,Heurnius de Philoſo. Barbaric. l. 2. (for his Oracles are twenty hundred thouſand verſes, and his phraſe more expreſs, and clear, and liquid, in the Doctrine of the Trinity, then Moſes? For where ſayes this, as the other, [Toto mundo lucet Trias, cujus Monas eſt princeps?] From whence ſhall we ſay that Hermes Triſmegiſtus ſucked his not only Divinity, but Chriſtianity? in which no Evangeliſt, no Father, no Councell is more literall and certain. Of the fall of Angels, Renovation of the world by fire, eternity of puniſhments, his Aſclepius! is plaine. Aſclep Dial.Of Regeneration who ſayes more then [Nemo ſervari poteſt ante nogenerationem,De regenerat. & ſilentio. & regenerationis generator eſt Dei filius, homo unus?] Of imputed Juſtice, with what Autor would he change this ſentence;De fato. [Juſtificati ſumus in Juſtitia abſente?] Of our corrupt will, and Gods providence he ſays, [Anima nostra relicta à Deo, eligit corpoream naturam; at electio ejus eſt ſecundùm providentiam19 Dei.] To ſay with Goropius, that there was no ſuch man, becauſe the publick pillars and ſtatues in which were engraved morall Inſtitutions were called Hermae, is improbable, to one who hath read Patricius his anſwers to him. And if it be true which Buntingus in his Chronology undiſputably aſſumes, that he was the Patriarch Joſeph, as alſo that Goropius confounds Zoroaſter and Japhet, then Moſes was not the firſt Author. But Hermes his naming of Italy,Minerva mundi. and the 12. Conſtellations in the Zodiaque, are Arguments and impreſſions of a later time. To unentangle our ſelvs in this perplexity, is more labour then profit, or perchance poſſibility. Therefore, as in violent tempeſts, when a ſhip dares bear no main ſayl, and to lie ſtil at hull, obeying the uncertain wind and tyde, puts them much out of their way, and altogether out of their account, it is beſt to put forth ſuch a ſmall ragg of ſail, as may keep the barke upright, and20 make her continue neer one place, though ſhe proceed not; So in this queſtion, where we cannot go forward to make Moſes the firſt Author, for many ſtrong oppoſitions, and to ly hulling upon the face of the waters, and think nothing, is a ſtupid and lazy inconſideration, which (as Saint Auſtin ſays) is the worſt of all affections,Rom. 1. our beſt firmament and arreſt will be that reverent, and pious, and reaſonable credulity, that God was Author of the firſt piece of theſe books, the Decalogue: and of ſuch Authors as God preordained to ſurvive all Philoſophers, and all Tyrants, and all Hereticks, and be the Canons of faith and manners to the worlds end, Moſes had the primacy. So that the Divine and learned book of Job, muſt be content to be diſpoſed to a later rank, (as indeed it hath ſomwhat a Greek taſte) or to accept Moſes for Author. For to confeſs, that it was found by Moſes in Madian, were to derogate from the other21 prerogative generally afforded to him. Epiſt. ad Paul. de lib. Divin.Here therefore I will temperatly end this inquiſition. Hierom tells me true, [Puerile est, & circulatorum ludo ſimile, docere quod ignores.] And beſides,Deu. 3 4 6. when I remember that it was God which hid Moſes's body;Jud. 1.5. And the Divell which laboured to reveal it, I uſe it thus, that there are ſome things which the Author of light hides from us, and the prince of darkneſs ſtrives to ſhew to us; but with no other light, then his firebrands of Contention, and curioſity.
Picus Earl of Mirandula (happier in no one thing in this life,S• John More. then in the the Author which writ it to us) being a man of an incontinent with, and ſubject to the concupiſcence of inacceſſible knowledges and tranſcendencies,In fine Heptaph. purſuing the rules of Cabal, out of the word Breſit, which is the title of this firſt Book, by vexing, and tranſpoſing, and anagrammatizing the letters, hath expreſs'd22 and wrung out this Sum of Chriſtian Religion [The Father, in and through the Son, which is the beginning, end, and reſt, created in a perfect league, the head, fire and foundation (which he calls Heaven, Air and Earth) of the great man] (which he calls the World.) And he hath not onely delivered Moſes form any diſſonance with other ſound Philoſophers, but hath obſerved all other Philoſophy in Moſes's words; and more, hath found all Moſes's learning in every verſe of Moſes. But ſince our merciful God hath afforded us the whole and intire book, why ſhould wee tear it into rags, or rent the ſeamleſs garment? Since the intention of God, through Moſes, in this, was, that it might be to the Jews a Book of the generation of Adam;Gen. 5.1. ſince in it is purpoſely propounded, That all this Univerſe, Plants, the chiefeſt contemplation of Naturall Philoſophie and Phyſick, and no ſmall part of the Wiſdom of Solomon,1 Reg. 4.33. [who ſpake of plants, from Cedar23 to Hyſſop:] And Beaſts, who have often the honour to be our reproach, accited for examples of vertue and wiſdome in the Scriptures, and ſome of them ſepoſed for the particular paſſive ſervice of God in Sacrifices (which hee gave to no man but his Son, and with held from Iſaac:) And Man, who (like his own eye) ſees all but himſelf, in his opinion, but ſo dimly, that there are marked an hundred differences in mens Writings concerning an Antw And Spirits, of whom we underſtand no more, then a horſe of us: and the receptacles and theaters of all theſe, Earth, Sea, Air, Heaven, and all things were once nothing: That Man chuſing his own deſtruction, did what he could to annihilate himſelf again, and yet received a promiſe of a Redeemer: That Gods mercy may not be diſtruſted, nor his Juſtice tempted, ſince the generall: Deluge, and Joſoph's preſervation are here related, filling an Hiſtory of more then 2300 yeers, with24 ſuch examples as might mollifie, the Jews in their wandering. I ſay, ſince this was directly and onely purpoſed by Moſes; to put him in a wine-preſſe, and ſqueeze out Philoſophy and particular Chriſtianitie, is a degree of that injuſtice, which all laws forbid, to torture a man, ſine indiciis aut ſemiprobationibus. Of the time when Moſes writ this booke, there are two opinions which have good guides, and good followers. I, becauſe to me it ſeems reaſonable and clear, that no Divine work preceded the Decalogue, have before engaged my ſelfe to accompany Chemnitius, who is perſwaded by Theodoret,Exam. Conc. Trid. Bede, and Reaſon (becauſe here is intimation of a Sabboth, and diſtinction of clean and unclean in beaſts,) that this book was written after the law; And leave Pererius, whom Euſebius hath won to thinke this booke was written in Madian, induc'd only by Moſes forty years leiſure there; and a likelihood, that this Story might25 well conduce to his end, of reclining the Jews from Egypt.
And thus much neceſſarily, or conveniently, or pardonably, may have been ſaid, before my Entrance, with out diſproportioning the whole work. For even in Solomon's magnificent Temple, the Porch to the Temple had the proportion of twenty Cubits to ſixty. Our next ſtep is upon the threſhold it ſelf, In the beginning, &c.
In the Beginning.IN the Beginning whereof,O onely Eternall God, of whoſe being, beginning, or laſting, this beginning is no period, nor meaſure; which art no Circle, for thou haſt no ends to cloſe up; which art not within this All, for it cannot comprehend thee; nor without it, for thou filleſt it; nor art it thy ſelf, for thou madeſt it; which having decreed from all eternity, to do thy great work of Mercy, our Redemption in the fulneſſe of time, didſt now create time it ſelfe to conduce to it; and madeſt thy glory and thy mercy equal thus, that though thy glorious work of Creation were firſt, thy mercifull work of Redemption was greateſt. Let me in thy beloved Servant Auguſtine's own words,Conf. li. c. 3. when with an27 humble boldneſſe he begg'd the underſtanding of this paſſage, ſay, Moſes writ this, but is gon from me to thee; if he were here, I would hold him, and beſeech him for thy ſake, to tell me what he meant. If he ſpake Hebrew, he would fruſtrate my hope; but if Latine, I ſhould comprehend him. But from whence ſhould I know that he ſaid true? Or when I knew it, came that knowledge from him? No, for within me, within me there is a truth, not Hebrew, nor Greek, nor Latin, nor barbarous; which without organs, without noyſe of Syllables, tels me true, and would enable me to ſay confidently to Moſes, Thou ſay'ſt true. Thus did he whom thou hadſt filled with faith, deſire reaſon and underſtanding; as men bleſt with great fortunes deſire numbers of ſervants, and other Complements of honour. But another inſtrument and engine of thine,Aq. 2. q. 46. A. 2. whom thou hadſt ſo enabled, that nothing was too28 minerall nor centrick for the ſearch and reach of his wit, hath remembred me; That it is an Article of our Belief, that the world began. And therefore for this point, we are not under the inſinuations and mollifyings of perſwaſion, and conveniency; nor under the reach and violence of Argument, or Demonſtration, or Neceſſity; but under the Spirituall, and peaceable Tyranny, and eaſie yoke of ſudden and preſent Faith. Nor doth he ſay this, that we ſhould diſcharge our ſelves upon his word, and ſlumber in a lazy faith; for no man was ever more endeavourous then he in ſuch inquiſitions; nor he in any, more then in this point. But after he had given anſwers to all the Arguments of reaſonable & naturall men, for a beginning of this world; to advance Faith duly above Reaſon, he aſſignes this with other myſteries only to her comprehenſion. For Reaſon is our Sword, Faith29 our Target. With that we prevail againſt others, with this we defend our ſelves: And old, well diſciplined Armies puniſhed more ſeverely the loſs of this, then that.
This word, In the beginning, is the beginning of this book, which we finde firſt placed of all the holy books; And alſo of the Goſpel by Saint John, which we know to be laſt written of all. But that laſt beginning was the firſt; for the Word was with God, before God created Heaven and. Earth. And Moſes his In the Beginning, hath ever been uſed powerfully, and proſperouſly, againſt Philoſophers and Hereticks relapſed into an opinion of the worlds eternity. But Saint John's In the Beginning, hath ever had ſtrength againſt the Author of all errour, the Divel himſelf, if we may beleeve the relations of exorciſts, who in their diſpoſſeſſings, mention ſtrange obediences of the Divell at the naked enunciation of that word. It is30 not then all one Beginning; for here God Did, there he Was. That confeſſes a limitation of time, this excludes it. Caninius Conc. To. 1. De Conc. Nic.The great Philoſopher, (whom I call ſo, rather for his Converſion, then his Arguments) who was Arius his Advocate at the firſt Nicene Councell, aſſign'd a beginning between theſe two beginnings; ſaying, that after John's eternal Beginning, & before Moſes's timely beginning, Chriſt had his beginning, being then created by God for an inſtrument in his generall Creation. But God forbid that any thing ſhould need to be ſaid againſt this, now. We therefore confeſſing two Beginnings, ſay, that this firſt was ſimul cum tempore, & that it is truly ſaid of it, Erat quando non erat, and that it inſtantly vaniſhed; and that the laſt Beginning laſts yet, and ever ſhall: And that our Mercifull God, as he made no Creature ſo frail and corruptible as the firſt Beginning, which being but the firſt point of time, dyed as ſoon as it was made, flowing31 into the next point; ſo though he made no creature like the laſt Beginning, (for if it had been as it, eternall, it had been no creature;) yet it pleaſed him to come ſo neer it, that our ſoul, though it began with that first Beginning, ſhall continue and ever laſt with the laſt. We may not diſſemble, nor dare reprove, nor would avoid another ordinary interpretation of this Beginning, becauſe it hath great and agreeing autority, and a conſonance with our faith: which is, that by the beginning here, is meant the Son our Savior; for that is elſewhere ſaid of him,Rev. 1.8. I am firſt and laſt, which is, and was, and is to come. And hereby they would eſtabliſh his coeternity, and conſubſtantialneſs, becauſe he can be no creature, who is preſent at the firſt Creation. But becauſe although to us, whom the Spirit hath made faithfully credulous, and filled us with an aſſurance of this truth, every conducing, and convenient application governs and commands our aſſent, becauſe32 it doth but remember us, not teach us. But to the Jews, who roundly deny this Expoſition, & to the Arians, who accept it, and yet call Chriſt a creature, as fore-created for an Aſſiſtant in this ſecond Creation; theſe detortions have ſmall force, but as Sun-beams ſtriking obliquely, or arrows diverted with a twig by the way, they leſſen their ſtrength, being turned upon another mark then they were deſtined to. And therefore by the Example of our late learned Reformers, I forbear this interpretation; the rather, becauſe we are utterly diſprovided of any hiſtory of the Worlds Creation, except we defend and maintain this Book of Moſes to be Hiſtorical, and therefore literally to be interpreted. Which I urge not with that peremptorineſſe, as Bellarmine doth,De Purg. l. 1. c. 15. who anſwers all the Arguments of Moſes's ſilence in many points maintained by that Church, with this only, Eſt liber Hiſtoriarum, non Dogmatum. For then it were unproperly argued by33 our Saviour, If ye believed Moſes, ye would believe me,John 5. for he writ of me. There is then in Moſes, both Hiſtory and Precept, but evidently diſtinguiſhable without violence. That then this Beginning was, is matter of faith, and ſo, infallible. When it was, is matter of reaſon, and therefore various and perplex'd. In the Epiſtle of Alexander the Great to his Mother, remembred by Cyprian and Auguſtin, there is mention of 8000. years. The Caldeans have delivered obſervations of 470000 years. And the Egyptians of 100000. The Chineſes vex us at this day, with irreconciliable accounts. And to be ſure, that none ſhall prevent them, ſome have call'd themſelves Aborigenes. The poor remedy of Lunary and other planetary years, the ſilly and contemptible eſcape that ſome Authors ſpeak of running years, ſome of years expired and perfected; or that the account of dayes and monthes are neglected, cannot eaſe us, nor34 afford us line enough to fathom this bottom. The laſt refuge uſes to be, that prophane hiſtory cannot clear, but Scripture can. Which is the beſt,Bib. Sanct. l. 5. becauſe it is halfe true; But that the later part is true, or that God purpoſed to reveal it in his Book, it ſeems doubtfull, becauſe Sextus Senenſis reckons almoſt thirty ſeverall ſupputations of the years between the Creation, and our bleſſed Saviours birth, all of accepted Authors, grounded upon the Scriptures; and Pererius confeſſes, he might have encreaſed the number by 20. And they who in a devout melancholy delight themſelves with this Meditation, that they can aſſigne the beginning of all Arts which we uſe for Neceſſity or Ornament; and conclude, that men which cannot live without ſuch, were not long before ſuch inventions, forget both that many Nations want thoſe commodities yet, & that there are as great things periſh'd and forgoten, as are now remaining. Truly, the35 Creation and the laſt Judgement, are the Diluculum and Crepuſculum, the Morning and the Evening twi-lights of the long day of this world. Which times, though they be not utterly dark, yet they are but of uncertain, doubtfull, and conjecturall light. Yet not equally; for the break of the day, becauſe it hath a ſucceſſion of more and more light, is clearer then the ſhutting in, which is overtaken with more and more darkneſſe; ſo is the birth of the world more diſcernable then the death, becauſe upon this God hath caſt more clouds: yet ſince the world in her firſt infancy did not ſpeak to us at all (by any Authors;) and when ſhe began to ſpeak by Moſes, ſhe ſpake not plain, but diverſly to divers underſtandings; we muſt return again to our ſtrong hold, faith, and end with this, That this Beginning was, and before it, Nothing. It is elder then darkneſſe, which is elder then light; And was before Confuſion, which is elder36 then Order, by how much the univerſall Chaos preceded forms and diſtinctions. A beginning ſo near Eternity, that there was no Then, nor a minite of Time between them. Of which, Eternity could never ſay, To morrow, nor ſpeak as of a future thing, becauſe this Beginning was the firſt point of time, before which, whatſoever God did, he did it unceſſantly and unintermittingly; which was but the generation of the Son, and proceſſion of the Spirit, and enjoying one another; Things, which if ever they had ended, had begun; And thoſe be terms incompatible with Eternity. And therefore Saint Auguſtin ſays religiouſly and examplarily,Conf. l. 11. cap. 12. If one ask me what God did before this beginning, I will not anſwer, as another did merrily, He made Hell for ſuch buſie inquirers: But I will ſooner ſay, I know not, when I know not, then anſwer that, by which he ſhall be deluded which asked too high a Myſtery, and he be prayſed, which anſwered a lie.
NOw we have ended our Conſideration of this beginning, we will begin with that, which was before it, and was Author of it, God himſelf; and bend our thoughts firſt upon himſelf, then upon his Name, and then upon the particular Name here uſed, Elohim.
Men which ſeek God by reaſon, and naturall ſtrength, (though we do not deny common notions and generall impreſſions of a ſoveraign power) are like Mariners which voyaged before the invention of the Compaſs, which were but Coſters, and unwillingly left the ſight of the land. Such are they which would arrive at God by this world, and contemplate him onely in his Creatures, and ſeeming Demonſtration. Certainly, every Creature ſhewes God, as a glaſs, but glimeringly and tranſitiorily, by the frailty both of38 the receiver, and beholder: Our ſelves have his Image, as Medals, permanently and preciouſly delivered. But by theſe meditations we get no further, then to know what he doth, not what he is. But as by the uſe of the Compaſs, men ſafely diſpatch Ʋlyſſes dangerous ten years travell in ſo many dayes, and have found out a new world richer then the old; ſo doth Faith, as ſoon as our hearts are touched with it, direct and inform it in that great ſearch of the diſcovery of Gods Eſſence, and the new Hieruſalem, which Reaſon durſt not attempt. And though the faithfulleſt heart is not ever directly, & conſtantly upon God, but that it ſomtimes deſcends alſo to Reaſon; yet it is thereby ſo departed from him, but that it ſtill looks towards him, though not fully to him: as the Compaſs is ever Northward, though it decline, and have often variations towards Eaſt, and Weſt. By this faith, as by reaſon, I know, that God is all that which all men can ſay39 of all Good; I beleeve he is ſomewhat which no man can ſay nor know. For, ſi ſcirem quid Deus eſſet, Deus eſſem. For all acquired knowledg is by degrees, and ſucceſſive; but God is impartible, and only faith which can receive it all at once, can comprehend him. Canſt thou then, O my ſoul, when faith hath extended and enlarged thee, not as wind doth a bladder (which is the nature of humane learning) but as God hath diſplaid the Curtain of the firmament, and more ſpacionſly; for thou comprehendeſt that, and him which comprehends it: Canſt thou be ſatisfied with ſuch a late knowledg of God, as is gathered from effects; when even reaſon, which feeds upon the crums and fragments of appearances and veriſimilitudes, requires cauſes? Canſt thou rely and leane upon ſo infirm a knowledg, as is delivered by negations? Dyon. 2. ca. Coel. Hierar.And becauſe a devout ſpeculative man hath ſaid, Negationes de Deo ſunt verae, affirmationes autem ſunt inconvenientes, will it ſerve thy turn,40 to hear, that God is that which cannot be named, cannot be comprehended, or which is nothing elſe? When every negation implyes ſome privation, which cannot be ſafely enough admitted in God; and is, beſides, ſo inconſiderable a kind of proofe, that in civill and judicall practice, no man is bound by it, nor bound to prove it. Can it give thee any ſatisfaction, to hear God called by concrete names, Good, Juſt, Wiſe; ſince theſe words can never be without confeſſing better, wiſer, and more juſt? Or if he be called Beſt, &c. or in ſuch phraſe, the higheſt degree reſpects ſome lower, and mean one: and are thoſe in God? Or is there any Creature, any Degree of that Beſt, by which we ſhould call God? Or art thou got any neerer, by hearing him called Abſtractly, Goodneſs; ſince that, and ſuch, are communicable, and daily applied to Princes? Art thou delighted with Arguments ariſing from Order, and Subordination41 of Creatures, which muſt at laſt end in ſome one, which ends in none? Or from the preſervation of all this Univerſe, when men which have not had faith, and have oppoſed reaſon to reaſon, have eſcaped from all theſe, without confeſſing ſuch a God, as thou knoweſt; at leaſt, without ſeeing thereby, what he is? Have they furthered, or eaſed thee any more, who not able to conſider whole and infinit God, have made a particular God, not only of every power of God, but of every benefit? And ſo filled the world (which our God alone doth better) with ſo many, that Varro could account 30000. and of them 300 Jupiters. Out of this proceeded Dea febris, and Dea fraus, and Tenebris, and Onions, and Garlike. For the Egyptians, moſt abundant in Idolatry, were from thence ſaid to have Gods grow in their gardens. Apol. l. 5. And Tertullian, noting that Gods became mens Creatures, ſaid, Homo incipit eſſe propitius Deo, becauſe42 Gods were beholden to men for their being. And thus did a great Greek Generall, when he preſſed the Ilanders for mony, tell them, that he preſented two Gods, Vim & Suaſionem; and conformably to this they anſwered, that they oppoſed two Gods, Paupertatem & Impoſſibilitatem. And this multiplicity of Gods may teach thee, that the reſultance of all theſe powers is one God, and that no place nor action is hid from him: but it teacheth not, who, nor what he is. And too particular and reſtrain'd are all thoſe deſcents of God in his word, when he ſpeaks of a body, and of paſſions, like ours. And ſuch alſo is their reverend ſilence, who have expreſſed God in Hieroglyphicks, ever determining in ſome one power of God, without larger extent. And laſtly, can thy great capacity be fulfilled with that knowledg, which the Roman Church affords of God? which, as though the ſtate of a Monarchy were too terrible, and refulgent for our ſight, hath changed the43 Kingdome of heaven into an Olygarchy; or at leaſt, given God leaſure, and deputed Maſters of his Requeſts, and Counſellers in his great Starr-chamber? Thou ſhalt not then, O my faithfull ſoul, deſpiſe any of theſe erroneous pictures, thou ſhalt not deſtroy, nor demoliſh their buildings; but thou ſhalt not make them thy foundation. For thou beleeveſt more then they pretend to teach, and art aſſur'd of more then thou canſt utter. For if thou couldeſt expreſs all which thou ſeeſt of God, there would be ſomthing preſently beyond that. Not that God growes, but faith doth. For, God himſelf is ſo unutterable, that he hath a name which we cannot pronounce.
Names are either to avoid confuſion, and diſtinguiſh particulars, and ſo every day begetting new inventions, and the names often overliving the things, curious44 and entangled Wits have vexed themſelves to know, whether in the world there were more things or names;) But ſuch a name, God who is one needs not; Or elſe, names are to inſtruct us, and expreſs natures and eſſences. This Adam was able to do. And an enormous pretending Wit of our nation and age undertook to frame ſuch a language, herein exceeding Adam, that whereas he named every thing by the moſt eminent and virtuall property, our man gave names, by the firſt naked enuntiation whereof, any underſtanding ſhould comprehend the eſſence of the thing, better then by a definition. And ſuch a name, we who know not Gods eſſence cannot give him. So that it is truly ſaid,Aq. 1. q. 13. Ar. 1. there is no name given by man to God, Ejus eſſentiam adaequatè repreſentans. And Hermes ſays humbly and reverently,Dial. Aſ. clep. Non ſpero, I cannot hope, that the maker of all Majeſty, can be call'd by any one name, though compounded of many. I have45 therfore ſometimes ſuſpected, that there was ſome degree of pride, and overboldneſs, in the firſt naming of God; the rather, becauſe I marke, that the firſt which ever pronounced the name,Gen. 3.1. God, was the Divell; and preſently after the woman;Gen. 4.1. who in the next chapter proceeded further, and firſt durſt pronounce that ſacred any myſtick name of foure letters. Gen. 32.29.For when an Angell did but Miniſterially repreſent God wraſtling with Jacob, he reproves Jacob, for asking his name; Cur quaeris nomen meum? And ſo alſo to Manoah, Why askeſt thou my Name, quod eſt mirabile? Jud. 13.18.And God, to dignify that Angell which he promiſes to lead his people, ſays, Fear him, provoke him not,Exod. 23.20. &c. For my Name is in him; but he tels them not what it is. But ſince, neceſſity hath enforced, and Gods will hath revealed ſome names. For in truth, we could not ſay this, God cannot be named, except God could be named. To handle the Myſteries46 of theſe names, is not for the ſtraitneſs of theſe leaves, nor of my ſtock. But yet I will take from Picus,Proem. in Heptap. thoſe words which his extream learning needed not, Ex lege, ſpicula linquuntur pauperibus in meſſe, the richeſt and learnedſt muſt leave gleanings behind them. Omitting therefore Gods attributes, Eternity, Wiſdom, and ſuch; and his Names communicable with Princes, and ſuch; there are two Names proper, and expreſſing his Eſſence: One impoſed by us, God; The other taken by God, the Name of four letters; for the Name, Lam, is derived from the ſame root. The Name impoſed by us, comes ſo near the other, that moſt Nations expreſs it in four letters; and the Turk almoſt as Miſtically as the Hebrew, in Abgd, almoſt in effably: And hence perchance was derived the Pythagorean oath, by the number of four. And in this alſo, that though it be given from Gods Works, not from his Eſſence, (for that is impoſſible47 to us) yet the root ſignifies all this, Curare, Ardere,Aq. 1. q. 13. Ar. 8. and Conſiderare; and is purpoſed and intended to ſignifie as much the Eſſence, as we can expreſs; and is never afforded abſolutely to any but God himſelf. And therefore Aquinas, after he had preferred the Name I am, above all,Ar. 11. both becauſe others were from formes, this from Eſſence; they ſignified ſome determined and limited property, this whole and entire God; and this beſt expreſſed, that nothing was paſt, nor future to God; he adds, yet the Name, God, is more proper then this, and the Name of four letters more then that.
Tetragr. Reuclin. de verbo. Mirifico. l. 1. c. 6. 2 Pet. 1.4.Of which Name one ſays, that as there is a ſecret property by which we are changed into God, (referring, I think, to that, We are made partakers of the godly nature) ſo God hath a certain name, to which he hath annexed certain conditions, which being obſerved, he hath bound himſelf to be preſent. This is the Name, which48 the Jews ſtubbornly deny ever to have been attributed to the Meſſias in the Scriptures. This is the name, which they ſay none could utter, but the prieſts, and that the knowledg of it periſhed with the Temple. And this is the name by which they ſay our Bleſſed Saviour did all his miracles, having learned the true uſe of it, by a Scedule which he found of Solomon's, and that any other, by that means, might do them.
How this name ſhould be ſounded, is now upon the anvile,Jehovah. and every body is beating and hammering upon it. That it is not Jehova, this governs me, that the Septuagint never called it ſo; Nor Chriſt; nor the Apoſtles, where they vouch the old Teſtament; Nor Origen, nor Hierome, curious in language. And though negatives have ever their infirmities, and muſt not be built on, this may, that our Fathers heard not the firſt ſound of this word Jehova. For (for any thing appearing,) Galatinus, in their Age, was the49 firſt that offered it. For, that Hierome ſhould name it in the expoſition of the eighth Pſalm,De Noie Tetrag. it is peremptorily averred by Druſius, and admitted by our learnedſt Doctor, that in the old Editions it was not Jehova. Rainolds de Idol. 2, 2, 18.But more then any other reaſon, this doth accompliſh & perfect the opinion againſt that word, that whereas that language hath no naturall vowels inſerted, but points ſubjected of the value and ſound of our vowels, added by the Maſorits, the Hebrew Criticks, after Eſdras; and therefore they obſerve a neceſſity of ſuch a naturall and infallible concurrence of conſonants, that when ſuch and ſuch conſonants meet, ſuch and ſuch vowels muſt be imagined, and ſounded, by which they have an Art of reading it without points; by thoſe rules,Genebr. de leg. Orient. ſiuepunctis. thoſe vowels cannot ſerve thoſe Conſonants, nor the name Jehova be built of thoſe four letters, and the vowels of Adonay.
Elohim.
Of the name uſed in this place,50 much needs not. But as old age is juſtly charged with this ſickneſs, that though it abound, it ever covets, though it need leſs then youth did: ſo hath alſo this decrepit age of the world ſuch a ſickneſs; for though we have now a clearer underſtanding of the Scriptures then former times, (for we inherit the talents and travels of al Expoſitors, and have overlived moſt of the prophecies,) and though the groſs thick clouds of Arianiſm be diſperſed, and ſo we have few enemies; yet we affect, and ſtrain at more Arguments for the Trinity, then thoſe times did, which needed them more. Hereupon hath an opinion, that by this name of God, Elohim, becauſe it is plurally pronounced in this place, and with a ſingular verbe, the Trinity is inſinuated, firſt of any begun by Peter Lumbard,L. 1. Sent. Diſt. 2. been ſince earneſtly purſued by Lyra, Galatin, and very many And becauſe Calvin, in a brave religious ſcorn of this extortion, and beggarly wreſting of Scriptures,51 denyes this place, with others uſually offered for that point, to concern it, and his defender Paraeus denyes any good Author to approve it, Hunnius oppoſes Luther, and ſome after,Antipar. fo. 9. but none before, to be of that opinion. But, leſt any ſhould think this a prevarication in me, or a purpoſe to ſhew the nakedneſs of the Fathers of our Church, by opening their diſagreeing, though in no fundamentall thing, I will alſo remember, that great pillars of the Roman Church differ with as much bitterneſs, and leſs reaſon in this point. For, when Cajetan had ſaid true, that this place was not ſo interpretable, but yet upon falſe grounds, That the word Elohim had no ſingular,Eloah. Job. 2. & 36. which is evidently falſe, Catharinus in his Animadverſions upon Cajetan, reprehends him bitterly for his truth, and ſpies not his Errour: And though Toſtatus long before ſaid the ſame, and Lumbard were the firſt that writ the contrary, he52 denies any to have been of Cajetan's opinion. It ſatisfies me, for the phraſe, that I am taught by collation of many places in the Scriptures, that it is a meer Idiotiſm. And for the matter, that our Saviour never applyed this place to that purpoſe: And that I mark, the firſt place which the Fathers in the Nicen Councel objected againſt Arius his Philoſopher, was, Faciamus hominem, and this never mentioned. Thus much of him, who hath ſaid, I have been found by them which have not ſought me:Iſa. 65. And therefore moſt aſſuredly in another place, If thou ſeek me, thou ſhalt finde me. I have adventured in his Name, upon his Name. Our next conſideration muſt be his moſt glorious worke which he hath yet done in any time, the Creation.
MƲndum tradidit diſputationi eorum,Sirac. 3.11 ut non inveniat homo opus quod operatus eſt Deus ab initio uſque ad finem. So that God will be glorified both in our ſearching theſe Myſteries, becauſe it teſtifies our livelineſs towards him, and in our not finding them. Lawyers, more then others, have ever been Tyrants over words, and have made them accept other ſignifications, then their nature enclined to. Hereby have Caſuiſts drawn the word Anathema, which is conſecrated or ſeparated, and ſeparated or ſepoſed for Divine uſe, to ſignify neceſſarily accurſed, and cut off from the communion of the Church. Hereby Criminiſts have commanded Hereſie, which is but election, (and thereupon Paul gloryed to be of the ſtricteſt Hereſie, a Phariſee;Act. 6.5.) and the Scepticks were deſpiſed, becauſe they were of no Hereſie) to undertakeLaert.54 a capitall and infamous ſignification. Hereby alſo the Civiliſts have dignified the word Priviledge,Acacius de Privil. l. 1. cap. 1. whoſe ancienteſt meaning was, a law to the diſadvantage of any private man (and ſo Cicero ſpeaks of one baniſhed by priviledg, and lays the names, cruel and capitall upon Priviledg) and appointed it to expreſs only the favours and graces of Princes. Schoolmen, which have invented new things, and found out, or added Suburbs to Hell, will not be exceeded in this boldneſs upon words. As therefore in many other, ſo they have practiſed it in this word creare: which being but of an even nature with facere, or producere, they have laid a neceſſity upon it to ſignifie a Making of Nothing;Scot. 2. Sent. Diſt. 1. q. 5. Pererius. For ſo is Creation defined. But in this place neither the Hebrew nor Greek word afford it; neither is it otherwiſe then indifferently uſed in the holy books. Somtimes of things of a preexiſtent matter, He created man of Earth,Sirach. 17.1. and he created him a helper out of himſelf. 55Sometimes of things but then revealed, They are created now,Iſa. 48.7. and not of old. Sometimes of that, whereof God is neither Creator, nor Maker, nor Concurrent, as of Evill; faciens Pacem,Iſa. 45.5. & creans malum: And ſometimes of that which was neither created nor made by God, nor any other, as darkneſs, which is but privation; formans bucem,Iſa. 54.7. & creans tenebras. And the firſt that I can obſerve to have taken away the liberty of this word, and made it to ſignify, of Nothing,Aq. 1. q. 45 ar. 1. is our countryman Bede upon this place. For Saint Auguſtin was as oppoſite and diamitrall againſt it,Aug. contr. adverſ. leg. & proph. as it is againſt truth. For he ſays, facere eſt quod omnino non erat; creare verò eſt, ex eo quod jam erat educendo conſtituere. Truly, it is not the power and victory of reaſon, that evicts the world to be made of Nothing; for neither this word creare inforces it, nor is it expreſsly ſaid ſo in any Scripture. When Paul ſays himſelf to be Nothing,1 Cor. 22.11. it is but a diminution56 on and Extenuation (not of himſelf, for he ſays there, I am not inferior to the very chief of the Apoſtles, but) of Mankind. Where it is ſaid to Man, Your making is of Nothing, it is but a reſpective, and comparative undervaluing;Iſa. 41.24. as in a lower deſcent then that before, All Nations before God are leſs then Nothing. Iſa. 40.17.As in another place by a like extreme extending it is ſaid, Deus regnabit in aeternum & ultra:Ex. 15.18. Only it is once ſaid,Machab. 2.7.28. Ex nihilo fecit omnia Deus; but in a book of no ſtraight obligation (if the matter needed authority) and it is alſo well tranſlated by us, Of things which were not. But therefore we may ſpare Divine Authority, and eaſe our faith too, becauſe it is preſent to our reaſon. For, Omitting the quarelſome contending of Sextus Empiricus the Pyrrhonian, (of the Author of which ſect Laertius ſays, that he handled Philoſophy bravely, having invented a way by which a man ſhould determine nothing of every thing)57 who with his Ordinary weapon, a two-edged ſword, thinks he cuts off all Arguments againſt production of Nothing, by this, Non fit quod jam eſt, Nec quod non eſt;Ca. de Ortu & interit. nam non patitur mutationem quod non eſt; And omitting thoſe Idolaters of Nature, the Epicureans, who pretending a mannerly lothneſs to trouble God, becauſe Nec bene promeritis capitur,Lucret. nec tangitur ira, indeed out of their pride are loth to be beholden to God, ſay, that we are ſick of the fear of God,Horace. Quo morbo mentem concuſſe? Timore Deorum; And cannot therefore admit creation of Nothing, becauſe then Nil ſemine egeret, but ferre omnes omnia poſſent, And ſubitò exorirentur, incerto ſpacio,Lucret. with ſuch other dotages. To make our approches nearer, and batter effectually, let him that will not confeſs this Nothing, aſſign ſomthing of which the world was made. If it be of it ſelf, it is God: and it is God, if it be of God; who is alſo ſo ſimple, that it is impoſſible58 to imagine any thing before him of which he ſhould be compounded, or any workman to do it. Boet. de Conſol. 5. proſ. 6. For to ſay, as one doth, that the world might be eternall, and yet not be God, becauſe Gods eternity is all at once, and the worlds ſucceſſive, will not reconcile it; for yet, ſome part of the world muſt be as old as God, and infinite things are equall, and equalls to God are God. The greateſt Dignity which we can give this world, is, that the Idaea of it is eternall, and was ever in God: And that he knew this world, not only Scientiâ Intellectus, by which he knows things which ſhall never be, and are in his purpoſe impoſſible, though yet poſſible and contingent to us; but, after failing, become alſo to our knowledg impoſſible, (as it is yet poſſible that you will read this book thorow now, but if you diſcontinue it (which is in your liberty) it is then impoſſible to your knowledge, and was ever ſo to Gods;) but alſo Scientiâ Viſionis,59 by which he knows only infallible things; and therefore theſe Idaeas and eternall impreſſions in God, may boldly be ſaid to be God; for nothing underſtands God of it ſelf, but God; and it is ſaid, Intellectae Jynges à patre,Zoroaſt. Oracul. 4. intelligunt & ipſae: And with Zoroaſter (if I miſconceive not) Jynx is the ſame as Idaea with Plato. The eternity of theſe Idaeas wrought ſo much, and obtained ſo high an eſtimation with Scotus, that he thinks them the Eſſence of this world, and the Creation was but their Exiſtence; which Reaſon and Scaliger reprehend roundly, when they do but ask him, whether the Creation were only of accidents.
But becauſe all which can be ſaid hereof is cloudy, and therefore apt to be miſ-imagined, and ill interpreted, for, obſcurum loquitur quiſque ſuo perieulo, I will turn to certain and evident things; And tell thee, O man, which art ſaid to be the Epilogue, and compendium of all this world, and the60 Hymen and Matrimoniall knot of Eternal and Mortall things, whom one ſays to be all Creatures,Picus. becauſe the Goſpel, of which onely man is capable, is ſent to be preached to all Creatures;Mar. 16. And waſt made by Gods hands, not his commandment; and haſt thy head erected to heaven, and all others to the Center; that yet only thy heart of all others, points downwards, and onely trembles. And, oh ye chief of men, ye Princes of the Earth, (for to you eſpecially it is ſaid, Terram dedit filiis hominum; for the ſons of God have the leaſt portion thereof; And you are ſo Princes of the Earth, as the Divell is Prince of the Air, it is given to you to raiſe ſtorms of warr and perſecution) know ye by how few deſcents ye are derived from Nothing? you are the Children of the Luſt and Excrements of your parents, they and theirs the Children of Adam, the child of durt, the child of Nothing. Yea, our ſoul, which we magnify ſo much, and by61 which we conſider this, is a veryer upſtart then our body, being but of the firſt head, and immediately made of Nothing: for how many ſouls hath this world, which were not nothing a hundred years ſince? And of whole man compounded of Body and Soul, the beſt, and moſt ſpirituall and delicate parts, which are Honour and Pleaſure, have ſuch a neighbourhood and alliance with Nothing, that they lately were Nothing, and even now when they are, they are Nothing, or at leaſt ſhall quickly become Nothing: which, even at the laſt great fire, ſhall not befall the moſt wretched worme, nor moſt abject grain of duſt: for that fire ſhall be a purifier, not conſumer to nothing. For to be Nothing, is ſo deep a curſe, and high degree of puniſhment, that Hell and the priſoners there, not only have it not, but cannot wiſh ſo great a loſs to themſelves, nor ſuch a fruſtrating of Gods purpoſes. Even in Hell, where if our mind could62 contract and gather together all the old perſecutions of the firſt Church, where men were tormented with exquiſite deaths, and oftentimes more, by being denyed that; And all the inhumanities of the Inquiſition, where repentance encreaſeth the torture, (for they dy alſo, and loſe the comfort of perſeverance;) And all the miſeries which the miſtakings, and furies, and ſloth of Princes, and infinity and corroſiveneſs of officers, the trechery of women, and bondage of reputation hath laid upon mankind, ſince it was, and diſtil the poyſon and ſtrength of all theſe, and throw it upon one ſoul, it would not equall the torment of ſo much time as you ſound one ſyllable. And for the laſting, if you take as many of Plato's years, as a million of them hath minutes, and multiply them by Clavius his number, which expreſſes how many ſands would fill the hollowneſs to the firſt Mover,In Sacroboſ. you were ſo far from proceeding towards the end, that63 you had not deſcribed one minute. In Hell, I ſay, to eſcape which, ſome have prayed to have hils fall upon them, and many horrours ſhadowed in the Scriptures and Fathers, none is ever ſaid to have wiſhed himſelf Nothing. Indeed, as repoſedly, and at home within himſelf no man is an Atheiſt, however he pretend it, and ſerve the company with his braveries (as Saint Auguſtine ſayes of himſelf,Conf. l. 2. cap. 3. that though he knew nothing was blameable but vice, yet he ſeemed vicious, leſt he ſhould be blameable; and fain'd falſe vices when he had not true, leſt he ſhould be deſpiſed for his innocency;) ſo it is impoſſible that any man ſhould wiſh himſelf Nothing: for we can deſire nothing but that which ſeems ſatisfactory, and better to us at that time; and whatſoever is better, is ſomething. Doth, or can any man wiſh that, of which, if it were granted, he ſhould, even by his wiſhing it, have no ſenſe, nor benefit? To ſpeak truth freely64 there was no ſuch Nothing as this before the beginning: for, he that hath refin'd all the old Definitions, hath put this ingredient Creabile, (which cannot be abſolutely nothing) into his Definition of Creation:Piccolomin. Defin. Creat. And that Nothing which was, we cannot deſire; for mans will is not larger then Gods power; and ſince Nothing was not a pre-exiſtent matter, nor mother of this All, but onely a limitation when any thing began to be; how impoſſible is it to return to that firſt point of time, ſince God (if it imply contradiction) cannot reduce yeſterday? Of this we will ſay no more; for this Nothing being no creature, is more incomprehenſible then all the reſt: but we will proceed to that which is All, Heaven and Earth.
ONe ſayes in admiration of the ſpirit and ſublimeneſſe of Abbot Joachim his Works,Picus. that he thinks he had read the Book of life. Such an acquaintance as that ſhould he need, who would worthily expound or comprehend theſe words, Heaven and Earth. And Francis George in his Harmony ſayes, That after he had curiouſly obſerved, that the Ark of Noah, and our body had the ſame proportion and correſpondency in their parts, he was angry, when he found after, that St Auguſtine had found out that before. So natural is the diſeaſe of Meum & Tuum to us, that even contemplative men, which have abandon'd temporall propriety, are delighted, and have their Complacentiam, in having their ſpirituall Meditations and inventions knowne to be theirs: for, qui velit ingenio66 cedere, rarus erit. But becauſe to ſuch as I, who are but Interlopers, not ſtaple Merchants, nor of the company, nor within the commiſſion of Expoſitors of the Scriptures, if any licence be granted by the Spirit to diſcover and poſſeſſe any part, herein, it is condition'd and qualified as the Commiſſions of Princes, that we attempt not any part actually poſſeſſ'd before, nor diſſeiſe others; therefore of theſe words, ſo abundantly handled, by ſo many, ſo learned, as no place hath been more traded to, I will expoſitorily ſay nothing, but onely a little refreſh, what others have ſaid of them, and then contemplate their immenſity. Al opinions about theſe words, whether of Men too ſupple and ſlack, and ſo miſcarried with the ſtreame and tide of elder Authority; or too narrow and ſlaviſh, and ſo coaſting ever within the view and protection of Philoſophy; or too ſingular, and ſo diſdaining all beaten paths, may fall within one of theſe expoſitions. 67Either in theſe words Moſes delivers roundly the intire Creation of all, and after doth but dilate and declare the Order; which is uſually aſſign'd to Chryſoſtome and Baſil, govern'd by the words in Gen. 2.4. In the day that the Lord God made the Earth and the Heavens; and of theſe, He that liveth for ever made all things together;Sirach. 18.1. and becauſe the literall interpretation of ſucceſsive dayes cannot ſubſiſt, where there are ſome dayes mention'd before the Creation of theſe Planets which made dayes. Or elſe, (which Auguſtine authorizeth) the Heaven ſignifies Angels, and the Earth Materiam primam, out of which all things were produc'd; which Averroes hath call'd Id ens quod mediat inter non eſſe penitus,In 1o Phyſ. 70. & eſſe Actu. And another hath afforded it a definition, which Divines have denied to God: for he ſays, Eſt nullum praedicamentum,Ariſt. 7. Met. Piccolom. de Defin. Mat. primae neque Negatio. And therfore that late Italian Diſtiller and Sublimer of old definitions hath riddled upon68 it, That it is firſt and laſt; immortall and periſhable; formed and formeleſſe; One, four, and infinite; Good, bad, and neither; becauſe it is ſuſceptible of all formes, and changeable into all. Or elſe Heaven muſt mean that Coelum Empyraeum (which ſome have thought to be increate, and nothing but the refulgence of God) which is exempt from all alteration even of motion; and the Earth to deſigne the firſt Matter. And in this channell came the tide of almoſt all accepted Expoſitors, till later ages ſomwhat diverted it. For with, and ſince Lyra, (of whom his Apologiſt Dornike ſayes, Dilirat qui cum Lyra non ſentit) they agree much, that Heaven and Earth in this place, is the ſame which it is now; And that the ſubſtantiall forms were preſently in it diſtinctly, but other accidentall properties added ſucceſſively. And therfore Aquinas having found ▪ danger in theſe words,1. q. 65. Ar. 1. Praeceſſit informitas materiae ejus formationem,69 expounds it, Ornatum, not formam. So that this Heaven and Earth, being themſelves and all between them, is this World; the common houſe and City of Gods and men, in Cicero's words;Nat. Deor. 2. and the corporeal and viſible image and ſon of the inviſible God, in the deſcription of the Academicks: which being but one, (for Ʋniverſum eſt omnia verſa in unum) hath been the ſubject of Gods labor, and providence, and delight, perchance almoſt ſix thouſand yeares; whoſe uppermoſt firſt moving Orbe is too ſwift for our thoughts to overtake, if it diſpatch in every hour three thouſand times the compaſs of the Earth,Gilbert. de Magn. l. 6. c. 3. and this exceeds fifteen thouſand miles. In whoſe firmament are ſcattered more Eyes (for our uſe, not their owne) then any Cyphers can eſteeme or expreſſe. For, how weake a ſtomack to digeſt knowledge, or how ſtrong and miſgovern'd faith againſt common ſenſe hath he, that is content to reſt in their70 number of 1022 Stars? whoſe nearer regions are illuſtrated with the Planets, which work ſo effectually upon man, that they have often ſtop'd his further ſearch, and been themſelves by him deified; And whoſe navell, this Earth, which cannot ſtir, for every other place is upwards to it, and is under the water, yet not ſurrounded, and is mans priſon and pallace, yea man himſelf, (for terra eſt quam calco,Conf. 12. & terra quam porto, ſays Auguſtin:) A world, which when God had made, he ſaw it was very good; and when it became very bad, becauſe we would not repent, he did: and more then once; for he repented that he made it, and then that he deſtroyed it; becoming for our ſakes, who were unnaturally conſtant (though in ſinning) unnaturally changeable in affection: And when we diſ-eſteemed his benefits, and uſed not this world aright, but rather choſe Hell, he, to dignify his own work, left Heaven it ſelf, to paſs a life in this71 world: Of the glory of which, and the inhabitants of it, we ſhall beſt end in the words of Sirach's Son, When we have ſpoken much,Ch. 43.27. we cannot attain unto them; but the ſum of all is, that God is all. But becauſe, as the ſame man ſays, When a man hath done his beſt,Cha. 18.6. he muſt begin again; and when he thinks to come to an end, he muſt go again to his labour; let us further conſider what love we may bear to the world: for, to love it too much, is to love it too little; as overprayſing is a kind of libelling. For a man may oppreſs a favorite or officer with ſo much commendation, as the Prince neglected and diminiſhed thereby, may be jealous, and ruine him. Ambaſſadours in their firſt acceſſes to Princes, uſe not to apply themſelves, nor divert their eye upon any, untill they have made their firſt Diſpatch, and find themſelves next the Prince; and after acknowledg and reſpect the beams of his Majeſty in the beauties and dignities of the reſt. So ſhould72 our ſoul do, between God, and his Creatures; for what is there in this world immediately and primarily worthy our love, which (by acceptation) is worthy the love of God? Earth and Heaven are but the foot-ſtool of God: But Earth it ſelf is but the football of wiſe men. How like a Strumpet deales this world with the Princes of it? Every one thinks he poſſeſſeth all, and his ſervants have more at her hand then he; and theirs, then they. They think they compaſs the Earth, and a Job is not within their reach. Malaguzzi. Theſo. Polit. par. 2. fo. 60. A buſie Wit hath taken the pains to ſurvey the poſſeſſions of ſome Princes: & he tels us, that the Spaniſh King hath in Europe almoſt three hundred thouſand miles, and in the new world ſeaven millions, beſides the borders of Africk, and all his Ilands: And we ſay, the Sun cannot hide himſelf from his Eye, nor ſhine out of his Dominions. Yet let him meaſure right, and the Turke exceeds him, and him the Perſian;73 the Tartar him, and him Prete-Jan. There came an Edict from the Emperour (ſaith the Goſpel) that the whole world ſhould be taxed:Luk. 2.1. And when the Biſhop of Rome is covetous of one treaſure, and expenſive of another, he gives and applies to ſome one the Indulgences Ʋrbis & Orbis. And alas, how many greater Kingdomes are there in the world, which know not that there is ſuch a Biſhop or Emperour? Ambition reſts not there: The Turke, and leſs Princes, have ſtiled themſelves King of Kings, and Lord of Lords, and choſen to God. Chriſtian Princes, in no impure times, have taken (nay given to themſelves)aaJuſtinian. Proem. Numen noſtrum, andbbAcacius l. 1. c. 6. Caſſā. Cat. glo. Mud. P. 5. Conſ. 24.50. Divina Oracula, and Sacra Scripta to their Laws. Of them alſo ſome ſpeak ſo tremblingly, that they ſay, to diſpute their Actions is ſacriledg. And theirccDe nova forma fidelit. c. 1. Extra Jo. 22. ca. cum Intergloſſ. Baldus ſays of him, Eſt omnia, & ſuper omnia, & facit ut Deus; habet enim coeleſte arbitrium. But more roundly the Canoniſts of74 their Biſhop, Qui negat Dominum Deum noſtrum Papam, &c. which title the Emperour Conſtantine alſo long before afforded him. Diſtin. 96. l. Satis. And Martial to Domitian, l. 8.2. But alas, what are theſe our fellow-ants, our fellow-durt, our fellow-nothings, compared to that God whom they make but their pattern? And how little have any of theſe, compared to the whole Earth? whoſe hills, though they erect their heads beyond the Country of Meteors, and ſet their foot, in one land, and caſt their ſhadow into another, are but as warts upon our face: And her vaults, and caverns, the bed of the winds, and the ſecret ſtreets and paſſages of al rivers, and Hel it ſelf, though they afford it three thouſand great miles,Munſter l. 1. c. 16. are but as ſo many wrinkles, and pock-holes. A prince is Pilot of a great ▪ ſhip, a Kingdome; we of a pinnace, a family, or a leſs skiff, our ſelves: and howſoever we be toſſed, we cannot periſh; for our haven (if we will) is even in the midſt of the Sea; and where we dy, our home75 meet us. If he be a lion and live by prey, and waſt amongſt Cedars and pines, and I a mole, and ſcratch out my bed in the ground, happy in this, that I cannot ſee him: If he be a butterfly, the ſon of a Silkworm, and I a Scarab, the ſeed of durt; If he go to execution in a Chariot, and I in a Cart or by foot, where is the glorious advantage? If I can have (or if I can want) thoſe things which the Son of Sirach calls principall, water, fire, and iron,C. 39.26. ſalt and meal, wheat and hony, milk, and the blood of grapes, oyle, and clothing; If I can prandere Olus,Horace. and ſo need not Kings; Or can uſe Kings, and ſo need not prandere Olus: In one word, if I do not frui (which, is, ſet my delight, and affection only due to God) but Ʋti the Creatures of this world,Lombard. l. 1. Diſt. 1. this world is mine; and to me belong thoſe words, Subdue the Earth,Gen. 1.28. and rule over all Creatures; and as God is proprietary, I am uſufructuarius of this Heaven and76 Earth which God created in the beginning. And here, becauſe Nemo ſilens placuit,Auſon. multi brevitate, ſhall be the end.
O Eternall and Almighty power, which being infinite, haſt enabled a limited creature, Faith, to comprehend thee; And being, even to Angels but a paſſive Mirror and looking-glaſſe, art to us an Active gueſt and domeſtick, (for thou haſt ſaid, I ſtand at the door and knock,Rev. 3.20. if any man hear me, and open the doore, I will come in unto him, and ſup with him, and he with me, and ſo thou dwellſt in our hearts; And not there only, but even in our mouths; for though thou beeſt greater, and more remov'd, yet humbler and more communicable then the Kings of Egypt, or Roman Emperours, which diſdain'd their particular diſtinguiſhing Names, for Pharaoh and Caeſar, names of confuſion; haſt contracted thine immenſity, and ſhut thy ſelfe within Syllables, and accepted a Name from77 us; O keep and defend my tongue from miſuſing that Name in lightneſſe, paſſion, or falſhood; and my heart, from miſtaking thy Nature, by an inordinate preferring thy Juſtice before thy Mercy, or advancing this before that. And as, though thy ſelf hadſt no beginning thou gaveſt a beginning to all things in which thou wouldſt be ſerved and glorified; ſo, though this ſoul of mine, by which I partake thee, begin not now, yet let this minute, O God, this happy minute of thy viſitation, be the beginning of her converſion, and ſhaking away confuſion, darkneſſe, and barrenneſſe; and let her now produce Creatures, thoughts, words, and deeds agreeable to thee. And let her not produce them, O God, out of any contemplation, or (I cannot ſay, Idaea, but) Chimera of my worthineſſe, either becauſe I am a man and no worme, and within the pale of thy Church, and not in the wild forreſt, and enlightned with ſome glimerings of Naturall knowledge; but meerely out of Nothing: Nothing prexiſtent78 in her ſelfe, but by power of thy Divine will and word. By which, as thou didſt ſo make Heaven, as thou didſt not neglect Earth, and madeſt them anſwerable and agreeable to one another, ſo let my Soul's Creatures have that temper and Harmony, that they be not by a miſdevout conſideration of the next life, ſtupidly and trecherouſly negligent of the offices and duties which thou enjoyneſt amongst us in this life; nor ſo anxious in theſe, that the other (which is our better buſineſs, though this alſo muſt be attended) be the leſs endeavoured. Thou haſt, O God, denyed even to Angells, the ability of arriving from one Extreme to another, without paſſing the mean way between. Nor can we paſs from the priſon of our Mothers womb, to thy palace, but we muſt walk (in that pace whereto thou haſt enabled us) through the ſtreet of this life, and not ſleep at the firſt corner, nor in the midſt. Yet ſince my ſoul is ſent immediately from thee, (let me for her return) rely,79 not principally, but wholly upon thee and thy word: and for this body, made of preordained matter, and inſtruments, let me ſo uſe the materiall means of her ſuſtaining, that I neither neglect the ſeeking, nor grudge the miſſing of the Conveniencies of this life: And that for fame, which is a mean Nature between them, I ſo eſteem opinion, that I deſpiſe not others thoughts of me, ſince moſt men are ſuch, as most men think they be: nor ſo reverence it, that I make it alwayes the rule of my Actions. And becauſe in this world my Body was firſt made, and then my Soul, but in the next my ſoul ſhall be first, and then my body, In my Exterior and morall converſation let my firſt and preſenteſt care be to give them ſatisfaction with whom I am mingled, becauſe they may be ſcandaliz'd, but thou, which ſeest hearts, canſt not: But for my faith, let my firſt relation be to thee, becauſe of that thou art justly jealous, which they cannot be. Grant theſe requests, O God, if I have asked fit things fitly, and80 as many more, under the ſame limitations, as are within that prayer which (As thy Manna, which was meat for all tasts, and ſerved to the appetite of him which took it, and was that which every man would) includes all which all can aske,Sap. 16.20 Our Father which art, &c.
IN this book our entrance is a going out:Of Exodus for Exodus is Excitus. The Meditation upon Gods works is infinite; and whatſoever is ſo, is Circular, and returns into it ſelfe, and is every where beginning and ending, and yet no where either: Which the Jews (the children of God by his firſt ſpouſe the Law, as we are by Grace, his ſecond) expreſſ'd in their round Temples; for God82 himſelfe is ſo much a Circle, as being every where without any corner, (that is, never hid from our Inquiſition;) yet he is no where any part of a ſtraight line, (that is, may not be directly and preſently beheld and contemplated) but either we muſt ſeek his Image in his works, or his will in his words; which, whether they be plain or darke, are ever true, and guide us aright. For, aſwell the Pillar of Cloud, as that of Fire, did the Office of directing. Yea, oftentimes, where feweſt Expoſitors contribute their helpes, the Spirit of God alone enlightens us beſt; for many lights caſt many ſhadows, and ſince controverted Divinity became an occupation,Controverſies. the Diſtortions and violencing of Scriptures, by Chriſtians themſelves, have wounded the Scriptures more, then the old Philoſophy or Turciſm. So that that is applyable to us, which Seneca ſays of Cſaears murderers, Plures amici quam inimici eum interfecerunt. From which indulgence83 to our own affections, that ſhould ſomwhat deterr us, which Pliny ſays of the ſame buſineſs, Iiſdem pugionibus quibus Caeſarem interfecerunt, ſibi mortem conſciverunt. For we kill our own ſouls certainly, when we ſeek paſſionately to draw truth into doubt and diſputation.
I do not (I hope) in undertaking the Meditation upon this verſe, incur the fault of them,Shore Texts. who for oſtentation and magnifying their wits, excerpt and tear ſhapeleſs and unſignificant rags of a word or two, from whole ſentences, and make them obey their purpoſe in diſcourſing; The Souldiers would not divide our Saviours garment, though paſt his uſe and his propriety. No garment is ſo neer God as his word: which is ſo much his, as it is he. His fleſh, though dignified with unexpreſſible priviledges, is not ſo near God, as his word: for that is Spiritus Oris. And in the Incarnation, the Act was onely of one Perſon, but the whole Trinity84 ſpeaks in every word. They therefore which ſtub up theſe ſeverall roots, and mangle them into chips, in making the word of God not ſuch,Literall Senſe. (for the word of God is not the word of God in any other ſenſe then literall (and that alſo is not the literall, which the letter ſeems to preſent, for ſo to diverſe underſtandings there might be diverſe literall ſenſes; but it is called literall, to diſtinguiſh it from the Morall, Allegoricall, and the other ſenſes; and is that which the Holy Ghoſt doth in that place principally intend:) they, I ſay, do what they can this way, to make God, whoſe word it is pretended to be, no God. They which build, muſt take the ſolid ſtone, not the rubbiſh. Of which, though there be none in the word of God, yet often unſincere tranſlations, to juſtifie our perjudices and foreconceived opinions, and the underminings and batteries of Hereticks, and the curious refinings of the Allegoricall Fathers, which have made85 the Scriptures, which are ſtronge toyles, to catch and deſtroy the bore and bear which devaſt our Lords vineyard, fine cobwebs to catch flies; And of ſtrong gables, by which we might anker in all ſtorms of Diſputation and Perſecution, the threads of ſilkworms, curious vanities and exceſſes (for do not many among us ſtudy even the Scriptures only for ornament?) theſe, I ſay, may ſo bruſe them, and raiſe ſo much duſt, as may blinde our Eyes, and make us ſee nothing, by coveting too much. He which firſt invented the cutting of Marble, had (ſays Pliny) importunum ingenium; a wit that would take no anſwer nor denyal. So have they which break theſe Sentences, importuna ingenia, unſeaſonable and murmuring ſpirits. When God out of his abundance affords them whole Sentences, yea Chapters, rather then not have enough to break to their auditory, they will attempt to feed miraculouſly great Congregations with a loafe or86 two, and a few fiſhes; that is, with two or three incoherent words of a Sentence. I remember I have read of a General, who, having at laſt carryed a town, yet not meerly by force, but upon this article, That in ſign of ſubjection they ſhould admit him to take away one row of ſtones round about their wall, choſe to take the undermoſt row, by which the whole wall ruined. So do they demoliſh Gods faireſt Temple, his Word, which pick out ſuch ſtones, and deface the integrity of it, ſo much, as neither that which they take, nor that which they leave, is the word of God. In the Temple was admitted no ſound of hammer, nor in the building of this great patriarchal Catholick Church, of which every one of us is a little chappel, ſhould the word be otherwiſe wreſted or broken, but taken intirely as it is offered and preſented. But I do not at this time trangreſs this rule,Of this Text. both becauſe I made not choice of this unperfect ſentence,87 but proſecute my firſt purpoſe of taking the beginning of every book: and becauſe this verſe is not ſo unperfect, but that radically and virtually it comprehends all the book; which being a hiſtory of Gods miraculous Mercy to his, is beſt intimated or Epitomized in that firſt part, which is inſinuated in this verſe, from how ſmall a number he propagated ſo great a Nation. Upon this confidence, and conſcience of purpoſing good,Unvocall preaching. I proceed in theſe Sermons; for they are ſuch, in the allowance of him whom they have ſtiled reſolutiſſimum et Chriſtianiſſimum Doctorem;Gerſ. de laude Scr. conſid. 1a. for he ſays Scriptor manu praedicat. And that to write books, though one gain and profit temporally by it, yet if the finall reſpect be the glory of God, is latriae veneratio, and more honorable to the Church, then the multiplication of vocal prayers, Imo, quam inſolens Miſſarum inculcatio. Did the Author of that book, the Preacher, make vocal Sermons? Though theſe lack thus much of88 Sermons, that they have no Auditory, yet as Saint Bernard did almoſt glory, that Okes and Beeches were his Maſters, I ſhall be content that Okes and Beeches be my ſchollers, and witneſſes of my ſolitary Meditations. Therefore,Diviſion. after I ſhal have ſpoken a few words in generall of this book, I will proceed to a neerer conſideration of this verſe; firſt, As it begins to preſent a Regiſter of their Names, whom God appointed to be the foundation of his many great works; And then, As it doth virtually comprehend thoſe particular teſtimonies of Gods love to his people.
In the firſt, we will look Why God is willing, that thoſe through whom God prepares his miracles, ſhould be named. Secondly, why they are in divers places diverſly named. Then, why their number is expreſſed; And why that alſo diverſly, in divers places. And laſtly, whether there bee no Myſtery in their Number, Seventy.
89In the ſecond part, wherein out of this verſe radically will ariſe to our conſideration, all his favors to his choſen, expreſſed in this book, we ſhall have occaſion to contemplate Gods Mercy, and that, In bringing them into Egypt, In propagating them there, In delivering them from thence, and in nouriſhing them in the wilderneſs. Secondly his Power, Expreſſed in his many Miracles: Thirdly his Juſtice, in their preſſures in Egypt, and the wilderneſs: And laſtly his Judgments, in affording them a law for their direction.
When this Book became a particular book, that is,Of Moſes five Books when Moſes his book was divided into five parts, I cannot trace. Not only the firſt Chriſtian Councells, which eſtabliſh'd or declared the Canon of Scripture, and all the earlyeſt Expoſitors thereof, whether Chriſtians or Jews, but the90 Septuagint, almoſt 300. years before Chriſt, acknowledge this partition. Yet, that Moſes left it a continued work, or at leaſt not thus diſtributed, it ſeems evident, both becauſe the Hebrew names of theſe books are not ſignificant, but are only the firſt words of the book, (as we uſe to cite the Imperiall and the Canon laws) And becauſe by Conradus Pellicanus I am taught,Comment. in Pentat. that Moſes, according to the 52. Hebdomades, diſtinguiſhed the Pentateuch into ſo many ſections, of which this is the 13. And Joſephus Simlerus notes, that the firſt letter here, which ordinarily hath no uſe, but grace, hath in this place the force of a conjunction. And ſo Lyra, and many others acknowledg, that this is but a continuing of the former Hiſtory Beſides the reaſons which moved thoſe times to make this a ſingular Book, I may add this, That God, when he had in that part of Moſes book which we call Geneſis, expreſſed fully, that by creating91 from Nothing, before Nature was, he needed not her to begin his glorious work; ſo in this he declares eſpecially, that he hath not ſo aſſumed Nature into a Collegueſhip with himſelf, that he cannot leave her out, or go beſides her, and neglect her, or go directly againſt her when it pleaſes him. And therefore this book is, more then any other, a Regiſter of his Miracles. Of which book this is notable, it conſiſting of the moſt particular ceremoniall parts, wherein the Jews yet perſiſt, and we faithfully ſee already accompliſhed, and therefore likelyeſt to miniſter matter of quarrell and difference between us, of all other books in the Bible, is beſt agreed upon; and fewer differences between ours and their Copies then in any other book: ſo equally careful have al parties been to preſerve the Records of his Miracles intemerate.
I Come now to the firſt Part:Names. In which, the firſt Conſideration is, Why God would have them named? Theſe are the Names,Antiq. l. 2. c. 4. &c. Joſephus delivering the ſame Hiſtory, ſayes, that he would not have aſcribed the Names, becauſe they are of an hard and unpleaſant ſound, but that ſome had defamed the Nation, as Egyptians; and denyed them to be Meſopotamians. It hath therefore one good uſe, to diſtinguiſh them from profane Nations: But the chiefeſt is, That they are inſerted into this Book for an everlaſting honour both to God and them. Amongſt men, all Depoſitaries of our Memories, all means which we have truſted with the preſerving of our Names, putrifie and periſh. Of the infinite numbers of the Medals of the Emperors, ſome one haypy Antiquary,93 with much pain, travell, coſt, and moſt faith, beleeves he hath recovered ſome one ruſty piece, which deformity makes reverend to him, and yet is indeed the freſh work of an Impoſtor.
The very places of the Obeliſes, and Pyramides are forgotten, and the purpoſe why they were erected. Books themſelves are ſubject to the mercy of the Magiſtrate: and as though the ignorant had not been enemie enough for them, the Learned unnaturally and treacherouſly contribute to their deſtruction, by raſure and miſ-interpretation. Caligula would aboliſh Homer, Virgil, and all the Lawyers Works, and eternize himſelf and his time in Medals: The Senate, after his death, melted all them: Of their braſſe his Wife Meſſalina made the Statue of her beloved Player; and where is that? But Names honour'd with a place in this book, cannot periſh, becauſe the Book cannot. Next to the glory of having his name entred into the94 Book of Life, this is the ſecond, to have been matriculatted in this Regiſter, for an example or inſtrument of good. Lazarus his name is enrolled, but the wicked rich mans omitted. How often in the Scriptures is the word Name, for honour, fame, vertue? How often doth God accurſe with aboliſhing the Name? Thou ſhalt deſtroy their Name, Deut. 7.24. And, I wil deſtroy their Name de ſub coelo, Deut. 9.14. And, Non ſeminabitur de Nomine tuo, Nah. 1.14. With which curſe alſo the civill Epheſian Law puniſhed the burner of the Temple, that none ſhould name him. And in the ſame phraſe doth God expreſſe his bleſſings to Abraham, Gen. 12.2. and often elſewhere, I will make thy Name great. Which, without God, thoſe vaine attempters of the Tower of Babel endeavoured: for it is ſaid, Gen. 11.4. They did it, to get themſelves a Name. Whether Nomen be Novimen, or Notamen, it is ſtill to make one known: and God, which cannot be known by95 his own Name, may nearlyeſt by the names and proſperity of his. And therefore, for his own ſake, he is carefull to have his ſervants named. He calleth his own ſheep by name; And,Joh. 10. Scribe Nomen Diei hujus, ſays he to Ezekiel, c. 24.2. Of all Nations, the Jews have moſt chaſtly preſerved that Ceremony of abſtaining from ethnick Names. Ethnick Names.At this time, when by their preſſures they need moſt to deſcend to that common degree of flattery, to take the names of the Princes by whoſe leave they live, they do not degenerate into it, when almoſt all Chriſtendom hath ſtraied into that ſcandalous faſhion, of returning to heathen Names, as though they were aſhamed of their Examples. And almoſt in all their Names, the Jews have either teſtified ſome event paſt, or prophecied or prayed for ſome good to come:Significant. Names. In no language are Names ſo ſignificant. So that if one conſider diligently the ſeneſ of the Names regiſter'd here, he will not ſo ſoon ſay, That the96 Names are in the Hiſtory, as that the Hiſtory is in the Names. For, Levi is coupled to God, which notes Gods calling. Simeon, hearing and obedient, where their willingneſs is intimated. Juda is confeſſing and praiſing, which reſults of the reſt. Zebulon is a dwelling, becauſe they are eſtabliſhed in God: in whom, becauſe they have both a Civill policy, and a Military, Dan is a Judgment, and Gad, a Garriſon. In which, that they may be exerciſed in continual occaſions of meriting, Naphthali is a wreſtling. And to crown all, Aſher is complete bleſſedneſs. The other Names have their peculiar force, which will not come into this room: but I entred the rather into this Meditation and opinion, becauſe I find the Scriptures often to allude to the Name, and ſomtimes expreſs it, as 1 Sam. 25.25. As his name is, ſo is he, Nabal, a fool. And in Exod. 15.23. Therefore the name of the place was called bitter. And the Romans alſo had ſo much reſpect to the97 ominouſneſs of good Names, that when in Muſters every Souldier was to be called by Name,Cic. l. 1. de Divinat. they were diligent to begin with one of a good and promiſing Name, which Feſtus reckons to be Valerius, Salvius, Statorius, and ſuch. And I have read in ſome of the Criminaliſts, that to have an ill Name, in this ſenſe, not malae famae, was Judicium ad torturam. Hom. 8. in Gen.Origen exaggerating pathetically the gradations of Abraham's ſorrow at the immolation of his ſon, after he hath expoſtulated with God why he would remember him of the Name ſon, and why of Beloved ſon, reſts moſt upon the laſt, that he would call him by his Name Iſaac, which ſignifies joy, in a commandement of ſo much bitterneſs. It may be then ſome occaſion of naming them in this place, that as theſe men were inſtruments of this work of God, ſo their names did ſub-obſcurely foreſignifie it. For Reaſon, the common ſoul to all lawes, forbids that either great98 puniſhments ſhould be inflicted otherwiſe then Nominatim; Non niſi nominatim liberi exheredandi:Briſſ. form. ſo. 604. Or that great benefits ſhould be in any other ſort conferr'd. For conformably to this caſe, which now we conſider, of delivering perſons from bondage, the law is,Lex Fuſ. Can. Servis non niſi Nominatim libertas danda eſt. Of this Honour to his ſervants, to be remembred by Name, God hath been ſo diligent, that ſomtimes himſelf hath impoſed the Name before the birth,Changed Names. and ſomtimes changed it to a higher ſignification, when he purpoſed to exalt the perſon. It is noted,Fr. George pro fo. 17. that to Abram's Name he added a letter, whoſe number made the whole Name equall to the words, Creavit Hominem. So that the multiplying of his ſeed, was a work not inferior to the Creation. And from Sarai's Name he took a letter, which expreſſed the number ten, and repos'd one, which made but five; ſo that ſhe contributed that five which man wanted before, to ſhew a mutuall indigence99 and Supplement. How much Schiſmatick diſputation hath proceeded from the change of Simon's Name into Peter? Mat. 15.What a Majeſtick change had James and John into the Sons of Thunder?Mar. 13. yet God not only forbore ever ſuch vaſt Names, as Pharaoh gave Joſeph,Ge. 41.41. which is not only Expounder of ſecrets,Addition to Names. but Saviour of the world: which alſo the Roman Emperors aſſumed in many Coyns, (AEternitas Caeſaris, And Caeſar ſalus, And Servator, And Reſtaurator Orbis;) but (to my remembrance, and obſervation) he never added other Name, as a pronomen, or cognomen, or ſuch: To ſhew (I think) that man brought not part of his Dignity, and God added; but that God, when he will change a man, begins, and works, and perfects all himſelf. For though corrupt cuſtome hath authoriſed it now, And,Robortellus de Nominibus. Gaudent pronomine molles auriculae; yet the Romans themſelves, from whom we have this burden of many Names, till they100 were mingled with the Sabius, uſed but one Name. Politianus Miſcel. c. 31And before that Cuſtom got to be noble, their ſlaves, only when they were manumitted, were forced to accept three names. In this Exceſs of Names the Chriſtians have exceeded their patterns: for to omit the vain and empty fulneſs in Paracelſus Name, which of the Ancients equalls that grave, wiſe Author, which writes himſelf, Pulmannus Anicius Manlius Torquatus Severinus Boethius? But God hath barely and nakedly, but permanently engrav'd theſe Names. Which ſhall never be ſubject to that obſcurity, which Auſonius imputes to one who was Maſter to an Emperor, and rewarded with a Conſulſhip, but overſwaid with his Colleague, that men were fain to inquire, Quibus Conſulib. geſſerit conſulatum. But whereſoever theſe Names ſhall be mentioned, the Miraculous Hiſtory ſhall be call'd to memory; And whereſoever the Hiſtory is remembred, their Names ſhall be refreſhd.
Our next conſideration is, Why they are diverſly named? and not alwayes alike, in Gen. 46. and here, and in Deuteronomy, and the other places where they are ſpoken of? And this belongs not only to this caſe, but to many others in the Holy Bible. Joſua and Jeſus is all one. So is Chonia, and Jechonias. And how multinominous is the father in law of Moſes? And the name Nebrycadrozor is obſerv'd to be written ſeven ſeverall wayes in the Prophets. To change the Name, in the party himſelf is, by many laws, Dolus; and when a Notary doth it, he is falſarius; faults penall and infamous. And therefore laws have provided, that in inſtruments of contract, and in publick Regiſters, all the Names, Sur-names and additions ſhall be inſerted; and they forbid Abbreviations; and they appoint a more conſpicuous and more permanent Character to expreſs them. So neceſſary102 is a certainty and conſtancy in the Names. Some late interpreters of the law,Acacius de privil. Juris. teach, that falſe Latin in Grammer, in Edicts or Reſcripts from the Imperiall Chamber, or any other ſecular Prince or Court, doth not annihilate or vitiate the whole writing, becauſe all they may be well enough preſum'd not to underſtand Latine; But the Bulls of the Popes, and decrees in the Court of Rome are defeated and annulled by ſuch a corruption, becauſe their ſufficiency in that point being preſumed, it ſhall be juſtly thought ſubreptitious, what ever iſſues faulty and defective in that kind. So, though Error and variety in Names, may be pardonable in profane Hiſtories, eſpecially ſuch as tranſlate from Authors of other language, yet the wiſdome and conſtancy of that one Author of al theſe books, the Holy Ghoſt, is likely to defend and eſtabliſh all his inſtruments, choſen for building this frame of Scriptures, from any uncertaine103 waverng and vacillation.
The Cabaliſts therfore, which are the Anatomiſts of words, and have a Theologicall Alchimy to draw ſoveraigne tinctures and ſpirits from plain and groſſe literall matter, obſerve in every variety ſome great myſtick ſignification; but ſo it is almoſt in every Hebrew name and word. Lyra, who is not ſo refined, yet very Judaick too, thinks, that as with the Latin, Cholaus, Choletus, Cholinus, and Nicolaus is one Name; ſo it is in the variation of names in the Scriptures. But oftentimes, neither the ſound, nor letter, nor ſignification, nor beginning nor ending, nor roote, nor branch, have any affinity: as himſelfe (though corruptly) ſays, that Eſau; Seir, and Edom are one name. Gen. 36.It may be ſome lazineſs to anſwer every thing thus, It is ſo, becauſe God would have it ſo; yet he which goes further, and asks, Why Gods will was ſo, inquires for104 ſomething above God. For, find me ſomething that enclines God, and I will worſhip that. ſince therefore this variety of Names fals out in no place, where the certainty of the perſon or Hiſtory is therby offuſcate, I encline to think, that another uſefull document ariſes from this admitting of variety; which ſeems to me to be this,Difference in things not eſſentiall. that God in his eternall & ever-preſent omniſcience, fore-ſeeing that his univerſal, Chriſtian, Catholick Church, imaged, and conceived, and begotten by him in his eternall decree, born and brought to light when he travail'd and labored in thoſe bitter agonies and throes of his paſſion, nourced ever more dilicately and preciouſly then any natural children, (for they are fed with their Mothers blood in their womb, but we with the blood of our moſt Bleſſed Saviour all our lives,) fore-ſeeing, I ſay, that this his dearly beloved Spouſe, and Siſter, and Daughter, the Church, ſhould in her latter Age ſuffer many convulſions,105 diſtractions, rents, ſchiſms, and wounds, by the ſevere and unrectified Zeal of many, who ſhould impoſe neceſſity upon indifferent things, and oblige all the World to one preciſe forme of exterior worſhip, and Eccleſiaſtick policie; averring that every degree, and minute and ſcruple of all circumſtances which may be admitted in either beleif or practice, is certainly, conſtantly, expreſsly, and obligatorily exhibited in the Scriptures; and that Grace, and Salvation is in this unity and no where elſe; his Wiſdome was mercifully pleaſ'd, that thoſe particular Churches, devout parts of the Univerſall, which, in our Age, keeping ſtill the foundation and corner ſtone Chriſt Jeſus, ſhould piouſly abandon the ſpacious & ſpecious ſuper-edifications which the Church of Rome had built therupon, ſhould from this variety of Names in the Bible it ſelfe, be provided of an argument, That an unity and conſonance in things not eſſentiall, is not106 ſo neceſſarily requiſite as is imagined. Certainly, when the Gentils were aſſum'd into the Church, they entred into the ſame fundamentall faith and religion with the Jews, as Muſculus truly notes; and this conjunction in the roote and foundation, fulfill'd that which was ſaid, Fiet unum Ovile,Joh. 10.16 & unus Paſtor, One fold, and one ſhepherd. For, by that before, you may ſee that all Chriſts ſheep are not alwayes in one fold, Other ſheep have I alſo, which are not of this fold. So, all his ſheep are of one fold, that is, under one Shepherd, Chriſt; yet not of one fold, that is, not in one place, nor form. For, that which was ſtrayed and alone, was his ſheep; much more any flock which hearken together to his voice, his Word, and feed together upon his Sacraments. Therefore that Church from which we are by Gods Mercy eſcaped, becauſe upon the foundation, which we yet embrace together, Redemption in Chriſt, they had built ſo many ſtories107 high, as the foundation was, though not deſtroyed, yet hid and obſcured; And their Additions were of ſo dangerous a conſtruction, and appearance, and miſapplyableneſs, that to tender conſciences they ſeem'd Idolatrous, and are certainly ſcandalous and very ſlippery, and declinable into Idolatry, though the Church be not in circumſtantiall and deduced points, at unity with us, nor it ſelf; (for, with what tragick rage do the Sectaries of Thomas and Scotus proſecute their differences? and how impetuouſly doth Molinas and his Diſciples at this day, impugne the common doctrine of grace and freewill? And though theſe points be not immediately fundamentall points of faith, yet radically they are, and as neer the root as moſt of thoſe things wherein we and they differ;) yet though we branch out Eaſt & Weſt, that Church concurs with us in the root, and ſucks her vegetation from one and the ſame ground, Chriſt Jeſus; who, as it is108 in the Canticle, lies between the breſts of his Church,Cant. 1.12 and gives ſuck on both ſides. And of that Church which is departed from us, diſunited by an opinion of a neceſſity that all ſhould be united in one form, and that theirs is it, ſince they keep their right foot faſt upon the Rock Chriſt, I dare not pronounce that ſhe is not our Siſter; but rather as in the ſame Song of Solomon's,Cant. 8.9. We have a little ſiſter, and ſhe hath no breſts: if ſhe be a wall, we will build upon her a ſilver palace. If therefore ſhe be a wall, That is, Becauſe ſhe is a wall; for ſo Lyra expounds thoſe words, as on her part, ſhe ſhall be ſafer from ruine, if ſhe apply her ſelf to receive a ſilver palace of Order, and that Hierarchy which is moſt convenient and proportionall to that ground and ſtate wherein God hath planted her; and ſhe may not tranſplant her ſelf: So ſhall we beſt conſerve the integrity of our own body, of which ſhe is a member, if we109 laboriouſly build upon her, and not tempeſtuouſly and ruinouſly demoliſh and annull her; but rather cheriſh and foment her vitall and wholſome parts, then either cut, or ſuffer them to rot or moulder off. As naturall, ſo politick bodies have Cutem, & Cuticulam. The little thin skin which covers al our body, may be broken without pain or danger, and may reunite it ſelfe, becauſe it conſiſts not of the chief and principiant parts. But if in the skin it ſelf, there be any ſolution or diviſion, which is ſeldome without drawing of blood, no art nor good diſpoſition of Nature, can ever bring the parts together again, and reſtore the ſame ſubſtance, though it ſeem to the ey to have ſodder'd it ſelf. It will ever ſeem ſo much as a deforming Scar, but is in truth a breach. Outward Worſhip is this Cuticula: and integrity of faith the skin it ſelf. And if the firſt be touched with any thing too corroſive, it will quickly pierce the other; and ſo Schiſm, which is a departure110 from obedience, will quickly become Hereſie, which is a wilfull deflexion from the way of faith? Which is not yet, ſo long as the main skin is inviolate: for ſo long that Church which deſpiſes another Church, is it ſelf no other then that of which the Pſalm ſpeakes, Eccleſia Malignantium. Thus much was to my underſtanding naturally occaſioned and preſented by this variety of Names in the Scriptures: For, if Eſau, Edom, and Seir were but one man; Jethro and Revel, &c. but one man, which have no conſonance with one another, and might thereby diſcredit and enervate any Hiſtory but this, which is the fountain of truth; ſo Synagogue and Church is the ſame thing, and of the Church, Roman and Reformed, and all other diſtinctions of place, Diſcipline, or Perſon, but one Church, journying to one Hieruſalem, and directed by one guide, Chriſt Jeſus; In which, though this Unity of things not fundamentall, be not111 abſolutely neceſſary, yet it were ſo comely and proportionall with the foundation it ſelf, if it were at Unity in theſe things alſo, that though in my poor opinion, the form of Gods worſhip, eſtabliſhed in the Church of England be more convenient, and advantageous then of any other Kingdome, both to provoke and kindle devotion, and alſo to fix it, that it ſtray not into infinite expanſions and Subdiviſions; (into the former of which, Churches utterly deſpoyl'd of Ceremonies, ſeem to me to have fallen; and the Roman Church, by preſenting innumerable objects, into the later.) And though to all my thankſgivings to God, I ever humbly acknowledg, as one of his greateſt Mercies to me, that he gave me my Paſture in this Park, and my milk from the breſts of this Church, yet out of a fervent, and (I hope) not inordinate affection, even to ſuch an Unity, I do zealouſly wiſh, that the whole catholick Church, were reduced to ſuch Unity and agreement, in112 the form and profeſſion Eſtabliſhed, in any one of theſe Churches (though ours were principally to be wiſhed) which have not by any additions deſtroyed the foundation and poſſibility of ſalvation in Chriſt Jeſus; That then the Church, diſcharged of diſputations, and miſapprehenſions, and this defenſive warr, might contemplate Chriſt clearly and uniformely. For now he appears to her, as in Cant. 2.9. He ſtandeth behind a wall, looking forth of the window, ſhewing himſelf through the grate. But then, when all had one appetite, and one food, one noſtrill and one purfume, the Church had obtained that which ſhe then asked, Ariſe ô North,Cant. 4.10. and come ô South, and blow on my garden, that the ſpices thereof may flow out. For then, that ſavour of life unto life might allure and draw thoſe to us, whom our diſſentions, more then their own ſtubborneſs with-hold from us.
As God Regiſters the Names of his Elect, and of his Inſtruments, ſo doth he the Number, He counteth the Number of the ſtarrs, and calleth them by their Names, ſays the Pſalmiſt;Pſ. 147.4. which many Expoſitors interpret of the Elect. Of which Saint John expreſſes a very great Number,Rev. 7.6. when he ſays, I heard the number of them which were ſealed 144000. But after in the ninth verſe, A Multitude in white before the Lamb, which none could Number. In that place of Geneſis,Gē. 14.14 Pererius. when Abram took 318. to reſcue Lot (which Number hath been, not unuſefully obſerved to accord with the Number of the Fathers in the firſt Necene Councell, where Chriſtianity was reſcued from Arius) the Septuagint have Numeravit, and Saint Ambroſe ſays, the Hebrew word ſignifies Elegit; as though it were ſo connaturall in God, to number and to Elect, that one114 word might expreſs both. And becauſe Chriſt knew how rigorous an account God took of thoſe whom he had made Governors of his,Joh. 17.12. in his prayer, that they might be after preſerved, he ſays, I have kept them, and none of them are loſt, except, &c. How often doth God iterate this way alſo of expreſſing his love to Abraham, that he will multiply his poſterity? If a man can number the duſt of the earth, then ſhall thy ſeed be numbred, Gen. 13.16. And leſt he ſhould have ſeemed to have performed that promiſe when he had onely multiplyed their Number, and yet left them to be trod under foot by the Egyptians, becauſe that compariſon of Duſt might import and inſinuate ſo much; he chuſes after another of infinite Number and Dignity together; Tell the Starrs, if thou be able to number them: So ſhall thy ſeed be, Gen. 15.5. David, to let them ſee what a bleſſing their encreaſe in number was, bids them remember what they were,Pſ. 105.12. Cum eſſent815 Numero brevi. And Jeremy, as though they did not elſe concurr with God in his purpoſe to reſtore them to greatneſſe, when they were in Babylon, ſayes to them,Jer. 26.6. Nolite eſſe pauci Numero. Upon this love of God to ſee his people proſper, ſayes Rabbi Solomon, Ʋt homo habens peculium: or, As a man which hath a Stock of cattell which he loves, reckons them every day; ſo doth God his people. Hence is it, that ſo many times God commands his people to be numbred. Inſomuch, that that which we call the Fourth book of Moſes,Prologo. in which Saint Jerom ſaith are contained totius Arithmeticae Myſteria, hath the denomination from Numbering. In the firſt entrance whereof, God commands his to be numbrd, and to be numbred by Name: And the number in that place, when the old and young,Fr. George Prob. 376. and women are added to it, one very curious, following thoſe rules by which the Hebrews have learned the number of the Angels in heaven,116 hath found to accord preciſely with that number of Angels intimated in Dan. 7. This Order, of being firſt Named, and then Numbred; or firſt Numbred, and then Named, Antichriſt perverts by Anticipation, and doing both at once; for his Name is a Number. The Divel, who counterfeits God, put a deſire into David to number his people; who was then only in his right Arithmetick, when he prayed to finde the number of his dayes. Pſal. 39.5. 1 Chr. 21.1.But when Satan ſtood up againſt Iſrael, and provoked David to number his people, he entred a work of ſuch glory and oſtentation, that Joab was nine months and twenty dayes in doing that ſervice. 2 Sam. 24.8.But God would number alſo; and becauſe David would not attend his leiſure, he changed his faſhion, and brought upon them that number, which he after threatens again in Iſaiah,Iſa. 65.11. Numerabo vos in gladio.
Of this Number. For the Number regiſtred in this Hiſtory, As God had well provided for their Honour, by117 entring their Names in this everlaſting record: ſo (I think) he provided for his own Honour, of which he is ever jealous, in expreſſing the Number; that all poſterity might be awakened to a reverent acknowledgment of his greatneſs and goodneſs, by ſeeing, from what a ſmal Number, in how ſhort a time, how numerous a people, through how great preſſures, and ſtraits, were by him propagated and eſtabliſhed. For, ſince he is content to receive his Honour from us, (for although all cauſe of Honour be eternally inherent in himſelfe, yet that Act proceeds from us, and of that Honour, which is in Honorante, he could have none, til he had made Creatures to exhibit it;) his great work of Creation, which admits no arreſt for our Reaſon, nor gradations for our diſcourſe, but muſt be at once ſwallowed and devour'd by faith, without maſtication, or digeſtion, is not ſo apt to work upon us, for the provoking of our Acts of Honour,118 as thoſe other miracles are, which are ſomewhat more ſubmitted to reaſon, and exerciſe and entertain our diſputation, and ſpiritual curioſity by the way, and yet at laſt go as far beyond reaſon, as the other; as all miracles do equally. Of that kind this is; becauſe a mighty People is miraculouſly made, not of Nothing, (upon which, Conſideration can take no hold) but of a diſproportionall, and incompetent littleneſſe. And in theſe, where the ſmallneſſe of the roote, or ſeed, is a degree of the miracle, the Spirit of God uſes to be preciſe in recording it. And therefore, in the greateſt of that kind, which is the fulfilling and repleniſhing the world, after that great exinanition by the generall deluge, though Moſes ſay twice or thrice, that Noah, and his ſonnes, and his and their wives went into the Ark, and came out; yet, becauſe the Miracle of propagating conſiſts in the Number, Almighty God is pleaſed, by his119 ordinary way of expounding his word, (which is, to explicate and aſſure one place by another) to teach us, that this Number was but eight: for St. Peter ſays, In the Ark but few, that is,1 Pet. 3. but Eight were ſaved. In like manner, I mean with like preciſeneſſe, after the Miracle in Mat. 14. was preciſely recorded, how many loafes, how many fiſhes, how many Eaters, how many baskets of fragments; In the next chapter, another Miracle of the ſame kind, being to be regiſtred, though it be leſſe then the other, (for their is more meat, fewer eaters, and fewer fragments) yet God ſeems carefull in the particular Numbers. This therefore I take to be ſome reaſon of inſerting this Number; which being ſomewhat diſcordantly, and differently ſet down, as the collation of places manifeſts, and the Spirit of God doing nothing falſly, inordinatly, negligently, dangerouſly, or perplexedly, to an humble and deligent underſtanding; we will in120 the next Section conſider the Variety in this Number.
Numbring is ſo proper and peculiar to man, who only can number, that ſome philoſophical Inquiſitors have argued doubtfully, whether if man were not, there were any Number. And error in Numbring is De ſubſtantialibus, as lawyers ſay, and ſomtimes annuls, ever vitiates any Inſtrument, ſo much, as it may not be corrected. Nothing therefore ſeems ſo much to indanger the Scriptures, and to ſubmit and render them obnoxious to cenſure and calumniation, as the apparance of Error in Chronology, or other limbs and members of Arithmetick: for,Auguſt. in Enchirid. ſince Error is an approbation of falſe for true, or incertain for certain, the Author hath erred (and then the Author is not God) if any Number be falſly delivered; And we erre, if we arreſt our ſelves as upon121 certain truth (as we do upon all the Scriptures,) when there is ſufficient ſuſpicion of Error, (abſtracting the reverence of the Author,) and a certain confeſſion and undeniableneſs of uncertainty. And as a man delated juriddically, or by fame, or by private information of any Crime, muſt, when Canonicall purgation is required at his hands, not only ſweare his own innocency himſelf, but produce others of his neighbourhood and friendſhip, to ſwear that they think he ſwears true; and if they concurr'd not with him, this would have the nature of a half-proof, and juſtifie a further proceeding to his condemnation: ſo when any profane Hiſtorie riſes up againſt any place of Scripture, accuſing it to Humane Reaſon, and underſtanding, (for though in our ſupreme Court in ſuch caſes, for the laſt Appeal be Faith, yet Reaſon is her Delegate) it is not enough that one place juſtify it ſelf to ſay true, but all other places produced as122 handling the ſame matter, muſt be of the ſame opinion, and of one harmony. I have therefore wondred that Althemerus, pretending to reconcile all apparant diſcordances in the Scriptures, hath utterly pretermitted all variety in Numbring: Of Examples whereof, the comparing of the Hiſtoricall books, would have afforded him great plenty, and worthy of his travell. The generall reaſons why God admits ſome ſuch diverſities in his book, prevail alſo for this place which is now under our conſideration; which are, firſt, To make men ſharpe and induſtrious in the inquiſition of truth, he withdrawes it from preſent apprehenſion, and obviouſneſs. For naturally great wits affect the reading of obſcure books, wraſtle and ſweat in the explication of propheſies, digg and threſh out the words of unlegible hands, reſuſcitate and bring to life again the mangled, and lame fragmentary images and characters in Marbles and Medals,123 becauſe they have a joy and complacency in the victory and atchievement thereof. Another reaſon is, That as his elect children are ſubmitted by him to the malice and calumny of the Reprobate, and are not only ragefully tempeſted with ſtormes of perſecution, but contemptuouſly and ſcornfully (which is oftentimes the greater affliction) inſimulated of folly and ſillineſs, are in his knowledg, and often ſo declared in this world to abound in the treaſure of riches and wiſdome: So he is pleaſed that his word ſhould endure and undergo the opinion of contradiction, or other infirmiries, in the eyes of Pride (the Author of Hereſie and Schiſm) that after all ſuch diſſections, &•ribrations, and examinings of Heteticall adventures upon it, it might return from the furnace more refin'd, and gain luſter and clearneſs by this vexation. But the moſt important and uſefull reaſon is, that we might ever have occaſion to accuſtome our ſelves,124 to that beſt way of expounding Scriptures, by comparing one place with another. All the doubts about this place determine in two. Firſt, why the Number is in ſo many places ſaid to be Seventy, as Gen. 46.27. and in this place of Exodus, and in Deut. 10.22. And yet Gen. 46.26. the Number is ſaid to be but 66. And in all the proceſs of time from Moſes's to Stephen's martyrdome, recorded Act. 7. there could be no other doubt but this one, to them which underſtood Hebrew, and were not miſgoverned by the tranſlation of the Septuagint. And this firſt doubt is no ſooner offered, then anſwered; for in the 46. of Gen. the 26 verſe ſpeaks of 66, and conſiders not Joſeph and his two ſons, which were already in Egypt, in which the 27. verſe doth, and adding Jacob himſelf, perfects the Number 70. of which it ſpeaks. So that here is no diſſonance in the Number, but only the Spirit of God hath uſed his liberty, in the phraſe, reckoning125 ſome born in Egypt among the ſoules which came into Egypt. The other Doubt, which hath more travelled the Expoſitors, is, why Stephen, referring to Moſes,Act. 7. ſhould ſay, they were 75. The occaſion of this miſtaking (for ſo I think it was) was given by falſe Copies of the Septuagint's tranſlation, then in moſt uſe. For the Hebrew text was long before ſo farr out of ordinary uſe, that we ſee our Saviour himſelf, in his allegations, follows the Septuagint. And in my mind, ſo much reverence is due to that tranſlation, that it were hard to think, that they at firſt added five to Moſes Number. For, that which is ſaid for that opinion (though by Saint Hierome) which is, that they comprehend ſome nephews of Joſeph, hath no warrant; and all the reſt of the brethren were likely to have nephews at that time alſo. And againſt this opinion it prevails much with me, that, by Saint Hieromes teſtimony, that tranſlation in his time, in the other place,126 Deut. 10.22. had but 70, conform to Moſes: And any reaſon which might have induced them to add 5 in Geneſis, had been as ſtrong for Deuteronomy. Junius, ſcarce exceeded by any,L. 1. Par. 92. in learning, ſharpneſs, and faith, thinks that Stephen neither applyed his ſpeech to that account of thoſe that were iſſued from Jacob's loyns, which were indeed but 66, nor to the addition of the three in Egypt, which, with Jacob himſelf accompliſh'd the number of 70; but that, inſiſting preciſely upon Moſes ſyllables, he related ſo many as were expreſſed by name by Moſes in that Chapter, to have been of Jacob's Family; which were Jacob's four wives, and the two ſons of Judah, which make up 75. But with that modeſty wherein he asks leave to depart from the Fathers, I muſt depart from him: for Joſeph could not cauſe theſe two ſons of Judah to be brought into Egypt, (as appears in the Text he did, for all the number there intended,) ſince127 they were dead in Canaan before, as is evident, Geneſ. 46. Others therefore have thought, that Saint Luke reported not the words out of Stephen's mouth, but by view of Moſes his text, and that but in the Tranſlation; becauſe being but a Proſelite, he had no perfection, nor was accuſtom'd to the Hebrew. And others, that indulgently he deſcended to that text which was moſt familiar, and ſo moſt credible to them. For, though this be either an apparant Error in the Septuagint at firſt, (which is hard to allow, if we beleeve half of that which uſes to be ſaid, in proof; that the Holy Ghoſt aſſiſted them) Or a corruption inſinuated after, (as it is eaſie, when Numbers are expreſſed by numerant letters,) yet that tranſlation, ſo corrupted, had ſo much weight, that all then followed it; and it maintained that authority ſo long, that even in Lyra's time the Latin obeyed it. For he reads in this place of Exodus, 75. though he there confeſs128 the Hebrew hath but 70. This in my underſtanding may ſafelyer be admitted, then to decline ſo farr as Maſter Calvin doth, who thinks it poſſible that Saint Luke repos'd the true Number 70; but ſome other exſcriber, ignorant of Hebrew, and obedient to the Septuagint, reformed it deformly ſince his writing; for this ſeems to me to open dangerouſly a way to the infringing, or infirming many places of Scripture. The Number being then certainly 70, ſince by the hardneſs and inſolence of the Phraſe, there ſeems ſome violence and force, to raiſe the Number to 75. (for it may ſeem hard, that Joſeph, which ſent for theſe 70, ſhould be called one of the 70 which came; And that his two Sons already in Egypt, ſhould be two of them which came into Egypt; And that Jacob ſhould be one of theſe 70 which iſſued out of Jacobs loins;) in a few words we will conſider,Of the Number 70. whether any Myſtery reſide in that choſen Number; the rather becauſe129 very many remarkable things, and paſſages in Hiſtory, ſeeme to me to have been limited in that Number, which therefore ſeems more Periodick then any other.
But becauſe any over curious and Myſterious conſideration of this Number 70. though it be compoſed of the two greateſt Numbers (for Ten cannot be exceeded, but that to expreſs any further Number you muſt take a part of it again; and Seven is ever uſed to expreſs infinite,) be too Cabaliſtick and Pythagorick for a vulgar Chriſtian, (which I offer not for a phraſe of Diminution or Diſtruſt, that ſuch are unprovided of ſufficient defences for themſelves, or are ignorant of any thing required in ſuch as they, for ſalvation; But that there is needed alſo a Meta-theology, and ſuper-divinity, above that which ſerves our particular conſciences, in them, who muſt fight againſt Philoſophers and Jews) becauſe I am one, and in a low degree, of130 the firſt and vulgar rank, and write but to my equals, I will forbear it, as miſ-interpretable; ſince to ſome-palates it may taſte of Oſtentation; but to ſome, of diſtraction from better contemplations, and of ſuperſtition to others: yet, we may, as well with reverence to the things, as reſpect to the Number, reſt a little upon thoſe works of God, or his Servants, which this Number, at leaſt, reduces to our memory.
Firſt therefore, Thoſe Fathers of the world,70. Patriarchs. to whom God affords a room by name in the 10th. of Gen. from whom are derived all Nations, all extinguiſh'd and forgotten, all now eminent and in actions, and all yet undiſcovered, and unbeing; They to whoſe Sons he hath given the earth, utterly waſted before, and hath reſerved rooms in Heaven, from whence their betters are dejected, are reckoned there to be 70. After, when the children of Iſrael's murmuring kindled Moſes zeal to expoſtulate with God,70. Elders. 131 thus, Have I conceived all this people, or have I begotten them, that I ſhould bear this? I am not able to bear all this alone; therefore, if thou deal thus with me, if I have found favour in thy ſight, I pray thee kill me, that I behold not my miſery. When by this importunity Moſes had extorted from God another form of policy, the Number amongſt which God would divide Moſes's labour, and Moſes's ſpirit, was 70. The barbarous cruelty of Adonibezek,70. Kings ſlain. Judg. 6.1. confeſs'd by himſelf, was then accompliſh'd, and ripe for God's vengeance, when he had executed it upon 70. Kings. Moſes,70. years our life. though his words, Gen. 6. Mans dayes ſhall be 120. years, are by many, and may well be expounded to be the ordinary term of mans life after the floud, (though ordinarily they are ſaid to deſigne the years from that ſpeech to the floud.) And though at that time when he writ the 89th. Pſalm, (for he writ the Pentateuch firſt, and that after his going132 out of Egypt) he was more then 80 years old) yet in that Pſalm, he pitches the limits of mans life 70 years. In 70. David died. Though David were not Author of that Pſalm, he was an Example of it; for, though in a Kingdom which had but newly taken that form, and was now tranſlated to David's Family, and vexed with the diſcontentments of Saul's friends, and his own ſon's ambitions, a longer life, and longer raign might ſeem to many to have been requiſite, yet he ended his years in 70. David was thirty when he began to raign,2 Sam. 5.4 and he raigned forty;70000. of the plague. After he had ſeen the anger of God, puniſhing his confidence in the number of his men,2 Sam. 24.31. by diminiſhing them, limit and determine it ſelf in 70 thouſand. And in that great Captivity of Babylon,70. years in Babylon. in which (as many think) the word of God himſelf, the Text of Scriptures periſhed, that great and pregnant Mother, and Daughter of Myſteries, (for how many Propheſies were fulfill'd and accompliſh'd in that,133 and how many conceived but then, which are not yet brought to light?) the choſen people of God, were trodden down 70. years. To which forraign ſojourning, for many concurrences, and main circumſtances, many have aſſimilated and compared the Roman Churches ſtraying into France,70. in Avignon. and being empounded in Avignon 70. years; And ſo long alſo laſted the Inundation of the Goths in Italy. 70. the Goths in Italy. In that dejection and bondage in Babylon, God afforded to Daniel that viſion and voice,70. Hebdomad. then which nothing is more myſterious, nothing more important for our aſſurance, nothing more advantageable againſt the Jews, which is the ſeventy Hebdomades. Then,70. Diſciples. thoſe Diſciples, ſupplyers and fellow-workers with the Apoſtles, equall to them in very many things (and, men diſpute, whether not in all) whom our moſt Bleſſed Saviour inſtituted,Luk. 10.1. were alſo of this Number, 70. And ſo having refreſh'd to your memory, upon this occaſion134 of the Number 70. theſe ſtories out of the Bible, we will end with this obſervation, that when God moved Ptolomeus to a deſire of having the Bible tranſlated,Septuagint. he accited from Jeruſalem 72, for that glorious and myſtick work; And theſe, though they were 72, either for affection to conform themſelves to a number ſo notorious, or for ſome true myſterie in it, or for what elſe, God knowes; have ever retained the name of Septuagint.
And ſo having delivered what by Gods grace I received, of this book in generall, and of the reaſon of regiſtring the names, and why there is therein ſome variety. Why alſo they are ſumm'd and numbred up; and why variouſly; And laſtly, noted thoſe ſpeciall places, which the Number 70. preſented; I will now paſſe to that which I deſtin'd for a ſecond Part, becauſe it is radically and contractedly in that firſt verſe, but diffuſed and expanſively through the whole book; The135 Mercy, Power, Juſtice, and Judgement of God: of which, if nothing can be ſaid new, nothing can be ſaid too often.
THough God be abſolutely ſimple,Compoſition in Gods actions. yet ſince for our ſaks in his Scriptures he often ſubmits himſelf to compariſons and ſimilitudes, we may (offenceleſly (ſince there is nothing but himſelf, ſo large as the world) thus compare him to the world: That his eternall Preſcience is the Coeleſtiall world, which admits no alteration, no generation of new purpoſes, nor corruption of old; and thoſe four, Mercy, Power, Juſtice, Judgment, are the Elementary world, of which all below is compoſed, and the Elemented world are his particular extrinſick actions: In which, though they be ſo complexioned,136 that all are mingled equally, yet in every one of them, every one of theſe four concur. For, in every work of God there is mercy and juſtice,Aq. qu. 21. ar. 4. ſo, as they preſuppoſe one another. And as in his created Elements, ſo in theſe there is a condenſing and a rarifying, by which they become and grow into one another. For often that action which was principally intended for a work of Juſtice againſt one Malefactor, extends it ſelf to an univerſall Mercy, by the Example. And the children of God know how to reſolve and make liquid all his Actions. They can ſpie out and extract Balmes, and Oyles from his Vinegers; and ſupple, and cure with his corroſives. Be he what he will, they will make him Mercifull, if Mercy be then wholſomeſt for them. For ſo that brave Macabee interpreted Gods daily afflicting them; The Lord doth not long wait for us, as for other nations, whom he puniſheth when they come to the fulneſs of their ſins;137 but he never withdraweth his Mercy from us. And in like manner out of his Mercies they can diſtil Juſtice, when preſumption upon Mercy needs ſuch a corrective. For ſo ſays Saint Ambroſe,De Paradiſo. De poenit. diſt. 1. Serpens. Cain indignus judicatus eſt, qui puniretur in peccato; becauſe he was not ſo much ſpared, as reſerved to a greater condemnation. And upon like reaſon, the Emperiall laws forbid a ſervant in an Inne to be accuſed of incontinency, becauſe (in thoſe times) cuſtome had made them all ſuch, and therefore unworthy of the laws cogniſance. Yet of all theſe four Elements Mercy is the uppermoſt and moſt Embracing. Of Mercy.Miſerationes ejus ſuper omnia opera ejus. And,Pſal. 144. Quanta Magnitudo, as great as his greatneſs (which is infinite) is his Mercy. And as great as his power,Eccl. 2.17. which is omnipotent: for it is therefore ſaid, Miſereris omnium,Sap. 11. quia omnia potes. Before there was any ſubject of his mercy, he was mercifull; for Creation it ſelf is one138 of the greateſt of his Mercies. And it is Miſericordia Domini,Thre. 9. quia non ſumus conſumpti; ſo that our preſervation is alſo from mercy. And therefore will the Lord wait that he may have mercy upon you;Iſa. 30.18. and, miſerans miſerabitur, in the next verſe. God is the Lord of Hoſtes, and this world a warfare. And as the Emperiall Armies had three Signa Militaria to be given them,Veget. l. 3. cap. 5. ſo hath Gods mercy afforded us. They had Signa Vocalia, the expreſs word of the Commander, which office the word of God doth to us; And Semivocalia, which were the ſound of trumpets & other inſtruments, and ſuch to us are traditions and Sermons, partaking of God and man: And they had Signa muta, which were the Colours and Enſignes, and ſuch to us are the Creatures and works of God. His Mercy is infinite in Extent: for it is in all places; yea, where there is no place: And it is infinite in Duration; For as it never begun, (for the Ideating of this world,139 which was from everlaſting, was a work of mercy) and as the interruptions which by acts of Juſtice it ſeemes to ſuffer here, diſcontinue it not, (for though God ſay, For a moment in mine anger I hid my face from thee;Iſa. 54.8. yet he adds there, yet with everlaſting Mercy have I had compaſſion on thee;) ſo alſo is it reaſonable to think, that it ſhall never have end. And becauſe in heaven there can be no diſtinct and particular act of Mercy from God, becauſe there ſhall be no demerit in us, nor poſſibility of it, after judgment; Therefore, and from the Pſalm, Non continebit in ira ſua miſericordias ſuas, ſome (but too licenciouſly) have concluded a determination and ending of the pains of the damned; and others learned and pious, and accuſed by no body for this opinion, evict from hence, certain intervalla, and relaxations in the torments of Hell,Lomb. l. 4. Diſt. 46. ex Auguſt. after the generall Judgment, as all confeſſe a diminiſhing of the pains there, and that the140 puniſhment is citra condignum, by the benefit of the paſſion of our Bleſſed Saviour. That which is Mercy in God, in us is Compaſſion. And in us, it hath two ſteps. To reſt upon the firſt, which is but a ſadneſſe, and ſorrow for anothers miſery, is but a dull, lazy, and barren compaſſion. Therefore it is elegantly expreſſed in the Pſalm,Pſal. 111. Jucundus homo, qui miſeretur, & commodat; for that is the ſecond and higheſt ſtep in Compaſſion, Alacrity, and Chearfulneſſe to help. And as God, delighting moſt in mercy, hath propoſed to himſelfe moſt wayes for the exerciſe thereof, ſo hath he provided man of moſt occaſions of that vertue. Every man contributes to it, by being Agent, or Patient. Certainly, we were all miſerable, if none were; for we wanted the excerciſe of the profitableſt vertue. For though a Judg may be juſt, though none tranſgreſſe; and we might be mercifull, though none wanted, by keeping ever a diſpoſion to be ſuch,141 if need were; yet what can we hope would ſerve to awake us then, which ſnort now under the cries of the wretched, the teſtimony of our own conſciences, the liberall promiſes of reward from God, and his loud threatnings for ſuch omiſſions? Amongſt the Rules of State, it is taught and practis'd for one, That they which advance and do good, muſt do it immediately from themſelves, that all the Obligation may be towards them: But when they will deſtroy or do hurt, they muſt do it inſtrumentally by others, to remove and alienate the envy. Accordingly, when Princes communicate to any Jura Regalia, by that they are authorized to apprehend, accuſe, purſue, condemne, execute, and diſpoil, but not to pardon. God doth otherwiſe; for, for our firſt ſin, himſelfe hath inflicted death, and labour upon us. And, as it were to take from us all occaſion of evill, he doth all the evill of which his nature is capable, which is but Malum142 poenae. But of the treaſures of his mercy, he hath made us the Stewards, by diſpenſing to one another. For firſt, he hath redeemed man by man, and then he hath made Hominem homini Deum. And proportionall to this treaſure, he hath made our neceſſities and miſeries infinite. So much, that an Egyptian King forbad Hegeſias the Philoſopher to ſpeak publickly of humane miſery,Val. Max. l. 8. c. 9. leaſt every one ſhould kill himſelf. All conſiſts of givers and receivers: and to contract it cloſer, every man is both thoſe; and therefore made ſo, becauſe one provokes the other: for, Homo indigus,Prov. 19. miſericors eſt. And it is therefore that Aquinas ſayes,2a. 2ae. q. 30. ar. 2. that old men, and wiſe men, are apteſt to this vertue, becauſe they beſt fore-ſee a poſſibility of needing others compaſſion. And if thou hadſt nothing to give, or kneweſt no want in any other, thou haſt work enough within doors; Miſerere animae tuae. But towards our ſelves,Eccleſ. 30. or perſons almoſt143 our ſelves, there is not properly mercy, but grief;Aqu. ibid. therfore we muſt go to ſeek gueſts. And to ſuch a chearfull giver, God gives himſelf;Paulinus: Homil. de Gazophilactio. l. 4. c. 5. Et quid non poſſidet, qui ipſum poſſi•••poſſidentem? ſayes a contemplative wiſe man. And for ſuch a giver to work upon. God makes others needy; Fecit mileros, at agnoſceret miſericordes, ſayes the ſame man, in the ſame book. In the firſt conſtitution of the Roman Empire, by the generall corruption of all men, which is to give more to them which abound, they eaſily fore-ſaw, that men would ſoon decline and ſtray into a chargeable and ſumptuous worſhip of their Gods; And therefore they reſiſted it with this law, Deos frugi colunto. This moderated their ſacrifices, but yet withheld them not from the ſuperfluous adorning the Temples and Images of their Gods. But in our reformed Chriſtian Religion, which is the thriftieſt and cheapeſt that ever was inſtituted,144 (for our Sacrifices grow within us, and are our owne creatures, prayer and praiſe; and ſince our Beſſed Saviour hath given himſelf for us, we are now as men which had paid a great fine, and were bound to no other rent, then acknowledgements and ſervices) now that we have removed the expenſive digniſing of images, and relicks, what other exerciſe is there left for our charity, then thoſe nearer images both of God, and of our ſelves, the poore? Be mercifull then, as your Father in heaven is mercifull. And how is he? homines & jument a ſalvabis, Deus, Pſal. 35. and by jumenta are underſtood men not yet reduced to the knowledg of God. Give then thy counſel to the ignorant, thy prayers to the negligent, but moſt thy ſtrength to the oppreſſed and dejected in heart; for ſurely, oppreſſion maketh a wiſe man mad, Eccl. 7.9. how tempeſtuouſly will it then work upon a weaker? let no greatneſs retard thee from giving, as though thou wert above145 want. Alas, our greatneſs is Hydroptick, not ſolid: we are not firm, but puffed, and ſwoln; we are the lighter, and the leſſer for ſuch greatneſs. Alcibiades bragg'd how he could walk in his own ground; all this was his,Aelian. l. 3. c. 28. and no man a foot within him; and Socrates gave him a little map of the world, and bid him ſhow him his territory there; and there an Ant would have overſtrid it. Let no ſmalneſſe retard thee: if thou beeſt not a Cedar to help towards a palace, if thou beeſt not Amber, Bezoar, nor liquid gold, to reſtore Princes; yet thou art a ſhrub to ſhelter a lambe, or to feed a bird; or thou art a plantane, to eaſe a childs ſmart; or a graſſe to cure a ſick dog. Love an asker better then a giver: which was good Agapetus counſel to Juſtinian: Yea rather, prevent the asking; and do not ſo much joyn and concur with miſery, as to ſuffer it to grow to that ſtrength, that it ſhall make thy brother ask, and put him to the danger of a146 denyall. Avoid in giving, that which the Canoniſts expreſſe by Cyminibilis, which is a trifling giver. And give not (as Seneca cals them) panes lapidoſos; which are benefits hardly drawn, which have onely the ſhape, not the nouriſhment of benefits: But give as thou wouldſt receive. For thou giveſt not, but reſtoreſt, yea thou performeſt another duty too, thou lendeſt. Thou doſt not waſte, but lay up; and thou gaineſt in loſing. For to this giving moſt properly ſquares Plato's definition of liberality, that it is, ſtudium lucrandi ut decet. I need not much fear that any man is too much inflamed to a waſtfull charity by this; yet it is an affection capable of ſin. And therefore, as waggoners in ſteep deſcents, tie the teame behind, not to draw it up, but to ſtop ſodaine precipitations downward, ſo, onely to prevent ſuch ſlipery downfals, I ſay, That as the Holy Ghoſt forbids, Eccl. 7.18. Be not juſt orvermuch, ſo one may147 be charitable overmuch. His aptnes to give, may occaſion anothers ſloth, and he may breed the worms which ſhall eat him; and produce the lean kine, which ſhall devoure the fat. And ſo, as Paulinus ſays,Ad Severum. In charitatem de charitate peccat. And in another place,De Monachata. Multa charitas pene delirum, & pietas ſtultum fecit. For, God would not, ſaith Saint Ambroſe, that we ſhould pour out,De Officiis. but diſtribute our wealth. So that for preciſe Moderation herein precept will not ſerve; but that prayer of that moſt devout Abbot Antony, (of whom Saint Auguſtine ſays,De Doctrina Chriſtiana. that without knowledge of letters, he rehearſed, and expounded all the Scriptures) Deus det nobis gratiam Diſcretionis. For, the ſame B. Dorothaeus which ſays wiſely, God requires not that you ſhould fly, but that you ſhould not fall,Doctrin. 14 ſayes alſo devoutly,Doctrin. 1. That they which do what they are commanded of Chriſt, pay their tribut juſtly, but they which performe his148 counſels, bring him preſents. But in this we may inſiſt no longer: wee ſhall beſt know what wee ſhould do, by conſidering what God hath done, and how hee expreſs'd his mercies towards his Iſraelites.
His Mercy in bringing them to Egypt.He brought them into the Land of Egypt. For though in the Scriptures, when God would excite his children, he uſes to remember them that he is that God which brought them out of the Land of Egypt; yet, that he brought them into that Land, was more ſimply, abſolutely, and intirely a work of Mercy. For, in the other he exerciſed his Juſtice upon Pharaoh; and his Power in Miracles. And Miracles muſt not be drawne into conſequence; No man may argue to himſelf, God hath miraculouſly preſerved me, therefore he will do ſo ſtill. Miracles are to our apprehenſion incoherent & independent things with the reſt of Nature. They ſeem none of the links of that149 great chaine of providence, and connexion of cauſes. Therefore he which hears them, beleeves them but ſo far as he beleeves the reporter; and he which ſees them, ſuſpects his ſenſe in the apprehending, and his judgment in the inquiſition and purſuite of the cauſes; or goes more roundly to work, and imputes it all to the Divell. But this work of bringing them into Egypt, was only a work of a familiar and fatherly Providence: and, though it were greater then the other (for in comming from Egypt they were but redeemed from ſerving, here from periſhing) yet there is nothing in the Hiſtory, which a meer naturall man would grudg to beleeve. From what kind of Deſtruction did he then deliver them? Famine.From famine; One of thoſe three afflictions, which God in a diligent and exquiſite revenge preſented to David's choice. And one of thoſe two, in compariſon whereof, David choſe a peſtilence of uncertain laſting and intenſeneſs. An affliction150 ſo great, as God chooſes that compariſon to expreſs his greateſt affliction of all, which is a famine of his word. Amos.An affliction which defeats all Magiſtracy; for in it one may lawfully ſteal. All propriety; for in it all things return to their primative community. All naturall affection; for in it fathers may ſell their children, by humane laws; and divine books have Examples where they have eaten them. An affliction,Sueton. Calig. 26. which Caligula, to exceed his predeceſſors and his own Examples, ſtudied out, when to imitate the greateſt power of all, praecluſis horreis, indixit populo famem. An affliction with which our law revenges her ſelf when a delinquent which had offended her before, doth after in contempt of her ſtand mute at the bar. It is a Rack, without either Engine or Executioner; a devouring poyſon, and yet by ſubſtraction; and a way to make a man kill himſelf by doing nothing. Such are all extreme famines, and ſuch was151 this. For it was no particular curſe upon one country; for famine was in all the Land,Gen. 41.54. ver. 57. ſays the text. And all Countryes came to Egypt to buy corn. It was no naturall diſeaſe or infirmity in the earth or aire: but as the Pſalmiſt expreſſes it,Pſ. 105.16 God had called a famine upon the land, and utterly brake the ſtaffe of bread. Egypt her ſelf, which uſes to brag,Paneg. Plin. in Iracund. Nihil ſe imbribus coeloque debere, and whoſe inundations are fertilities, felt the barreneſs, though by Joſephs providence it felt not the penury. In this affliction, in this diſtreſs, the ſons of Jacob muſt go into a ſtrange land, where they had no friend whom they knew, but (to ſpeak humanely) an enemy whom they knew not. And yet God, as though their malice againſt their brother Joſeph, and as though this curſe upon the whole land had been ordained by him for their advantage, (for ſo it may ſeem by thoſe words of Joſeph, You ſent me not hither,Gen. 45.8 but God; and in the Pſalm,Pſal. 105. God ſent152 a man before them) appears to Jacob, perſwades the journey, aſſures him and his ſafe going, great propagation, and ſafe return.
His Mercy in propagating them in Egypt.Propagation is the trueſt Image and neareſt repreſentation of eternity. For eternity it ſelf, that is, the Deity it ſelf ſeems to have been ever delighted with it: for the producing of the three Perſons in the Trinity,Propagation of God. which is a continuing and undeterminable work, is a propagation of the Deity. And next to this contemplation, that God, which is full, and perfect, and All, ſhould admit a propagation, it may deſerve a ſecond place to conſider, that that which is meerly and utterly Nothing,Of Sin. which is Sin, (for it is but privation) hath had the greateſt propagation that can be. And between theſe two extreme Miracles, A propagation in that which is already All, and a propagation in that which is alwayes. Nothing, we may wonder at a propagation153 in that which is but one halfe; which is, thoſe Religious Orders,Of religious Orders. & devout profeſſions, which multiply without Mothers. Of which (not to ſpeak of late times, when that profeſſion was become a diſeaſe and contagion, and ſo no wonder though they infected, and poſſeſſed, and devoured whole teritories; but in their primitive inſtitution and practice, how infinite was the propagation? we cannot diſcredit thoſe ſtories (for being diſ-intereſſed in our late-ſprung Controverſies they could not ſpeak prejudicially) which reckon 5000. in ſome one Monaſtery; and 500 Monaſteries under one Abbot. Theſe who had no wives, had infinite ſpirituall children; and having nothing in the world, had a great part of it. Within one mile of Alexandria, there were 500 Monaſteries pene contigua. So that, it is truly ſaid of them, they had Oppida extra Mundum. And when the only tribe of the Benedictins was in full height,Azor. l. 12 it had not many leſſe154 then 40000 Monaſteries. And not only the Chriſtian Church, the eaſineſs of whoſe yoke might invite them to theſe counſails, but the Jews under an inſupportable law, would ever ſuper-errogate in this kinde. Of whoſe one ſect, the Eſſeni,L. 5. c. 17. Pliny ſays, per multa ſeculorum millia, gens aeterna, in qua nemo naſcitur; and he gives no other mother to ſuch an increaſe then this, Tam foecunda illis aliorum vitae poenitentia. Of theſe men, (if they will accept that name,) (except ſuch of them as being all born to ſail in the ſame ſhip as we, and to ſuffer with us, have ſo ſublimed their wits with a contempt of ours, that they ſteal from us in a Calenture; or ſo ſtupified themſelves, that they forſake their partnerſhip in our labours and dangers, in a lazy Scurvie,) I dare not conceive any hard opinion: For though we be all Gods tenants in this world, and freeholders for life, and are ſo bound amongſt other duties, to keep the world in155 reparation, and leave it as well as we found it, (for, ut gignamus geniti) yet ſince we have here two employments, one to conſerve this world, another to increaſe Gods Kingdome, none is to be accuſed, that every one doth not all, ſo all do all. For as, though every particular man by his diet and temperance, ſhould preſerve his own body, and ſo obſerve it by his own experience of it, that he might ordinarily be his own Phyſician; yet it is fit, that ſome ſepoſe all their time for that ſtudy, and be able to inſtruct and reform others; So, though every one ſhould watch his own ſteps, and ſerve God in his vocation; yet there ſhould be ſome, whoſe Vocation it ſhould be to ſerve God; as all ſhould do it, ſo ſome ſhould do nothing elſe. But, becauſe, our eſſe muſt be conſidered before our bene eſſe, and to our eſſe properly conduce all things which belong to our preſervation here, (for, the firſt156 words that ever God ſaid to man, were,Gen. 1.28 Bring forth, and multiply, and fill the earth, which was propagation; And then preſently, ſubdue it, and rule, which is Dominion. And then, Every thing which hath life, ſhall be to you for meat; which is not only ſuſtenance, but lawfull abundance and delicacy.) Therefore to advance propagation, lawes have been diligent and curious. Some have forbidden a man to divide himſelfe to divers women, becauſe, though God in his ſecret ends have ſomtimes permitted it to the Patriarchs, and though (being able to make contraries ſerve to one end) he threatens in another place, that ten women ſhall follow one man; yet ordinarily this liberality of a mans ſelf, fruſtrates propagation, and is in it ſelfe a confeſſion, that he ſeeks not children. Maximiniano, & Conſtantino.And therefore the Panegyrick juſtly extols that Emperour, who married young; Novum jam, tum miraculum, juvenis uxorius. And ſome lawes in157 the Greek States enforced men to marry: and the Roman law pretended to have the ſame ends, but with more ſweetneſſe, by giving priviledges to the married: but ever increaſing them with their number of children, of which to have had none, threw a man back again into penalty; for of the eſtate of ſuch, a tenth part was confiſcate; for to have children, is ſo much of the eſſence of the lawfulneſſe of that act, that Saint Auguſtine ſayes, Si prolem ex conditione vitant,De bono Conjugali. non eſt matrimonium; for that is a condition deſtroying the nature of matrimony; of which, and of the fruits thereof, how indulgent the Romans were, this one law declares; That to Minors they allowed ſo many years more then they had, as they had children.
Of this propagation.Of this propagation, which is our preſent contemplation, many think devoutly, that the ſmalneſſe of the firſt number, and the ſhortneſſe of the time, are the remarkable158 and eſſentiall parts. To advance their devotion, I will remember them, that the number of 430. years divers times ſpoken of, is from Abraham's coming to Canaan;Exod. 12.41. for the time of this propagation in Egypt, was but 215. years. And the number of men, which is 600000. is only of fighting men,Numb. 1. which cannot well be thought a fiſt part of all the ſouls. The whole number Joſephus, proportioning 10. to a paſchal lamb, as the Rabbins do, brings to be 3700000. yet to me theſe ſeem no great parts of Gods exceeding Mercy in this Hiſtory; for from ſo many, in ſuch a ſpace, God, without miracle, by affording twins, and preſerving alive, might ordinarily have derived more men then ever were at once upon the whole earth. But whether his decree have appointed a certain number which mankind ſhall not exceed, (as it ſeems to be a reaſonable conjecture of the whole, becauſe in the moſt famous parts it is found to have held; Rome, and159 Venice, and like States never exceeding that number to which they have very ſoon arrived:) Or that the whole earth is able to nouriſh no more, without doubt it is evident, that the world had very long ſince as many ſouls as ever it had, or may be preſumed to have ever hereafter. And it is a very probable conjecture, that the reaſon, why, ſince wolves produce oftner, and more then ſheep, and more ſheep are killed then wolves, yet more ſheep remain, is, becauſe they are cheriſhed by all induſtry. For only there men increaſe, where there is means for their ſuſtentation. That therefore which God did mercifully in this, was, that he propagated them to ſuch numbers under ſuch oppreſſions and deſtructions: for the Egyptians cruelly cauſed them to ſerve,Exod. 1. and made them weary of their lives by ſore labour, with all manner of bondage: yea, their devotion was ſcornfully miſ-interpreted, Becauſe you are idle, you ſay, let160 us go offer to our Lord. Exod. 12.And yet, the more they vexed them, the more they grew;Pſ. 105.24 and hee made them ſtronger then their oppreſſors; And this, though that deſperate law of deſtroying all their male children, had been executed among them.
His Mercy in bringing them from Egypt.Now follows his bringing them from Egypt: And though that were properly a work of Juſtice, becauſe it was the performance of God's promiſe, yet that promiſe was rooted in Mercy: And though hee brought them out In Manu forti, as it is very often repeated, and by effect of miracles, and ſo ſhow'd his power, (for it is written,Pſa. 106.7 he ſaved them for his Names ſake, that he might make his power to be knowne. And in another place,Exo. 14.4 I will get me honour upon Pharoah, and upon all his hoſt) yet reſpecting the time when he did it, (to which his promiſe had not limited him) and for whom he did it, we can contemplate nothing but Mercy. For in the161 ſame place, it is ſaid, Our Fathers underſtood not thy wonders in Egypt, neither remembred the multitude of thy Mercies: ſo that, diverſly beheld, the ſame Act might ſeem all Power, and all Mercy. And at this time we conſider, not that thoſe plagues afflicted Egypt, but the land of Goſhen felt none; and we hear not now the cryes and lamentations for the death of the firſt-born, but we remember, that not a dog opened his mouth againſt the children of Iſrael. Exod. 11.He delivered them then from ſuch an oppreſſor, as would neither let them go, nor live there. From one who increaſed their labours, and diminiſhed their numbers. From one who would neither allow them to be Naturals, nor Aliens. So ambiguous and perplex'd, and wayward is humane policy, when ſhe exceeds her limits, and her ſubject. But God, though his mercy be abundantly enough for all the world, (for ſince he ſwet, and bled Phyſick enough for all, it were more162 eaſie for him, to apply it to all, if that conduced to his ends,) yet becauſe his children were ever froward, and grudged any part to others in this their Delivery, pours out all his ſea of Mercy upon them, and withdraws all from the Egyptians. Therefore he is ſaid to have hardned Pharaoh's heart. Which becauſe it is ſo often repeated (at leaſt nine times) was done certainly all thoſe ways by which God can be ſaid to harden us. Induration.Either Ad captum humanum, when God deſcends to our phraſe of ſpeech, and ſerves our way of apprehending; Or permiſſively, when God, as it were looks another way,Corn. Cell. 5.3. & agrees with that counſell of the Phyſician, It is a diſcreet mans part to let him alone, which cannot be cured; Or ſubſtractively, when he withdrawes that ſpirituall food, which, becauſe it is ordained for children, muſt not be caſt to dogs; Or Occaſionally, when he preſents grace proportioned to a good end, in its own nature and quality,163 which yet he knows the taker will corrupt and envenom it, (for ſo, a Magiſtrate may occaſion evill, though neither he may, nor God can cauſe any;) Or els Ordinately and inſtrumentally, when God, by this Evill, workes a greater good; which yet was not Evill where it firſt grew, in the Paradiſe of Gods purpoſe and decree (for ſo no ſimple is Evill) but becomes ſuch, when it comes to our handling, and mingling ▪ and applying. Yea, that very Act which God puniſhed in Pharaoh, which was the oppreſſion, proceeded from God. For the Pſalmiſt ſays, He hardned their heart to hate his people,Pſ. 105.25 and to deal craftily with his ſervants. Percrius Ex. 1. That ſo by this Violence and this Deceit, they might have a double title to proffeſs themſelves of the Egyptians treaſure. And accordingly for all their preſſures, he brought them away ſound; and rich, for all their deceit:Pſ. 105.37 He brought them forth with ſilver and gold, and there was none feeble in their tribes. Yea it is added, Egypt was glad164 at their departing; which God intimated, when he ſaid,Exo. 11.1 when he letteth you go, he ſhall at once chaſe you hence. Only to paraphraſe the Hiſtory of this Delivery, without amplifying, were furniture and food enough for a meditation of the beſt perſeverence, and appetite, and digeſtion; yea, the leaſt word in the Hiſtory would ſerve a long rumination. If this be in the bark, what is in the tree? If in the ſuperficiall graſs, the letter; what treaſure is there in the hearty and inward Mine, the Miſtick and retired ſenſe? Dig a little deeper, O my poor lazy ſoul, and thou ſhalt ſee that thou, and all mankind are delivered from an Egypt; and more miraculouſly then theſe. For, Almightineſs is ſo naturall to God, that nothing done by his power, is very properly miracles, which is above all Nature. But God delivered us, by that which is moſt contrary to him; by being impotent; by being ſin; by being Dead. That great Pharaoh, whoſe Egypt165 all the world is by uſurpation, (for Pharaoh is but exemptus,Acacius de privilegiis. and privilegiatus; and that Name, (I hope not the Nature) is ſtrai'd into our word Baro) whom God hath made Prince of the air, and Prince of Darkneſs; that is, of all light and aiery illuſions, and of all ſad and earneſt wickedneſs, of Vanity, and of ſin; had made us fetch our own ſtraw, that is, painfully ſeek out light and blaſing Vanities; and then burn his brick, which is, the clay of our own bodies with concupiſcences and ambitions, to build up with our ſelves his Kingdome; He made us travell more for hell, then would have purchaſed Heaven; He enfeebled us from begetting or conceiving Male children, which are our good thoughts, and thoſe few which we had, he ſtrangled in the birth: And then, cameſt thou, O Chriſt, thine own Moſes, and deliveredſt us; not by doing, but ſuffering; not by killing, but dying. Go one ſtep lower, that is higher, and nearer166 to God, O my ſoul, in this Meditation, and thou ſhalt ſee, that even in this moment, when he affords thee theſe thoughts, he delivers thee from an Egypt of dulneſs and ſtupiditie. As often as he moves thee to pray to be delivered from the Egypt of ſin, he delivers thee. And as often as thou promiſeſt him not to return thither, he delivers thee. Thou haſt delivered me, O God, from the Egypt of confidence and preſumption, by interrupting my fortunes, and intercepting my hopes; And from the Egypt of deſpair by contemplation of thine abundant treaſures, and my portion therein; from the Egypt of luſt, by confining my affections; and from the monſtrous and unnaturall Egypt of painfull and weariſome idleneſs, by the neceſſities of domeſtick and familiar cares and duties. Yet as an Eagle, though ſhe enjoy her wing and beak, is wholly priſoner, if ſhe be held by but one talon; ſo are we, though we could be delivered of all habit167 of ſin, in bondage ſtill, if Vanity hold us but by a ſilken thred. But, O God, as mine inward corruptions have made me mine own Pharaoh, and mine own Egypt; ſo thou, by the inhabitation of thy Spirit, and application of thy merit, haſt made me mine own Chriſt; and contenting thy ſelf with being my Medicine, alloweſt me to be my Phyſician. Laſtly, deſcend, O my Soul, to the very Center, which is the very Pole, (for in infinite things, incapable of diſtinction of parts, Higheſt and loweſt are all one) and conſider to what a land of promiſe, and heavenly Hieruſalem God will at laſt bring thee, from the Egypt of this world, & the moſt Egyptiacal part, this fleſh. God is ſo abundantly true, that he ever performes his words more then once. And therefore, as he hath fulfilled that promiſe, Out of Egypt have I called my Son;Mat. 2.15. So will he alſo perform it in every one of his elect; and as when Herod dyed, his Angell appeared to Joſeph in168 Egypt in a dream, to call him thence; So when our perſecutor, our fleſh ſhall dy, and the ſlumber of death ſhall overtake us in this our Egypt, His Angels, ſent from Heaven, or his Angels newly created in us, (which are good deſires of that diſſolution,) or his Miniſteriall Angels in his militant Church, ſhall call and invite us from this Egypt to that Canaan. Between which (as the Iſraelites did) we muſt paſs a deſert; a diſunion and divorce of our body and ſoul, and a ſolitude of the grave. In which, the faithful and diſcreet prayers of them which ſtay behind, may much advantage and benefit us, and themſelves, if therby God may be moved to haſten that judgment which ſhall ſet open Heavens greater gates, at which our Bodyes may enter, and to conſummate and accompliſh our ſalvation.
His Mercy in their Preſervation.The next place is, to conſider his Mercy in their preſervation in the Deſert. For God hath made169 nothing which needs him not, or which would not inſtantly return again to nothing without his ſpecial conſervation: Angels and our Souls are not delivered from this dependancy upon him. As therefore Conſervation is as great a work of Power as Creation; ſo the particuliar wayes of Gods preſerving thoſe ſpecial people in the Wilderneſs, are as great works of Mercy, as the Delivery from Egypt. And though this book of Exodus embrace not all thoſe, yet here are ſome inſtances of every kinde; as well of preſervation from extrinſick violences of War, as intrinſick of Famine; and mix'd, of infirmities and diſeaſes. And becauſe Gods purpoſe had deſtined them to an offenſive War at laſt, let us mark by what degrees he inſtructed and nourſed them to it. They had been ever frozen in ſlavery, without uſe of Arms, or taſte of Honour, or Glory, or Victory. And becauſe they were therfore likely to forſake themſelves, and diſhonour him, God (faith the170 Hiſtory) carried them not by the way of the Philiſtims Country,Exod. 13.17. though that were nearer, leſt they ſhould repent when they ſee Warr, and turn again into Egypt. But preſently after, when he had contracted himſelf to them, and affirmed and affianced his preſence by the Sacrament of the Pillar, he was then content that they ſhould ſee an Army purſuing them; which was not ſo much terrible to them as they were Enemies, as that that they were their Maſters. For then they exclaimed to Moſes,Exod. 14.11. Haſt thou brought us to die in the wilderneſs, becauſe there were no graves in Egypt? Did not we ſay, let us be in reſt, that we may ſerve the Egyptians? So ſoon did a dejection make them call their former bondage, reſt; and ſink down to meet and invite death, when the Lord of life upheld them. And at this time, God uſed not their ſwords at all, yet gave them a full victory. But when this had warm'd them, as ſoon as the Amalekites171 made towards them, they fear'd not, murmur'd not, retir'd not; nay, they expected not: but ſaith Moſes, to Joſhuah, Chuſe us men, and go,Exod. 17.9 fight with Amalek. Which victory, leſt they ſhould attribute to themſelves, and ſo grow too forward in expoſing themſelves, and tempting God; the lifting up, or falling down of Moſes's hands in prayer, that day, ſway'd and govern'd the battell. Which therfore God was eſpecially carefull that the ſouldier ſhould know; for ſo he commanded Moſes, Write that for a remembrance in the book,Exod. 17.14. and rehearſe it to Joſhuah. To their other wars this book extends not: but is full of examples of his other mercies towards them, though they murmur'd; yea, by the words it may well ſeem, they were done becauſe they murmur'd: In the Morning ye ſhall ſee the glory of God, (ſayes Moſes to them) for,Exod. 16.7 he hath heard your grudging againſt him. And again, At evening ſhall the Lord172 give you fleſh;Ver. 8. for the Lord hath heard your murmuring. They murmur'd for water,Exod. 15.24. ſaying, What ſhall we drink? and then God preſented water; but leſt they ſhould attribute all that to the nature of the place, thoſe waters were too bitter to be drunk. Then God would ſweeten them; yet not by Miracle; but to encline them to a reverence of Moſes, he inform'd him, what would do it naturally; as it appears in another place, where the Art of phyſick is extoll'd: Was not the water made ſweet with wood,Eccl. 38.5. that men might know the vertue thereof? And yet, the next time that they murmur'd for water, he gave it them miraculouſly from the rock; to ſhew, that though Moſes was enabled to all naturall works, yet he withdrew not his miraculous preſence from them. And then, when they murmur'd deſperately for meat, Oh that we had dyed in the Land of Egypt,Exo. 16.2. when we ſat by fleſh-pots, &c. the Lord, as though nothing in173 uſe, or in nature, had been precious enough for them, rained down ſuch fowles, as no Naturaliſt ſince can tell what they were: and ſuch a grain, as though it abide the interpretation of panis fortium, and panis Angelorum, yet, ſaith a curious obſerver of thoſe ſubtilties, the name ſignifies,Fra. Geor. problem. fol. 45. Quid eſt hoc? which is eaſily gathered from the very Text, When they ſaw it, they ſaid to one another,Exod. 16.15. it is Man; for they wiſt not what it was. In which,Probl. 351 the ſame Problamiſt obſerves this wonder, that every man took a like proportion, and all were alike ſatisfied, though all could not be of alike appetite and digeſtion. And a greater wonder, and by a better Author is obſerved in it, That it was meat for all taſts,Sap. 16.20 and ſerved to the appetite of him which took it, and was that which every man would. Yet this heavenly food they injured with a wearineſſe of it; and worſe, with their compariſons; for they cried, We remember the fleſh we are in Egypt for174 nought,Num. 11.5. the cucumers, pepons, leeks, onions, and garlick. As though they had been leſſe worth, or they had paid more for it. If then they could chide him into mercy, and make him mercifull not only to their ſin, but for their ſin, where or when may we doubt of his mercy? Of which, we will here end the conſideration; not without an humble acknowledgment, that it is not his leaſt mercy, that we have been thus long poſſeſſed with the meditation thereof: for thus long we have been in the Harbour, but we launch into a main and unknown Sea, when we come to conſider his Power.
Of all the wayes in which God hath expreſſed himſelfe towards us, we have made no word which doth leſſe ſignifie what we mean, then Power: for Power, which is but an ability to do, ever relates to ſome future thing: and God is ever a preſent, ſimple, and pure Act. But we think we have done175 much, and gone far, when we have made up the word Omnipotence, which is both wayes improper; for it is much too ſhort, becauſe Omnipotence ſuppoſes and confeſſes a matter and ſubject to work upon, and yet God was the ſame, when there was nothing. And then it over-reaches, and goes down-wards beyond God: for God hath not, or is not ſuch an Omnipotence, as can do all things; for though ſqueamiſh and tenderer men think it more mannerly to ſay, This thing cannot be done, then, God cannot do this thing; yet it is all one: And if that be an Omnipotence, which is limited with the nature of the worker, or with the congruity of the ſubject, other things may incroach upon the word Omnipotent; that is, they can do all things which are not againſt their nature, or the nature of the matter upon which they work. Beza therefore might well enough ſay, That God could not make a body without place; And Prateolus176 might truly enough infer upon that,Verbo Bezanitae. that the Bezanites (as he calls them) deny omnipotence in God; for both are true. And therefore I doubt not, but it hath ſome myſterie, that the word Omnipotence is not found in all the Bible; nor Omnipotent in the New Teſtament. And where it is in the Old, it would rather be interpreted All-ſufficient, then Almighty; between which there is much difference. God is ſo Al-ſufficient, that he is ſufficient for all, and ſufficient to all: He is enough, and we are in him able enough to take and apply. We fetch part of our wealth, which is our faith, expreſly from his Treaſury: And for our good works, we bring the metall to his Mint, (or that Mint comes to us) and there the Character of Baptiſme, and the impreſſion of his grace, makes them currant, and ſomewhat worth, even towards him. God is all-efficient: that is, hath created the beginning, ordained the way, fore-ſeen the177 end of every thing; and nothing elſe is any kind of cauſe thereof. Yet, ſince this word efficient, is now grown to ſignifie infallibility in God, it reaches not home to that which we mean of God; ſince man is efficient cauſe of his own deſtruction. God is alſo all-conficient: that is, concurs with the nature of every thing; for indeed the nature of every thing is that which he works in it. And as he redeemed not man as he was God, (though the Mercy, and Purpoſe, and Acceptation were only of God) but as God and man; ſo in our repentances and reconciliations, though the firſt grace proceed only from God, yet we concurr ſo, as there is an union of two Hypoſtaſes, Grace, and Nature. Which, (as the incarnation of our Bleſſed Saviour himſelf was) is conceived in us of the Holy Ghoſt, without father; but fed and produced by us; that is, by our will firſt enabled and illumined. For neither God nor man determine mans will; for178 that muſt either imply a neceſſiting therof from God, or elſe Pelagianiſme) but they condetermine it. And thus God is truly all-conficient, that is, concurrent in all; and yet we may not dare to ſay, that he hath any part in ſin. So God is alſo all-perficient: that is, all, and all parts of every work are his intirely: and leſt any might ſeem to eſcape him, and be attributed to Nature or to Art, all things were in him at once, before he made Nature, or ſhe Art. All things which we do to day were done by us in him, before we were made. And now, (when they are produced in time, as they were foreſeen in eternity,) his exciting grace provokes every partiticular good work, and his aſſiſting grace perfects it. And yet we may not ſay, but that God begins many things which we fruſtrate; and calls when we come not. So that, as yet our underſtanding hath found no word, which is well proportioned to that which we mean by power of God; much leſs of that refined and ſubtil179 part thereof, which we chiefly conſider in this place, which is the abſolute and tranſcendent power of Miracles, with which this Hiſtory abounds. For whatſoever God did for his Iſraelits, beſide Miracles, was but an extenſion of his Mercy, and belongs to that Paragraph which we have ended before.
Nature is the Common law by which God governs us, and Miracle is his Prerogative. For Miracles are but ſo many Non-obſtantes upon Nature. And Miracle is not like prerogative in any thing more then in this, that no body can tell what it is. For firſt, Creation and ſuch as that, are not Miracles, becauſe they are not (to ſpeak in that language) Nata fieri per alium modum. And ſo, only that is Miracle, which might be done naturally, and is not ſo done. And then, leſt we allow the Divell a power to do Miracles, we muſt ſay, that Miracle is contra totam Naturam, againſt the whole order and diſpoſition of Nature. For as in Cities, a father governs180 his family by a certain Order, which yet the Magiſtrate of the City may change for the Cities good, and a higher Officer may change the Cities Order; but none, all, except the King: ſo, I can change ſome naturall things (as I can make a ſtone fly upward) a Phyſician more, and the Divell more then he; but only God can change all. And after that is out of neceſſity eſtabliſhed, that Miracle is againſt the whole Order of Nature, I ſee not how there is left in God a power of Miracles. For, the Miracles which are produced to day, were determined and inſerted into the body of the whole Hiſtory of Nature (though they ſeem to us to be but interlineary and Marginall) at the beginning, and are as infallible and certain, as the moſt Ordinary and cuſtomary things. Which is evicted and approved by that which Lactantius ſays, and particularly proves,De vera Sap. c. 15. that all Chriſts Miracles were long before prophecied. So that truly nothing can be done againſt181 the Order of Nature. For, Saint Auguſtine ſays truly,Cont. Fauſtum l. 26. c. 3. That is Naturall to each thing, which God doth, from whom proceeds all Faſhion, Number and Order of Nature: for that God, whoſe Decree is the Nature of every thing, ſhould do againſt his own Decree, if he ſhould do againſt Nature. As therefore if we underſtood all created Nature, nothing would be Mirum to us; ſo if we knew Gods purpoſe, nothing would be Miraculum. For certainly, thoſe Miracles which Moſes did, after God had once revealed to Moſes, that he would do them, were not Miracles to him, no more then the works of the Conjurers, which ex Ratione Rei, were as true as his. But the expreſſing of his power at this time was, that in the ſight of ſuch underſtanders and workmaſters, as the Magi were, he would do more without any Inſtrument conducing to thoſe ends, then they could do by their beſt inſtrument, the Divell; and ſo182 draw from them that confeſſion, Digitus Dei hìc eſt: for elſe who could have diſtinguiſhed between his and their works, or denied the name of Miracle to theirs? for they (not to depart at this time from vulgar Philoſophy; not that I bind your faith to it, but that if we abandon this, it is not eaſie and ready to conſtitute another ſo defenſible) by their power of locall Motion, and Application of Active and paſſive things, could oppoſe matter to heate, and ſo produce frogs truly; yea, when ſuch things are brought together by ſuch a workman, he can by them produce greater effects then nature could. As an Axe and timber being in the hand of a Statuary, he can make an Image; which they two, or a leſs skilfull Agent could not do. But God wrought not ſo: But, as Arnobius ſayes, he did them, Sine vi carminum,Adverſus Gent. l. 1. ſine herbarum aut graminum ſuccis, ſine ulla obſervatione ſollicita:De vera ſap. c. 15. but verbo, & juſſione, as Lactantius notes. By183 which means Arnobius pronounces, none of the Philoſophers could cure an Itch;Adv. gent. l. 2. Nemo Philoſophorum potuit unquam ſcabiem, unâ interdictione ſanare. Another expreſſing of his power, was in this, that when he would, he intercepted their power; which was, when they attempted to make Cyniphs. For that is a kind of treaſon, and clipping God's coyn, to ſay, that they were hindered by naturall cauſes, for, if thoſe Cyniphs werelice, (as many Tranſlations call them) and if ſweat be the matter of them, and the Divel could not ordinarily provide ſtore of that, yet I ſay, their credit ſtood not upon the ſtory, but the fact: And then the Divel knew natural means, to warm and diſtill multitudes of men into ſweats: And laſt, if they were ſuch vermine, yet they are agreed to be of that kind which infeſt dogs; and they never ſweat. And if by Cyniph be expreſs'd ſome flie, not made till then, and then of putrefaction184 (for it were too much to allow creatures of a new Species,) certainly, the Divell can produce all ſuch. Either then the creature being meerly new, the Divell underſtood not of what it was compoſed; Or God changed the form of Duſt into another form, which the Divell could never do; or elſe, God manacled his hand in the eaſieſt thing, to confound him the more; for after this, it appears not that the Magi attempted to do any more Miracles. To diſcountenance then their deceits, and withall to afflict the Land of Egypt, was the principall purpoſe of God in theſe Miracles: not to declare himſelf, or beget faith; for he doth not alwayes bind miracles to faith, nor faith to miracles. He will ſomtimes be believed without them; and ſomtimes ſpend them upon unbelievers; leſt men ſhould think their faith gave ſtrength to his power. For though it be ſaid,Mark 6.5. Chriſt could do no great works in his own countrey, for185 their unbeliefe: yet he did ſome there; which Saint Hierom ſayes,Ema. Sacrâ, in hunc locum. was done, leſt they ſhould be excuſable, having ſeen no Miracle: And he did not many, leaſt, as Theophylact ſayes, he ſhould after many Miracles reſiſted, have been forced in juſtice to a ſeverer punniſhment of them. But becauſe the danger of beleeving falſe miracles is extreamly great, and the eſſentiall differences of falſe and true, very few, and very obſcure, (for what humane underſtanding can diſcern, whether they be wrought immediately, or by ſecond cauſes; And then for the end to which they are addreſſed, what ſect of Chriſtians, or what ſect departed from all Chriſtians, will refuſe to ſtand to that law? If there ariſe a Prophet, and he give a wonder,Deut. 13.1. and the wonder come to paſſe, ſaying, let us go after other Gods, that Prophet ſhal be ſlaine.) I encline to think, that God for the moſt part, works his miracles rather to ſhew his Power, then Mercy, and to terrifie enemies,186 rather then comfort his children. For miracles leſſen the merit of faith. And our Bleſſed Saviour ſaid to the Phariſees, An evill anoadulterous generation ſeeketh a ſign, And John Baptiſt,Mat. 12.38 Joh. 10. in whom there ſeems to have been moſt uſe of Miracles, did none. And though in this delivery from Egypt, for Pharaoh's hardneſs, God abounded in Miracles, yet in their delivery from Babylon, (of which in reſpect of this, the Prophet ſays, The day ſhall come,Her•. 16. ſaith the Lord, that it ſhall no more be ſaid, The Lord liveth, that brought his ſons out of the land of Egypt; But the Lord liveth, that brought his ſons out of the land of the North) God proceeded without Miracles. And though in propagation of Chriſtian Religion in the new diſcoveries, the Jeſuites have recorded infinite Miracles, yet the beſt amongſt them ingenuouſly deny it;Jo. Acoſta. de procur. Jud. ſal. l. 2. c. 9. And one gives this for a reaſon, why Miracles are not afforded by God now, as well as in the primitive Church, ſince the occaſion187 ſeems to be the ſame, That then ignorant men were ſent to preach Chriſtianity amongſt men armed and inſtructed againſt it, with all kindes of learnings and philoſophies; but now learned men are ſent to the ignorant; and are ſuperiour to them in Reaſon and in Civility, and in Authority; and beſides, preſent them a Religion leſs incredible then their own. I ſpeak not thus, to cheriſh their opinion, who think God doth no Miracle now: that were to ſhorten his power, or to underſtand his counſels; but to reſiſt theirs, who make Miracles ordinary. For, beſides that it contradicts and deſtroyes the Nature of Miracle, to be frequent, God at firſt poſſeſt his Church, (Fortiter) by conqueſt of Miracles; but he governs it now, (ſuaviter) like an indulgent King, by a law which he hath let us know. God forbid I ſhould diſcredit or diminiſh the great works that he hath done at the tombs of his Martyrs, or at the pious188 and devout commemoration of the ſanctity and compaſſion of his moſt Bleſſed Mother. But to ſet her up a Banke almoſt in every good Town, and make her keep a ſhop of Miracles greater then her Sons,Miracula B. Virg. ab Anno 1581 ad 1605. fo. 150. (for is it not ſo, to raiſe a childe, which was born dead, and had been buried ſeventeen days, to ſo ſmall end?) (for it died again as ſoon as it was carried from her ſight) is fearfull and dangerous to admit. God forbid, I ſhould deny or obſcure the power and practice of our bleſſed Saviour, and his Apoſtles, in caſting out Divels in the primitive Church: but that the Roman Church ſhould make an Occupation of it, and bind Apprentices to it (for ſuch are thoſe little boys whom they make Exorciſts) and then make them free when they receive greater Orders, and yet forbid them to ſet up, or utter their ware but where they appoint, is ſcarce agreeable to the firſt Examples, I dare not ſay, Inſtitution; for I ſee not that this189 Order had any. Why we do not ſo, the reaſon is, becauſe non fuit ſic ab initio: And no hardneſſe of heart is enough to juſtifie a toleration of theſe devout deceits and holy lyes, as they are often called amongſt themſelves. The Power of God, which we cannot name, needs not our help. And this very Hiſtory (in expounding of which Pererius inculcates ſo often, Non multiplicanda miracula) which ſeems the principalleſt record of Gods Miracles, though literally it ſeem to be directed to his enemies, by often expreſſing his power; yet to his children it inſinuates an Admonition, to beware of Miracles, ſince it tels them how great things the Divel did: And that his giving over in no great thing, but the leaſt of all, ſhows, That that was not a cancelling of his Patent, which he had in his Creation, but onely a Superſedeas not to execute it at that time. For, (excepting the ſtaying of the Sun, and carrying it back (if it be cleer that the body190 of the Sun was carried back, and not the ſhadow only) and a very few more) it appears enough, that the Divell hath done oftner greater Miracles, then the children of God: For God delights not ſo much in the exerciſe of his Power, as of his Mercy and Juſtice, which partakes of both the other: For Mercy is his Paradiſe and garden, in which he deſcends to walk and converſe with man: Power his Army and Arſenel, by which he protects and overthrows: Juſtice his Exchequer, where he preſerves his own Dignity, and exacts our Forfeitures.
Even at firſt God intimated how unwillingly he is drawn to execute Juſtice upon tranſgreſſors; for he firſt exerciſed all the reſt: Mercy, in purpoſing our Creation; Power, in doing it; and Judgment, in giving us a Law: Of which the written part was in a volume and character ſo familiar and inward to us (for it was written in our hearts, and by Nature)191 as needed no Expoſitor: And that part which was vocall, and delivered by Edict and Proclamation, was ſo ſhort, ſo perſpicuous, and ſo eaſie (for it was but prohibitory, and exacted nothing from Man) as it is one of the greateſt ſtrangeneſſes in the Story, that they could ſo ſoon forget the Text thereof, and not eſpy the Serpents additions and falſifications. And then at laſt God interpoſed his Juſtice; yet not ſo much for Justice ſake, as to get opportunitie of new Mercy, in promiſing a Redeemer; of new Power, in raiſing again bodies made mortall by that ſin; and of new Judgments, in delivering, upon more communications, a more particular law, apparelled with Ceremonies, the cement and mortar of all exterior, and often the inflamer of interior Religion. So that almoſt all Gods Juſtice is but Mercy: as all our Mercy is but Juſtice; for we are all mutuall debtors to one another; but he to none. Yea, both his Nature, and his will are192 ſo condition'd, as he cannot do Juſtice ſo much as man can. For, for his will, though he neither will nor can do any thing againſt Juſtice, he doth many things beſide it. Nothing unjuſtly, but many things not juſtly: for he rewards beyond our Merits, and our ſins are beyond his puniſhments. And then, we have exerciſe as well of Commutative Juſtice as Diſtributive; God only of the later, ſince he can receive nothing from us. And indeed, Diſtributive Juſtice in God, is nothing but Mercy. So that there is but one limb of Juſtice left to God, which is Puniſhment; And of that, all the degrees on this ſide finall condemnation, are acts of Mercy. So that the Vulture, by which ſome of the Ancients figured Juſtice, was a juſt ſymbole of this Juſtice;Pierius li. 18. for as that bird prayes onely upon Carcaſſes, and upon nothing which lives; ſo this Juſtice apprehends none but ſuch as are dead and putrified in ſin and impenitence.
193To proceed then: All ordinary ſignifications of Juſtice will conveniently be reduced to theſe two, Innocence, which in the Scriptures is every where called Righteouſneſſe: or elſe Satisfaction for tranſgreſſions, which, though Chriſt have paid aforehand for us all, and ſo we are rather pardoned then put to ſatisfaction; yet we are bound at Gods tribunall to plead our pardon, and to pay the fees of contrition and pennance. For, ſince our juſtificaon now conſiſts not in a pacification of God, (for then nothing but that which is infinite could have any proportion) but in the application of the merits of Chriſt to us, our contrition (which is a compaſſion with Chriſt, and ſo an incorporating of our ſelves into his merit) hath aliqualem proportionem to Gods Juſtice; and the paſſion of Chriſt had not aequalem, but that Gods acceptation (which alſo dignifies our contrition, though not to that height) advanced it to that worthineſſe. 194To enquire further the way and manner by which God makes a few do acceptable works; or, how out of a corrupt lumpe he ſelects and purifies a few, is but a ſtumbling block and a tentation: Who asks a charitable man that gives him an almes, where he got it, or why he gave it? will any favorite, whom his Prince only for his appliableneſs to him, or ſome half-vertue, or his own glory, burdens with Honours and Fortunes every day, and deſtines to future Offices and Dignities, diſpute or expoſtulate with his Prince, why he rather choſe not another, how he will reſtore his Coffers; how he will quench his peoples murmurings, by whom this liberality is fed; or his Nobility, with whom he equalls new men; and will not rather repoſe himſelf gratefully in the wiſdome, greatneſs & bounty of his Maſter? Will a languiſhing deſperate patient, that hath ſcarce time enough to ſwallow the potion, examine the Phyſician, how he procured195 thoſe ingredients, how that ſoyle nouriſhed them, which humor they affect in the body, whether they work by exceſs of quality, or ſpecifically; whether he have prepared them by correcting, or elſe by withdrawing their Malignity; and for ſuch unneceſſary ſcruples neglect his health? Alas, our time is little enough for prayer, and praiſe, and ſociety; which is, for our mutuall duties. Morall Divinity becomes us all; but Naturall Divinity, and Metaphyſick Divinity, almoſt all may ſpare. Almoſt all the ruptures in the Chriſtian Church have been occaſioned by ſuch bold diſputations De Modo. One example is too much. That our Bleſſed Saviours body is in the Sacrament, all ſay; The Roman Church appoints it to be there by Tranſubſtantiation. The needleſs multiplying of Miracles for that opinion hath moved the French and Helvetick reformed Churches to find the word Sacramentally; which, becauſe it puts the body196 there, and yet no nearer then Heaven to Earth, ſeems a riddle to the Saxon and ſuch Churches; whoſe modeſty (though not clearneſs) ſeems greateſt in this Point; ſince beleeving the reall being of it there, they abſtain generally (though ſome bold adventurers amongſt them alſo do exorbitate) from pronouncing De Modo. The like tempeſts hath the inquiſition De Modo, rais'd in the article of Deſcent into Hell, even in our Church; and of the conveyance of Gods grace (which was the occaſion of this digreſſion) in the Roman at this day. But to decline this ſad contemplation, and to further our ſelves in the Meditation of Gods juſtice declared, in this Hiſtory, let me obſerve to you, that God in his Scriptures hath Regiſtred eſpecially three ſymbols or Sacraments, of uſe in this matter. One in Geneſis, of pure and meer Juſtice,Cha. 3.22. vindicative, and permanent; which is, The Cherubim and fiery ſword placed in Paradiſe,197 to keep out, not only Adam, but his Poſterity. The ſecond in Exodus, of pure and only Mercy,Ch. 25.17 which is the modell and fabrick of the Mercy ſeate, under the ſhadow of two Cherubims wings. The third, partaking of both Mercy and Juſtice, and a Memoriall and ſeal of both, is the Rainebow after the Deluge. Gen. 9.14.The firſt of theſe, which is of meer Juſtice, is ſo figurative, and ſo myſtick, and ſo unfit for Example or conſequence, and ſo diſputable whether it laſted long, or ever were literally, that it ſeems God had no purpoſe to deliver any evident teſtimony of ſo ſevere and meer Juſtice. But that of meer Mercy, he made ſo familiar, that only deviſing the form himſelf, he committed the making of it to man: and ſo affiancing and binding his Mercy to mans work, did, as it were, put his Mercy into our hands. Yet that alſo is long ſince tranſlated from us: and there remains only the middle one, more convenient, and proportionall,198 and uſefull. For, as it betokens his Juſtice in the precedent deluge, or his Merey in aſſuring us from any future; ſo is it made of naturall and well known cauſes, (and thereby familiar to us) and yet became a Sacrament by Gods ſpeciall inſtitution then. Hom. 28. in Gen.And, though it ſhould be true which Chryſoſtome ſays, That it was a new miracle then, and never appeared before;De Noe & Area, cap. 27 yea, though that could be true which Ambroſe, ſomewhat againſt the text, and directly againſt the other Expoſitors, ſays, That the Bow mentioned there was not a Rainbow, but that A bow in the clouds, ſignifies only, The power of God in perſecution, and thereupon he obſerves, that God ſays, A Bow, but ſays not Arrows, to inflict terror, not wounds; Every way, I ſay, it doth the office of remembring Gods Juſtice and Mercy together. And accordingly, in this large and particular Hiſtory of Gods Juſtice and Perſecution, both towards his children, and his enemies, if we199 conſider their laborious waſte and maceratings of their bodies by hot and intemperate labour; All their contempts, and ſcorns, and aviling, and annihilating in the eye of the Egyptians; All their Orbity, and enfeebling their race by the Edict of deſtroying their male children; All their deviations and ſtrayings forty years, in a paſſage of a few dayes; and all their penuries and battels in that journey; And then for the Egyptians, if we looke upon all their afflictions, firſt of plagues hatefull to their ſenſes, then noiſome to their fruites, then to their cattel, then to their bodies, then to their poſterity, then to their lives, excepting only the drowning of the Egyptians in the ſea, and the killing of the Iſraelites by their own hands in their guiltineſſe of Idolatry with the Calfe, it will ſcarce be found that any of the afflictions proceeded from meer Juſtice, but were rather as Phyſick, and had only a medicinall bitterneſſe in them. It remains, for determination200 of this Meditation, that we ſpeake a little of Gods Judgements.
And at this time, (as by infinite places in the Scriptures we are directed) we call Gods Judgements, all thoſe lawes and directions by which he hath informed the Judgements of his children, and by which he governes his Judgements with or againſt them. For otherwiſe this word Judgement hath alſo three profane, and three Divine acceptations. Of the firſt ſort, the firſt ſerves contemplations only, and ſo, Judgement is the laſt act of our underſtanding, and a concluſive reſolution: which both in private ſtudies, and at Counſail tables, many want, though endued with excellent abilities of objecting, diſputing, infirming, yea deſtroying others allegations; yet are not able to eſtabliſh or propoſe any other from themſelves. Theſe men, whether you conſult them in Religion, or State, or Law,201 onely when they are joyned with others, have good uſe, becauſe they bring doubts into diſceptation; elſe, they are, at leaſt unprofitable: and are but as Simpliciſts, which know the venom and peccant quality of every herbe, but cannot fit them to Medicin; or ſuch a Lapidary, which can ſoone ſpie the flaw, but not mend it with ſetting. Judgement in the Second acceptation ſerves for practice, and is almoſt ſynonimous with Diſcretion; when we conſider not ſo much the thing which we then do, as the whole frame and machine of the buſineſſe, as it is complexioned and circumſtanced with time, and place, and behoders: and ſo, make a thing, which was at moſt but indifferent, good. The third way, Judgement ſerves not only preſent practice, but enlightens, and almoſt governs poſterity; and theſe are Decrees and Sentences, and Judgments in Courts. The phraſe of Divinity alſo accepts Judgment three wayes; for ſomtimes it is202 ſevere and meer Juſtice, as, [Judgment muſt begin at the houſe of God,]1 Pet. 4.7. And many ſuch. And Judgment in this ſenſe, is deep and unſearchable. For, though Solomon pronounce,Eccl. 7.17. [There is a juſt man that periſheth in his juſtice, and there is a wicked man that continueth long in his malice;] yet he enquires for no reaſon of it:Pſa. 36.6. For, [Gods righteouſneſs is like the mountains] eminent and inviting our contemplation towards Heaven; but, [his Judgments are like a great deep,] terrible and bottomleſs, and declining us towards the center of horrour and deſperation. Theſe judgments we cannot meaſure nor fathome; yet, for all that, we muſt more then beleeve them to be juſt; for the Apoſtle ſays, We know the Judgement of God is according to truth. Rom. 2.2.But yet oftentimes Judgement ſignifies not meer Juſtice, but as it is attempred and ſweetned with Mercy. For, by the phraſe of the Pſalmiſt, [Judicabit populum in Juſtitia,Pſa. 72.2. &203 pauperes in Judicio] and many ſuch,Reuch. de Arte Cabul. l. 1. the Cabaliſts (as one which underſtood them well, obſerves) have concluded, that the word Judgment applyed to God, hath every where a mixt and participant nature, and intimates both Juſtice and Mercy. And thirdly, the Talmudiſts have ſtraitned the word, and reſtrain'd Judgment to ſignifie only the Judiciall part of the law: and ſay, the Holy Ghoſt ſo directed them, in Deut. [Theſe are the commandments, and the Ceremonies, and the Judgments, which the Lord commanded.] And they proceed further; for,Deu. 4.13. Becauſe Gods Covenant and his ten Commandements are ſaid ſimply to be given them, and without any limitation of time or place, they confeſs, they are bound to them ever, and every where; but, becauſe his Ordinances and his law, (which in the Original is, Ceremonies and Judgments) are thus delivered,Ver. 5. [You ſhall keep them in the Land which you go to poſſeſſe] they therefore now cut off Ceremonies204 and Judgements, from the body of the law,Galatinus, l. 11. c. 3. and in their diſperſion bind not themſelves to them, but where they may with convenience enough. But here we take the word Judgment intirely, to ſignifie all the law: for, ſo the Pſalmiſts ſpeaks,Pſ. 147.19 [He ſhowes his word unto Jacob, his Statutes and his Judgments unto Iſrael; he hath not dealt ſo with every Nation, nor have they known his Judgements]. For here Judgements are as much as all the reſt. And God himſelf in that laſt peice of his which he commanded Moſes to record,Deut. 32.4 that Heavenly Song which onely himſelf compos'd, (for though every other poetick part of Scripture, be alſo Gods word, and ſo made by him, yet all the reſt were Miniſterially and inſtrumentally delivered by the Prophets, onely inflamed by him; but this which himſelf cals a Song, was made immediately by himſelf, and Moſes was commanded to deliver it to the Children; God chooſing this way and conveyance of a205 Song, as fitteſt to juſtifie his future ſeverities againſt his children, becauſe he knew that they would ever be repeating this Song, (as the Delicacy, and Elegancy therof, both for Divinity and Poetry, would invite any to that) and ſo he ſhould draw from their own mouthes a confeſſion of his benenefits, and of their ingratitude;) in this Song, I ſay, himſelf beſt expreſſes the value of this word thus, [All my wayes are Judgement.]
The greatneſs of this benefit or bleſſing of giving them a law, was not that ſalvation was due to the fulfilling of it; nor were they bound to a perfect fulfilling of it upon damnation; for, Salvation was ever from a faith in the promiſe of the Meſſias; and accordingly the Apoſtle reaſons ſtrongly, [The promiſe of Chriſt to Abraham was 430 years before the law,Gal. 3.17. and therefore this cannot diſannull that] and yet this to Abraham was but an iteration of the promiſe formerly given, and206 iterated often. But one benefit of the Law was, that it did in ſome meaſure reſtore them towards the firſt light of Nature: For, if man had kept that, he had neeeded no outward law; for then he was to himſelf a law, having all law in his heart; as God promiſeth for one of the greateſt bleſſings under the Goſpel, when the Law of Nature is more cleerly reſtored:Jer. 13.31. [I will make a new Covenant, and put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts:] So that we are brought neerer home, and ſet in a fairer way then the Jews; though their and our Law differ not as diverſe in ſpecies;Tho. 12 ae. q. 51.5. but as a perfect and grown thing from an unperfect and growing: for to that firſt Law all Laws aſpire. As we may obſerve in the Jews, who, after the Law of Nature was clouded and darkened in man by ſin, framed to themſelves many directive laws, before the promulgation of this Law in the Deſart. Bretram. De politica Judaica. c. 2. For we may eaſily trace out, beſides Circumciſion, (which was207 commanded) Sabboths, Sacrifices of divers ſorts, Expiatory and Euchariſticall, Vows, Excommunication, Buriall and Marriage, before the written Law. But theſe had but half the nature of Law; they did direct, but not correct; they did but counſell, not command: and they were not particular enough to do that office fully; for they ſhew'd not all. Ro. 3.20.Therefore Saint Paul ſayes of Moſes's Law, and the ſufficiency of it,Ro. 4.15. By the Law comes the knowledge of ſin. And in another place, Where no Law is, there is no tranſgreſſion: And again, When the Commandement came, ſin revived; that is,Rom. 7.9. it revived to his underſtanding and conſcience: For, that ſin was before any written commandement, himſelf cleers it; Ʋnto the time of the Law was ſin in the world;Ro. 3.15. but ſin is not imputed when there is no law. Not that God imputes it not; (for there is always enough within us for him to try us by; and his written Laws are but Declaratory of the former;) but we208 impute it not to our ſelves, by confeſſion and repentance. This therefore is the benefit of the Law, that (as Calvin upon this place ſayes) Arguit, objurgat, & vellicando nos expergefacit. Lev. 24.10We read in Leviticus, That a Blaſphemer was ſtoned, and after his execution a law was made againſt Blaſphemers: If it had been made before, perchance he had not periſhed. Oftentimes lawes, though they be ambiguous, yea impoſſible, avert men from doing many things, which may, in their fear, be drawn within the compaſs of that Law. Not to go far for Examples; without doubt, our Law which makes Multiplication Felony, keeps many from doing things which may be ſo called, for any thing they know, though perchance no body know what Multiplication is. And our Law, which makes it Felony to feed a Sprit, holds many from that melancholick and miſchievous beleef of making ſuch an expreſs Covenant with the Divell, though every body know it is impoſſible209 to feed a ſpirit. Another benefit of the law, (taking the law at large, for all the Scriptures, as the Apoſtle doth, [Tell me,Galat. 4 you that are under the law, have you not read in the law, &c.] and then cites a place out of Geneſis, before the law was given; And as Saint John ſays,Joh. 15.25 [It is written in the law] and then cites the 35 Pſalm) is, that it hath prepar'd us to Chriſt, by manifold and evident propheſies. Which uſe the Apoſtle makes of it thus, [Before faith came (that is to ſay,Gal. 3.24 the fulfilling of faith, for faith was ever) we were kept under the law, and ſhut up unto the faith which ſhould after be revealed: wherefore the law was our ſchoolmaſter to bring us to Chriſt.] Laſtly, the law benefits us thus, that it wraſtles with that other law which St. Paul found himſelfe not only ſubject to, but ſlave to,Rom. 7.13 [I am Captive to the law of ſin.] And, [I ſerve in my fleſh the law of ſin.] Theſe then were the advantages of the law; And had it any diſadvantages? 210It is true, the laws were many; for, as the frame of our body hath 248 bones,Fra. Geor. To. 2. prob. 8. ſo the body of the law had ſo many affirmative precepts; and of the ſame number conſiſted Abrahams name, to whoſe ſeed the Meſſias, to whoſe knowledg all the law conduced, was promiſed. It hath alſo 365 negative precepts; and ſo many ſinews and ligatures hath our body, and ſo many dayes the year. But, not to purſue theſe curioſities, beſides that, multiplicity of laws, (becauſe thereby little is left to the diſcretion of the Judg) is not ſo burdenous as it is thought, except it be in a captious, and entangling, and needy State; or under a Prince too indulgent to his own Prerogative: All this great number of lawes are obſerved by one,Galatinus. l. 11. c. 4. who (Capnio ſays) was breath'd upon by the Holy Ghoſt, to have been reduced by David to 11, by Eſay to 6, by Micheas to 3, and by Abacuc to one. The Lawgiver himſelf reduced them in the Decalogue to ten, and therefore211 the Cabaliſts marke myſteriouſly,Fra. Geor. ibid. that in the Decalogue there are juſt ſo many letters, as there are precepts in the whole law. Yet certainly the number and intricacy and perplexity of theſe laws, (for their later Rabins, which make the Orall law their rule,Buxdorfius Synag. Jud. c. 4. fo. 44. inſiſt upon many both contradictions and imperfections in the letter of this law,) was extremely burdenous to the punctuall obſervers thereof. Yet, to ſay peremptorily that it could not be obſerved, ſeems to me, haſty. Though Calvin,Marlorate in hunc locum. citing Saint Hierome, [Si quis dixerit, impoſſibile eſſe ſervare legem, Anathema ſit] ſay wiſely and truly, that Hierom muſt not prevail ſo much as he which ſays, Why tempt you God, to lay a yoke upon the Diſciples necks,Act 15.10. which neither our Fathers nor we are able to bear? Yet that place in Deut. 30.8. hath as much Authority as this [Do all the Commandements which I command thee this day;] therefore they might be done. And in another verſe it is ſaid of all the212 Commandments, laws and Ordinances together, [This Commandement is not hid from thee, nor far off; It is not in heaven, that thou ſhouldeſt ſay, who ſhall go up, and bring it down; nor beyond ſea, that thou ſhouldſt ſay, who ſhal go beyond ſea and fetch it: but it is near thee, in thy mouth, and in thy heart.] For, though the Prophet in Gods perſon ſay,Eze. 20.25 Dedi eis praecepta non bona; it was but in compariſon of the laws of the Goſpel: As our Saviour calls his Apoſtles evill comparatively;Mat. 7.11 [Yee which are evill, can give good things.] For ſimply,Homil. ad Rom. 13. in ver. 25. cap. 7. ad Rom. the law was good; And, as Chryſoſtome ſays, ſo eaſie, that they were eaſier things which were commanded by the written law, then by the law of Nature: As, to my underſtanding, in the point of concupiſence it is evident; which in the firſt law of Nature, and now in the Goſpel, is prohibited, but was not ſo in the letter of the written law. Ibid.So much therefore as was required of them, (for ſo Calvin213 ſays) that is, to make the law a bridle, and a direction to them, was poſſible to them: and he concludes this point, and I with him, That even the regenerate do but half that themſelves, the grace of God perfecting the reſt.
O Eternall God, as thou didſt admit thy faithfull ſervant Abraham, to make the granting of one petition an incouragement and riſe to another, and gaveſt him leave to gather upon thee from fifty to ten; ſo I beſeech thee, that ſince by thy grace, I have thus long meditated upon thee, and ſpoken of thee, I may now ſpeak to thee. As thou haſt enlightned and enlarged me to contemplate thy greatneſs, ſo, O God, deſcend thou and ſtoop down to ſee my infirmities and the Egypt in which I live; and (If thy good pleaſure be ſuch) haſten mine Exodus and deliverance, for I deſire to be, diſolved, and be with thee. O Lord, I moſt humbly acknowledg and confeſs215 thine infinite Mercy, that when thou hadſt almoſt broke the ſtaff of bread, and called a famine of thy word almoſt upon all the world, then thou broughteſt me into this Egypt, where thou hadſt appointed thy ſtewards to husband thy bleſſings, and to feed thy ſtock. Here alſo, O God, thou haſt multiplied thy children in me, by begetting and cheriſhing in me reverent devotions, and pious affections towards thee, but that mine own corruption, mine own Pharaoh hath ever ſmothered and ſtrangled them. And thou haſt put me in my way towards thy land of promiſe, thy Heavenly Canaan, by removing me from the Egypt of frequented and populous, glorious places, to a more ſolitary and deſart retiredneſs, where I may more ſafely feed upon both thy Mannaes, thy ſelf in thy Sacrament, and that other, which is true Angells food, contemplation of thee. O Lord, I moſt humbly acknowledg and confeſs, that I feel in me ſo many ſtrong effects of thy Power, as only for the Ordinarineſs216 and frequency thereof, they are not Miracles. For hourly thou rectifieſt my lameneſs, hourly thou reſtoreſt my ſight, and hourly not only delivereſt me from the Egypt, but raiſeſt me from the death of ſin. My ſin, O God, hath not onely cauſed thy deſcent hither, and paſſion here; but by it I am become that hell into which thou deſcendedſt after thy Paſſion; yea, after thy glorification: for hourly thou in thy Spirit deſcendeſt into my heart, to overthrow there Legions of ſpirits of Diſobedience, and Incredulity, and Murmuring. O Lord, I most humbly acknowledg and confeſſe, that by thy Mercy I have a ſenſe of thy Justice; for not onely thoſe afflictions with which it pleaſeth thee to exerciſe mee, awaken me to conſider how terrible thy ſevere juſtice is; but even the rest and ſecurity which thou affordeſt mee, puts me often into fear, that thou reſerveſt and ſpareſt me for a greater meaſure of puniſhment. O Lord, I most humbly acknowledg217 and confeſſe, that I have underſtood ſin, by underſtanding thy laws and judgments; but have done against thy known and revealed will. Thou haſt ſet up many candlesticks, and kindled many lamps in mee; but I have either blown them out, or carried them to guide me in by and forbidden ways. Thou haſt given mee a deſire of knowledg, and ſome meanes to it, and ſome poſſeſſion of it; and I have arm'd my ſelf with thy weapons againſt thee: Yet, O God, have mercy upon me, for thine own ſake have mercy upon me. Let not ſin and me be able to exceed thee, nor to defraud thee, nor to fruſtrate thy purpoſes: But let me, in deſpite of Me, be of ſo much uſe to thy glory, that by thy mercy to my ſin, other ſinners may ſee how much ſin thou canst pardon. Thus ſhow mercy to many in one: And ſhew thy power and al-mightineſſe upon thy ſelf, by casting manacles upon thine own hands, and calling back thoſe Thunder-bolts which thou hadſt thrown againſt me. Show218 thy Juſtice upon the common Seducer and Devourer of us all: and ſhow to us ſo much of thy Judgments, as may inſtruct, not condemn us. Hear us, O God, hear us, for this contrition which thou haſt put into us, who come to thee with that watch-word, by which thy Son hath aſſured us of acceſs. Our Father which art in Heaven, &c.
O Eternal God, who art not only firſt and laſt, but in whom, firſt and laſt is all one, who art not only all Mercy, and all Juſtice, but in whom Mercy and Justice is all one; who in the height of thy Juſtice, wouldeſt not ſpare thine own, and only moſt innocent Son; and yet in the depth of thy mercy, would'ſt not have the wretched'st liver come to deſtruction; Behold us, O God, here gathered together in thy fear, according to thine ordinance, and in confidence of thy promiſe, that when two or three are gathered together in thy name, thou wilt be in the midſt of them, and grant219 them their petitions. We confeſs, O God, that we are not worthy ſo much as to confeſs; leſs to be heard, leaſt of all to be pardoned our manifold ſins and tranſgreſſions againſt thee. We have betrayed thy Temples to prophaneſs, our bodies to ſenſuality, thy fortreſſes to thine enemy, our ſoules to Satan. We have armed him with thy munition to fight againſt thee, by ſurrendring our eyes, and eares, all our ſenſes, all our faculties to be exerciſed and wrought upon, and tyrannized by him. Vanities and diſguiſes have covered us, and thereby we are naked; licenciouſneſs hath inflam'd us, and thereby we are frozen; voluptuouſneſs hath fed us, and therby we are ſterved, the fancies and traditions of men have taught and instructed us, and thereby we are ignorant. Theſe diſtempers, thou only, O God, who art true, and perfect harmonie, canſt tune, and rectify, and ſet in order again. Doe ſo then, O moſt Mercifull Father, for thy moſt innocent Sons ſake: and ſince he hath ſpread his armes220 upon the croſs, to receive the whole world, O Lord, ſhut out none of us (who are now fallen before the throne of thy Majeſty and thy Mercy) from the benefit of his merits; but with as many of us, as begin their converſion and newneſs of life, this minute, this minute, O God, begin thou thy account with them, and put all that is paſt out of thy remembrance. Accept our humble thanks for all thy Mercies; and, continue and enlarge them upon the whole Church, &c.
O Moſt glorious and moſt gracious God, into whoſe preſence our own conſciences make us afraid to come, and from whoſe preſence we cannot hide our ſelves, hide us in the wounds of thy Son, our Saviour Chriſt Jeſus; And though our ſins be as red as ſcarlet, give them there another redneſs, which may be acceptable in thy ſight. We renounce, O Lord, all our confidence in this world; for this221 world paſſeth away, and the luſts thereof: Wee renounce all our confidence in our own merits for we have done nothing in reſpect of that which we might have done; neither could we ever have done any ſuch thing, but that ſtill we must have remained unprofitable ſervants to thee; we renounce all confidence, even in our own confeſſions, and accuſations of our ſelf; for our ſins are above number, if we would reckon them; above weight and meaſure, if we would weigh and meaſure them; and paſt finding out, if we would ſeek them in thoſe dark corners, in which we have multiplied them againſt thee: yea we renounce all confidence even in our repentances; for we have found by many lamentable experiences, that we never perform our promiſes to thee, never perfect our purpoſes in our ſelves, but relapſe again and again into thoſe ſins which again and again we have repented. We have no confidence in this world, but in him who hath taken poſſeſsion of the next world222 for us, by ſitting down at thy right hand. We have no confidence in our merits, but in him, whoſe merits thou haſt been pleaſed to accept for us, and to apply to us, we have: no confidence in our own confeſsions and repentances, but in that bleſſed Spirit, who is the Author of them, and loves to perfect his own works and build upon his own foundations, we have: Accept them therefore, O Lord, for their ſakes whoſe they are; our poor endeavours, for thy glorious Sons ſake, who gives them their root, and ſo they are his; our poor beginnings of ſanctification, for thy bleſſed Spirits ſake, who gives them their growth, and ſo they are his: and for thy Sons ſake, in whom only our prayers are acceptable to thee: and for thy Spirits ſake which is now in us, & muſt be ſo whenſoever we do pray acceptably to thee; accept our humble prayers for, &c.
O Eternal & moſt merciful God, againſt whom, as we know & acknowledg that we have multiplied contemptuous and rebellious ſins, ſo we know and acknowledg too, that it223 were a more ſinfull contempt and rebellion, then all thoſe, to doubt of thy mercy for them; have mercy upon us: In the merits and mediation of thy Son, our Saviour Chriſt Jeſus, be mercifull unto us. Suffer not, O Lord, ſo great a waſte, as the effuſion of his blood, without any return to thee; ſuffer not the expence of ſo rich a treaſure, as the ſpending of his life, without any purchace to thee; but as thou didſt empty and evacuate his glory here upon earth, glorify us with that glory which his humiliation purchaſed for us in the kingdom of Heaven. And as thou didſt empty that Kingdome of thine, in a great part, by the baniſhment of thoſe Angels, whoſe pride threw them into everlasting ruine, be pleaſed to repair that Kingdom, which their fall did ſo far depopulate, by aſſuming us into their places, and making us rich with their confiſcations. And to that purpoſe; O Lord, make us capable of that ſucceſsion to thine Angels there; begin in us here in this life an angelicall purity, an angelicall chaſtity, an angelicall integrity224 to thy ſervice, an Angelical acknowledgment that we alwaies ſtand in thy preſence, and ſhould direct al our actions to thy glory. Rebuke us not, O Lord, in thine anger, that we have not done ſo till now; but enable us now to begin that great work; and imprint in us an aſſurance that thou receiveſt us now graciouſly, as reconciled, though enemies; and fatherly, as children, though prodigals; and powerfully, as the God of our ſalvation, though our own conſciences teſtifie againſt us. Continue and enlarge thy bleſsings upon the whole Church, &c.
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