The third Argument is, from those places of Scripture, by which all the

Faith required to Salvation is declared to be Easie. For if an inward

assent of the mind to all the Doctrines concerning Christian Faith now

taught, (whereof the greatest part are disputed,) were necessary to

Salvation, there would be nothing in the world so hard, as to be a

Christian. The Thief upon the Crosse though repenting, could not have

been saved for saying, "Lord remember me when thou commest into thy

Kingdome;" by which he testified no beleefe of any other Article, but

this, That Jesus Was The King. Nor could it bee said (as it is Mat.

11. 30.) that "Christs yoke is Easy, and his burthen Light:" Nor that

"Little Children beleeve in him," as it is Matth. 18.6. Nor could St.

Paul have said (1 Cor. 1. 21.) "It pleased God by the Foolishnesse of

preaching, to save them that beleeve:" Nor could St. Paul himself have

been saved, much lesse have been so great a Doctor of the Church

so suddenly, that never perhaps thought of Transsubstantiation, nor

Purgatory, nor many other Articles now obtruded.

From Formall And Cleer Texts

The fourth Argument is taken from places expresse, and such as receive

no controversie of Interpretation; as first, John 5. 39. "Search the

Scriptures, for in them yee thinke yee have eternall life; and they are

they that testifie of mee." Our Saviour here speaketh of the Scriptures

onely of the Old Testament; for the Jews at that time could not search

the Scriptures of the New Testament, which were not written. But the Old

Testament hath nothing of Christ, but the Markes by which men might

know him when hee came; as that he should descend from David, be born at

Bethlehem, and of a Virgin; doe great Miracles, and the like. Therefore

to beleeve that this Jesus was He, was sufficient to eternall life: but

more than sufficient is not Necessary; and consequently no other Article

is required. Again, (John 11. 26.) "Whosoever liveth and beleeveth in

mee, shall not die eternally," Therefore to beleeve in Christ, is faith

sufficient to eternall life; and consequently no more faith than that

is Necessary, But to beleeve in Jesus, and to beleeve that Jesus is the

Christ, is all one, as appeareth in the verses immediately following.

For when our Saviour (verse 26.) had said to Martha, "Beleevest thou

this?" she answereth (verse 27.) "Yea Lord, I beleeve that thou art the

Christ, the Son of God, which should come into the world;" Therefore

this Article alone is faith sufficient to life eternall; and more than

sufficient is not Necessary. Thirdly, John 20. 31. "These things are

written that yee might beleeve, that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of

God, and that beleeving yee might have life through his name." There, to

beleeve that Jesus Is The Christ, is faith sufficient to the obtaining

of life; and therefore no other Article is Necessary. Fourthly, 1 John

4. 2. "Every Spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the

flesh, is of God." And 1 Joh. 5. 1. "whosoever beleeveth that Jesus is

the Christ, is born of God." And verse 5. "Who is hee that overcommeth

the world, but he that beleeveth that Jesus is the Son of God?" Fiftly,

Act. 8. ver. 36, 37. "See (saith the Eunuch) here is water, what doth

hinder me to be baptized? And Philip said, If thou beleevest with all

thy heart thou mayst. And hee answered and said, I beleeve that Jesus

Christ is the Son of God." Therefore this Article beleeved, Jesus Is The

Christ, is sufficient to Baptisme, that is to say, to our Reception into

the Kingdome of God, and by consequence, onely Necessary. And generally

in all places where our Saviour saith to any man, "Thy faith hath saved

thee," the cause he saith it, is some Confession, which directly, or by

consequence, implyeth a beleef, that Jesus Is The Christ.

From That It Is The Foundation Of All Other Articles

The last Argument is from the places, where this Article is made the

Foundation of Faith: For he that holdeth the Foundation shall bee saved.

Which places are first, Mat. 24.23. "If any man shall say unto you, Loe,

here is Christ, or there, beleeve it not, for there shall arise false

Christs, and false Prophets, and shall shew great signes and wonders,

&c." Here wee see, this Article Jesus Is The Christ, must bee held,

though hee that shall teach the contrary should doe great miracles. The

second place is Gal. 1. 8. "Though we, or an Angell from Heaven preach

any other Gospell unto you, than that wee have preached unto you, let

him bee accursed." But the Gospell which Paul, and the other Apostles,

preached, was onely this Article, that Jesus Is The Christ; Therefore

for the Beleef of this Article, we are to reject the Authority of

an Angell from heaven; much more of any mortall man, if he teach the

contrary. This is therefore the Fundamentall Article of Christian Faith.

A third place is, 1 Joh. 4.1. "Beloved, beleeve not every spirit. Hereby

yee shall know the Spirit of God; every spirit that confesseth that

Jesus Christ is come in the flesh, is of God." By which it is evident,

that this Article, is the measure, and rule, by which to estimate,

and examine all other Articles; and is therefore onely Fundamentall.

A fourth is, Matt. 16.18. where after St. Peter had professed this

Article, saying to our Saviour, "Thou art Christ the Son of the living

God," Our Saviour answered, "Thou art Peter, and upon this Rock I will

build my Church:" from whence I inferre, that this Article is that,

on which all other Doctrines of the Church are built, as on their

Foundation. A fift is (1 Cor. 3. ver. 11, 12, &c.) "Other Foundation can

no man lay, than that which is laid, Jesus is the Christ. Now if any man

build upon this Foundation, Gold, Silver, pretious Stones, Wood, Hay,

Stubble; Every mans work shall be made manifest; For the Day shall

declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire, and the fire shall try

every mans work, of what sort it is. If any mans work abide, which he

hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward: If any mans work shall

bee burnt, he shall suffer losse; but he himself shall be saved, yet so

as by fire." Which words, being partly plain and easie to understand,

and partly allegoricall and difficult; out of that which is plain, may

be inferred, that Pastors that teach this Foundation, that Jesus Is The

Christ, though they draw from it false consequences, (which all men are

sometimes subject to,) they may neverthelesse bee saved; much more that

they may bee saved, who being no Pastors, but Hearers, beleeve that

which is by their lawfull Pastors taught them. Therefore the beleef of

this Article is sufficient; and by consequence there is no other Article

of Faith Necessarily required to Salvation.

Now for the part which is Allegoricall, as "That the fire shall try

every mans work," and that "They shall be saved, but so as by fire,"

or "through fire," (for the originall is dia puros,) it maketh nothing

against this conclusion which I have drawn from the other words, that

are plain. Neverthelesse, because upon this place there hath been an

argument taken, to prove the fire of Purgatory, I will also here offer

you my conjecture concerning the meaning of this triall of Doctrines,

and saving of men as by Fire. The Apostle here seemeth to allude to

the words of the Prophet Zachary, Ch. 13. 8,9. who speaking of the

Restauration of the Kingdome of God, saith thus, "Two parts therein

shall be cut off, and die, but the third shall be left therein; and

I will bring the third part through the Fire, and will refine them as

Silver is refined, and will try them as Gold is tryed; they shall call

on the name of the Lord, and I will hear them." The day of Judgment, is

the day of the Restauration of the Kingdome of God; and at that day

it is, that St. Peter tells us (2 Pet. 3. v.7, 10, 12.) shall be the

Conflagration of the world, wherein the wicked shall perish; but the

remnant which God will save, shall passe through that Fire, unhurt,

and be therein (as Silver and Gold are refined by the fire from their

drosse) tryed, and refined from their Idolatry, and be made to call upon

the name of the true God. Alluding whereto St. Paul here saith, that The

Day (that is, the Day of Judgment, the Great Day of our Saviours comming

to restore the Kingdome of God in Israel) shall try every mans doctrine,

by Judging, which are Gold, Silver, Pretious Stones, Wood, Hay, Stubble;

And then they that have built false Consequences on the true Foundation,

shall see their Doctrines condemned; neverthelesse they themselves

shall be saved, and passe unhurt through this universall Fire, and live

eternally, to call upon the name of the true and onely God. In which

sense there is nothing that accordeth not with the rest of Holy

Scripture, or any glimpse of the fire of Purgatory.

In What Sense Other Articles May Be Called Necessary

But a man may here aske, whether it bee not as necessary to Salvation,

to beleeve, that God is Omnipotent; Creator of the world; that Jesus

Christ is risen; and that all men else shall rise again from the dead

at the last day; as to beleeve, that Jesus Is The Christ. To which I

answer, they are; and so are many more Articles: but they are such, as

are contained in this one, and may be deduced from it, with more, or

lesse difficulty. For who is there that does not see, that they

who beleeve Jesus to be the Son of the God of Israel, and that the

Israelites had for God the Omnipotent Creator of all things, doe therein

also beleeve, that God is the Omnipotent Creator of all things? Or how

can a man beleeve, that Jesus is the King that shall reign eternally,

unlesse hee beleeve him also risen again from the dead? For a dead man

cannot exercise the Office of a King. In summe, he that holdeth this

Foundation, Jesus Is The Christ, holdeth Expressely all that hee

seeth rightly deduced from it, and Implicitely all that is consequent

thereunto, though he have not skill enough to discern the consequence.

And therefore it holdeth still good, that the beleef of this one Article

is sufficient faith to obtaine remission of sinnes to the Penitent, and

consequently to bring them into the Kingdome of Heaven.

That Faith, And Obedience Are Both Of Them Necessary To Salvation

Now that I have shewn, that all the Obedience required to Salvation,

consisteth in the will to obey the Law of God, that is to say, in

Repentance; and all the Faith required to the same, is comprehended in

the beleef of this Article, Jesus Is The Christ; I will further alledge

those places of the Gospell, that prove, that all that is Necessary to

Salvation is contained in both these joined together. The men to whom

St. Peter preached on the day of Pentecost, next after the Ascension

of our Saviour, asked him, and the rest of the Apostles, saying, (Act.

2.37.) "Men and Brethren what shall we doe?" to whom St. Peter answered

(in the next verse) "Repent, and be Baptized every one of you, for the

remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost."

Therefore Repentance, and Baptisme, that is, beleeving that Jesus Is The

Christ, is all that is Necessary to Salvation. Again, our Saviour being

asked by a certain Ruler, (Luke 18.18.) "What shall I doe to inherit

eternall life?" Answered (verse 20) "Thou knowest the Commandements,

Doe not commit Adultery, Doe not Kill, Doe not Steal, Doe not bear false

witnesse, Honor thy Father, and thy Mother;" which when he said he had

observed, our Saviour added, "Sell all thou hast, give it to the Poor,

and come and follow me:" which was as much as to say, Relye on me that

am the King: Therefore to fulfill the Law, and to beleeve that Jesus

is the King, is all that is required to bring a man to eternall life.

Thirdly, St. Paul saith (Rom. 1.17.) "The Just shall live by Faith;" not

every one, but the Just; therefore Faith and Justice (that is, the Will

To Be Just, or Repentance) are all that is Necessary to life eternall.

And (Mark 1.15.) our Saviour preached, saying, "The time is fulfilled,

and the Kingdom of God is at hand, Repent and Beleeve the Evangile,"

that is, the Good news that the Christ was come. Therefore to Repent,

and to Beleeve that Jesus is the Christ, is all that is required to

Salvation.

What Each Of Them Contributes Thereunto

Seeing then it is Necessary that Faith, and Obedience (implyed in the

word Repentance) do both concurre to our Salvation; the question

by which of the two we are Justified, is impertinently disputed.

Neverthelesse, it will not be impertinent, to make manifest in what

manner each of them contributes thereunto; and in what sense it is said,

that we are to be Justified by the one, and by the other. And first,

if by Righteousnesse be understood the Justice of the Works themselves,

there is no man that can be saved; for there is none that hath not

transgressed the Law of God. And therefore when wee are said to be

Justified by Works, it is to be understood of the Will, which God doth

alwaies accept for the Work it selfe, as well in good, as in evill men.

And in this sense onely it is, that a man is called Just, or Unjust; and

that his Justice Justifies him, that is, gives him the title, in Gods

acceptation, of Just; and renders him capable of Living By His Faith,

which before he was not. So that Justice Justifies in that that sense,

in which to Justifie, is the same that to Denominate A Man Just; and not

in the signification of discharging the Law; whereby the punishment of

his sins should be unjust.

But a man is then also said to be Justified, when his Plea, though in

it selfe unsufficient, is accepted; as when we Plead our Will, our

Endeavour to fulfill the Law, and Repent us of our failings, and God

accepteth it for the Performance it selfe: And because God accepteth not

the Will for the Deed, but onely in the Faithfull; it is therefore Faith

that makes good our Plea; and in this sense it is, that Faith onely

Justifies: So that Faith and Obedience are both Necessary to Salvation;

yet in severall senses each of them is said to Justifie.

Obedience To God And To The Civill Soveraign Not Inconsistent

Whether Christian, Having thus shewn what is Necessary to Salvation; it

is not hard to reconcile our Obedience to the Civill Soveraign; who is

either Christian, or Infidel. If he bee a Christian, he alloweth the

beleefe of this Article, that Jesus Is The Christ; and of all the

Articles that are contained in, or are evident consequence deduced from

it: which is all the Faith Necessary to Salvation. And because he is a

Soveraign, he requireth Obedience to all his owne, that is, to all the

Civill Laws; in which also are contained all the Laws of Nature, that

is, all the Laws of God: for besides the Laws of Nature, and the Laws of

the Church, which are part of the Civill Law, (for the Church that

can make Laws is the Common-wealth,) there bee no other Laws Divine.

Whosoever therefore obeyeth his Christian Soveraign, is not thereby

hindred, neither from beleeving, nor from obeying God. But suppose that

a Christian King should from this Foundation, Jesus Is The Christ, draw

some false consequences, that is to say, make some superstructions of

Hay, or Stubble, and command the teaching of the same; yet seeing St.

Paul says, he shal be saved; much more shall he be saved, that teacheth

them by his command; and much more yet, he that teaches not, but onely

beleeves his lawfull Teacher. And in case a Subject be forbidden by

the Civill Soveraign to professe some of those his opinions, upon

what grounds can he disobey? Christian Kings may erre in deducing a

Consequence, but who shall Judge? Shall a private man Judge, when the

question is of his own obedience? or shall any man Judg but he that is

appointed thereto by the Church, that is, by the Civill Soveraign that

representeth it? or if the Pope, or an Apostle Judge, may he not erre

in deducing of a consequence? did not one of the two, St. Peter, or St.

Paul erre in a superstructure, when St. Paul withstood St. Peter to his

face? There can therefore be no contradiction between the Laws of God,

and the Laws of a Christian Common-wealth.

Or Infidel

And when the Civill Soveraign is an Infidel, every one of his own

Subjects that resisteth him, sinneth against the Laws of God (for such

as are the Laws of Nature,) and rejecteth the counsell of the Apostles,

that admonisheth all Christians to obey their Princes, and all Children

and Servants to obey they Parents, and Masters, in all things. And for

their Faith, it is internall, and invisible; They have the licence that

Naaman had, and need not put themselves into danger for it. But if they

do, they ought to expect their reward in Heaven, and not complain of

their Lawfull Soveraign; much lesse make warre upon him. For he that

is not glad of any just occasion of Martyrdome, has not the faith be

professeth, but pretends it onely, to set some colour upon his own

contumacy. But what Infidel King is so unreasonable, as knowing he has

a Subject, that waiteth for the second comming of Christ, after the

present world shall be burnt, and intendeth then to obey him (which is

the intent of beleeving that Jesus is the Christ,) and in the mean time

thinketh himself bound to obey the Laws of that Infidel King, (which

all Christians are obliged in conscience to doe,) to put to death, or to

persecute such a Subject?

And thus much shall suffice, concerning the Kingdome of God, and Policy

Ecclesiasticall. Wherein I pretend not to advance any Position of

my own, but onely to shew what are the Consequences that seem to me

deducible from the Principles of Christian Politiques, (which are the

holy Scriptures,) in confirmation of the Power of Civill Soveraigns, and

the Duty of their Subjects. And in the allegation of Scripture, I have

endeavoured to avoid such Texts as are of obscure, or controverted

Interpretation; and to alledge none, but is such sense as is most plain,

and agreeable to the harmony and scope of the whole Bible; which was

written for the re-establishment of the Kingdome of God in Christ. For

it is not the bare Words, but the Scope of the writer that giveth the

true light, by which any writing is to bee interpreted; and they that

insist upon single Texts, without considering the main Designe, can

derive no thing from them cleerly; but rather by casting atomes of

Scripture, as dust before mens eyes, make every thing more obscure than

it is; an ordinary artifice of those that seek not the truth, but their

own advantage.

PART IV.

OF THE KINGDOME OF DARKNESSE

CHAPTER XLIV. OF SPIRITUALL DARKNESSE FROM MISINTERPRETATION OF

SCRIPTURE

The Kingdome Of Darknesse What

Besides these Soveraign Powers, Divine, and Humane, of which I have

hitherto discoursed, there is mention in Scripture of another Power,

namely, (Eph. 6. 12.), that of "the Rulers of the Darknesse of this

world," (Mat. 12. 26.), "the Kingdome of Satan," and, (Mat. 9. 34.), "the

Principality of Beelzebub over Daemons," that is to say, over Phantasmes

that appear in the Air: For which cause Satan is also called (Eph. 2.

2.) "the Prince of the Power of the Air;" and (because he ruleth in the

darknesse of this world) (Joh. 16. 11.) "The Prince of this world;" And

in consequence hereunto, they who are under his Dominion, in opposition

to the faithfull (who are the Children Of The Light) are called the

Children Of Darknesse. For seeing Beelzebub is Prince of Phantasmes,

Inhabitants of his Dominion of Air and Darknesse, the Children of

Darknesse, and these Daemons, Phantasmes, or Spirits of Illusion,

signifie allegorically the same thing. This considered, the Kingdome

of Darknesse, as it is set forth in these, and other places of the

Scripture, is nothing else but a "Confederacy of Deceivers, that to

obtain dominion over men in this present world, endeavour by dark, and

erroneous Doctrines, to extinguish in them the Light, both of Nature,

and of the Gospell; and so to dis-prepare them for the Kingdome of God

to come."

The Church Not Yet Fully Freed Of Darknesse

As men that are utterly deprived from their Nativity, of the light

of the bodily Eye, have no Idea at all, of any such light; and no man

conceives in his imagination any greater light, than he hath at some

time, or other perceived by his outward Senses: so also is it of the

light of the Gospel, and of the light of the Understanding, that no man

can conceive there is any greater degree of it, than that which he hath

already attained unto. And from hence it comes to passe, that men

have no other means to acknowledge their owne Darknesse, but onely by

reasoning from the un-forseen mischances, that befall them in their

ways; The Darkest part of the Kingdome of Satan, is that which is

without the Church of God; that is to say, amongst them that beleeve not

in Jesus Christ. But we cannot say, that therefore the Church enjoyeth

(as the land of Goshen) all the light, which to the performance of

the work enjoined us by God, is necessary. Whence comes it, that in

Christendome there has been, almost from the time of the Apostles,

such justling of one another out of their places, both by forraign,

and Civill war? such stumbling at every little asperity of their own

fortune, and every little eminence of that of other men? and such

diversity of ways in running to the same mark, Felicity, if it be not

Night amongst us, or at least a Mist? wee are therefore yet in the Dark.

Four Causes Of Spirituall Darknesse

The Enemy has been here in the Night of our naturall Ignorance, and sown

the tares of Spirituall Errors; and that, First, by abusing, and

putting out the light of the Scriptures: For we erre, not knowing the

Scriptures. Secondly, by introducing the Daemonology of the Heathen

Poets, that is to say, their fabulous Doctrine concerning Daemons, which

are but Idols, or Phantasms of the braine, without any reall nature of

their own, distinct from humane fancy; such as are dead mens Ghosts, and

Fairies, and other matter of old Wives tales. Thirdly, by mixing with

the Scripture divers reliques of the Religion, and much of the vain and

erroneous Philosophy of the Greeks, especially of Aristotle. Fourthly,

by mingling with both these, false, or uncertain Traditions, and

fained, or uncertain History. And so we come to erre, by "giving heed

to seducing Spirits," and the Daemonology of such "as speak lies in

Hypocrisie," (or as it is in the Originall, 1 Tim. 4.1,2. "of those that

play the part of lyars") "with a seared conscience," that is, contrary

to their own knowledge. Concerning the first of these, which is the

Seducing of men by abuse of Scripture, I intend to speak briefly in this

Chapter.

Errors From Misinterpreting The Scriptures, Concerning The Kingdome

Of God

The greatest, and main abuse of Scripture, and to which almost all the

rest are either consequent, or subservient, is the wresting of it, to

prove that the Kingdome of God, mentioned so often in the Scripture, is

the present Church, or multitude of Christian men now living, or that

being dead, are to rise again at the last day: whereas the Kingdome of

God was first instituted by the Ministery of Moses, over the Jews onely;

who were therefore called his Peculiar People; and ceased afterward, in

the election of Saul, when they refused to be governed by God any more,

and demanded a King after the manner of the nations; which God himself

consented unto, as I have more at large proved before, in the 35.

Chapter. After that time, there was no other Kingdome of God in the

world, by any Pact, or otherwise, than he ever was, is, and shall be

King, of all men, and of all creatures, as governing according to his

Will, by his infinite Power. Neverthelesse, he promised by his Prophets

to restore this his Government to them again, when the time he hath in

his secret counsell appointed for it shall bee fully come, and when they

shall turn unto him by repentance, and amendment of life; and not

onely so, but he invited also the Gentiles to come in, and enjoy the

happinesse of his Reign, on the same conditions of conversion and

repentance; and hee promised also to send his Son into the world, to

expiate the sins of them all by his death, and to prepare them by his

Doctrine, to receive him at his second coming: Which second coming not

yet being, the Kingdome of God is not yet come, and wee are not now

under any other Kings by Pact, but our Civill Soveraigns; saving onely,

that Christian men are already in the Kingdome of Grace, in as much as

they have already the Promise of being received at his comming againe.

As That The Kingdome Of God Is The Present Church

Consequent to this Errour, that the present Church is Christs Kingdome,

there ought to be some one Man, or Assembly, by whose mouth our Saviour

(now in heaven) speaketh, giveth law, and which representeth his person

to all Christians, or divers Men, or divers Assemblies that doe the same

to divers parts of Christendome. This power Regal under Christ, being

challenged, universally by that Pope, and in particular Common-wealths

by Assemblies of the Pastors of the place, (when the Scripture gives it

to none but to Civill Soveraigns,) comes to be so passionately disputed,

that it putteth out the Light of Nature, and causeth so great a

Darknesse in mens understanding, that they see not who it is to whom

they have engaged their obedience.

And That The Pope Is His Vicar Generall

Consequent to this claim of the Pope to Vicar Generall of Christ in the

present Church, (supposed to be that Kingdom of his, to which we are

addressed in the Gospel,) is the Doctrine, that it is necessary for a

Christian King, to receive his Crown by a Bishop; as if it were from

that Ceremony, that he derives the clause of Dei Gratia in his title;

and that then onely he is made King by the favour of God, when he is

crowned by the authority of Gods universall Viceregent on earth; and

that every Bishop whosoever be his Soveraign, taketh at his Consecration

an oath of absolute Obedience to the Pope, Consequent to the same, is

the Doctrine of the fourth Councell of Lateran, held under Pope Innocent

the third, (Chap. 3. De Haereticis.) "That if a King at the Popes

admonition, doe not purge his Kingdome of Haeresies, and being

excommunicate for the same, doe not give satisfaction within a year,

his Subjects are absolved of the bond of their obedience." Where, by

Haeresies are understood all opinions which the Church of Rome hath

forbidden to be maintained. And by this means, as often as there is

any repugnancy between the Politicall designes of the Pope, and other

Christian Princes, as there is very often, there ariseth such a Mist

amongst their Subjects, that they know not a stranger that thrusteth

himself into the throne of their lawfull Prince, from him whom they

had themselves placed there; and in this Darknesse of mind, are made to

fight one against another, without discerning their enemies from their

friends, under the conduct of another mans ambition.

And That The Pastors Are The Clergy

From the same opinion, that the present Church is the Kingdome of God,

it proceeds that Pastours, Deacons, and all other Ministers of the

Church, take the name to themselves of the Clergy, giving to other

Christians the name of Laity, that is, simply People. For Clergy

signifies those, whose maintenance is that Revenue, which God having

reserved to himselfe during his Reigne over the Israelites, assigned

to the tribe of Levi (who were to be his publique Ministers, and had no

portion of land set them out to live on, as their brethren) to be their

inheritance. The Pope therefore, (pretending the present Church to be,

as the Realme of Israel, the Kingdome of God) challenging to himselfe

and his subordinate Ministers, the like revenue, as the Inheritance of

God, the name of Clergy was sutable to that claime. And thence it is,

that Tithes, or other tributes paid to the Levites, as Gods Right,

amongst the Israelites, have a long time been demanded, and taken of

Christians, by Ecclesiastiques, Jure Divino, that is, in Gods Right. By

which meanes, the people every where were obliged to a double tribute;

one to the State, another to the Clergy; whereof, that to the Clergy,

being the tenth of their revenue, is double to that which a King of

Athens (and esteemed a Tyrant) exacted of his subjects for the defraying

of all publique charges: For he demanded no more but the twentieth part;

and yet abundantly maintained therewith the Commonwealth. And in the

Kingdome of the Jewes, during the Sacerdotall Reigne of God, the Tithes

and Offerings were the whole Publique Revenue.

From the same mistaking of the present Church for the Kingdom of God,

came in the distinction betweene the Civill and the Canon Laws: The

civil Law being the acts of Soveraigns in their own Dominions, and

the Canon Law being the Acts of the Pope in the same Dominions. Which

Canons, though they were but Canons, that is, Rules Propounded, and but

voluntarily received by Christian Princes, till the translation of

the Empire to Charlemain; yet afterwards, as the power of the Pope

encreased, became Rules Commanded, and the Emperours themselves (to

avoyd greater mischiefes, which the people blinded might be led into)

were forced to let them passe for Laws.

From hence it is, that in all Dominions, where the Popes Ecclesiasticall

power is entirely received, Jewes, Turkes, and Gentiles, are in the

Roman Church tolerated in their Religion, as farre forth, as in the

exercise and profession thereof they offend not against the civill

power: whereas in a Christian, though a stranger, not to be of the Roman

Religion, is Capitall; because the Pope pretendeth that all Christians

are his Subjects. For otherwise it were as much against the law of

Nations, to persecute a Christian stranger, for professing the Religion

of his owne country, as an Infidell; or rather more, in as much as they

that are not against Christ, are with him.

From the same it is, that in every Christian State there are certaine

men, that are exempt, by Ecclesiasticall liberty, from the tributes, and

from the tribunals of the Civil State; for so are the secular Clergy,

besides Monks and Friars, which in many places, bear so great a

proportion to the common people, as if need were, there might be raised

out of them alone, an Army, sufficient for any warre the Church militant

should imploy them in, against their owne, or other Princes.

Error From Mistaking Consecration For Conjuration

A second generall abuse of Scripture, is the turning of Consecration

into Conjuration, or Enchantment. To Consecrate, is in Scripture, to

Offer, Give, or Dedicate, in pious and decent language and gesture, a

man, or any other thing to God, by separating of it from common use;

that is to say, to Sanctifie, or make it Gods, and to be used only by

those, whom God hath appointed to be his Publike Ministers, (as I have

already proved at large in the 35. Chapter;) and thereby to change, not

the thing Consecrated, but onely the use of it, from being Profane

and common, to be Holy, and peculiar to Gods service. But when by such

words, the nature of qualitie of the thing it selfe, is pretended to be

changed, it is not Consecration, but either an extraordinary worke of

God, or a vaine and impious Conjuration. But seeing (for the frequency

of pretending the change of Nature in their Consecrations,) it cannot

be esteemed a work extraordinary, it is no other than a Conjuration or

Incantation, whereby they would have men to beleeve an alteration of

Nature that is not, contrary to the testimony of mans Sight, and of all

the rest of his Senses. As for example, when the Priest, in stead of

Consecrating Bread and Wine to Gods peculiar service in the Sacrament of

the Lords Supper, (which is but a separation of it from the common use,

to signifie, that is, to put men in mind of their Redemption, by the

Passion of Christ, whose body was broken, and blood shed upon the Crosse

for our transgressions,) pretends, that by saying of the words of our

Saviour, "This is my Body," and "This is my Blood," the nature of Bread

is no more there, but his very Body; notwithstanding there appeared not

to the Sight, or other Sense of the Receiver, any thing that appeareth

not before the Consecration. The Egyptian Conjurers, that are said

to have turned their Rods to Serpents, and the Water into Bloud, are

thought but to have deluded the senses of the Spectators by a false shew

of things, yet are esteemed Enchanters: But what should wee have thought

of them, if there had appeared in their Rods nothing like a Serpent, and

in the Water enchanted, nothing like Bloud, nor like any thing else but

Water, but that they had faced down the King, that they were Serpents

that looked like Rods, and that it was Bloud that seemed Water? That

had been both Enchantment, and Lying. And yet in this daily act of

the Priest, they doe the very same, by turning the holy words into the

manner of a Charme, which produceth nothing now to the Sense; but they

face us down, that it hath turned the Bread into a Man; nay more, into

a God; and require men to worship it, as if it were our Saviour himself

present God and Man, and thereby to commit most grosse Idolatry. For if

it bee enough to excuse it of Idolatry, to say it is no more Bread, but

God; why should not the same excuse serve the Egyptians, in case they

had the faces to say, the Leeks, and Onyons they worshipped, were

not very Leeks, and Onyons, but a Divinity under their Species, or

likenesse. The words, "This is my Body," are aequivalent to these,

"This signifies, or represents my Body;" and it is an ordinary figure of

Speech: but to take it literally, is an abuse; nor though so taken, can

it extend any further, than to the Bread which Christ himself with his

own hands Consecrated. For hee never said, that of what Bread soever,

any Priest whatsoever, should say, "This is my Body," or, "This is

Christs Body," the same should presently be transubstantiated. Nor did

the Church of Rome ever establish this Transubstantiation, till the time

of Innocent the third; which was not above 500. years agoe, when the

Power of Popes was at the Highest, and the Darknesse of the time grown

so great, as men discerned not the Bread that was given them to eat,

especially when it was stamped with the figure of Christ upon the

Crosse, as if they would have men beleeve it were Transubstantiated, not

onely into the Body of Christ, but also into the Wood of his Crosse, and

that they did eat both together in the Sacrament.

Incantation In The Ceremonies Of Baptisme

The like incantation, in stead of Consecration, is used also in the

Sacrament of Baptisme: Where the abuse of Gods name in each severall

Person, and in the whole Trinity, with the sign of the Crosse at each

name, maketh up the Charm: As first, when they make the Holy water, the

Priest saith, "I Conjure thee, thou Creature of Water, in the name of

God the Father Almighty, and in the name of Jesus Christ his onely Son

our Lord, and in vertue of the Holy Ghost, that thou become Conjured

water, to drive away all the Powers of the Enemy, and to eradicate, and

supplant the Enemy, &c." And the same in the Benediction of the Salt

to be mingled with it; "That thou become Conjured Salt, that all

Phantasmes, and Knavery of the Devills fraud may fly and depart from the

place wherein thou art sprinkled; and every unclean Spirit bee Conjured

by Him that shall come to judge the quicke and the dead." The same in

the Benediction of the Oyle. "That all the Power of the Enemy, all the

Host of the Devill, all Assaults and Phantasmes of Satan, may be

driven away by this Creature of Oyle." And for the Infant that is to be

Baptized, he is subject to many Charms; First, at the Church dore the

Priest blows thrice in the Childs face, and sayes, "Goe out of him

unclean Spirit, and give place to the Holy Ghost the Comforter." As

if all Children, till blown on by the Priest were Daemoniaques: Again,

before his entrance into the Church, he saith as before, "I Conjure

thee, &c. to goe out, and depart from this Servant of God:" And again

the same Exorcisme is repeated once more before he be Baptized. These,

and some other Incantations, and Consecrations, in administration of the

Sacraments of Baptisme, and the Lords Supper; wherein every thing that

serveth to those holy men (except the unhallowed Spittle of the Priest)

hath some set form of Exorcisme.

In Marriage, In Visitation Of The Sick, And In Consecration Of Places

Nor are the other rites, as of Marriage, of Extreme Unction, of

Visitation of the Sick, of Consecrating Churches, and Church-yards, and

the like, exempt from Charms; in as much as there is in them the use of

Enchanted Oyle, and Water, with the abuse of the Crosse, and of the holy

word of David, "Asperges me Domine Hyssopo," as things of efficacy to

drive away Phantasmes, and Imaginery Spirits.

Errors From Mistaking Eternall Life, And Everlasting Death

Another generall Error, is from the Misinterpretation of the words

Eternall Life, Everlasting Death, and the Second Death. For though we

read plainly in Holy Scripture, that God created Adam in an estate of

Living for Ever, which was conditionall, that is to say, if he disobeyed

not his Commandement; which was not essentiall to Humane Nature, but

consequent to the vertue of the Tree of Life; whereof hee had liberty

to eat, as long as hee had not sinned; and that hee was thrust out of

Paradise after he had sinned, lest hee should eate thereof, and live for

ever; and that Christs Passion is a Discharge of sin to all that beleeve

on him; and by consequence, a restitution of Eternall Life, to all the

Faithfull, and to them onely: yet the Doctrine is now, and hath been a

long time far otherwise; namely, that every man hath Eternity of Life by

Nature, in as much as his Soul is Immortall: So that the flaming Sword

at the entrance of Paradise, though it hinder a man from coming to the

Tree of Life, hinders him not from the Immortality which God took from

him for his Sin; nor makes him to need the sacrificing of Christ, for

the recovering of the same; and consequently, not onely the faithfull

and righteous, but also the wicked, and the Heathen, shall enjoy

Eternall Life, without any Death at all; much lesse a Second, and

Everlasting Death. To salve this, it is said, that by Second, and

Everlasting Death, is meant a Second, and Everlasting Life, but in

Torments; a Figure never used, but in this very Case.

All which Doctrine is founded onely on some of the obscurer places of

the New Testament; which neverthelesse, the whole scope of the Scripture

considered, are cleer enough in a different sense, and unnecessary to

the Christian Faith. For supposing that when a man dies, there remaineth

nothing of him but his carkasse; cannot God that raised inanimated dust

and clay into a living creature by his Word, as easily raise a dead

carkasse to life again, and continue him alive for Ever, or make him

die again, by another Word? The Soule in Scripture, signifieth alwaies,

either the Life, or the Living Creature; and the Body and Soule jointly,

the Body Alive. In the fift day of the Creation, God said, Let the water

produce Reptile Animae Viventis, the creeping thing that hath in it a

Living Soule; the English translate it, "that hath Life:" And again,

God created Whales, "& omnem animam viventem;" which in the English is,

"every living Creature:" And likewise of Man, God made him of the dust

of the earth, and breathed in his face the breath of Life, "& factus est

Homo in animam viventem," that is, "and Man was made a Living Creature;"

And after Noah came out of the Arke, God saith, hee will no more smite

"omnem animam viventem," that is "every Living Creature;" And Deut.

12.23. "Eate not the Bloud, for the Bloud is the Soule;" that is

"the Life." From which places, if by Soule were meant a Substance

Incorporeall, with an existence separated from the Body, it might as

well be inferred of any other living Creature, as of Man. But that

the Souls of the Faithfull, are not of their own Nature, but by Gods

speciall Grace, to remaine in their bodies, from the Resurrection to

all Eternity, I have already I think sufficiently proved out of the

Scriptures, in the 38. Chapter. And for the places of the New Testament,

where it is said that any man shall be cast Body and Soul into Hell

fire, it is no more than Body and Life; that is to say, they shall be

cast alive into the perpetuall fire of Gehenna.

As The Doctrine Of Purgatory, And Exorcismes, And Invocation Of Saints

This window it is, that gives entrance to the Dark Doctrine, first, of

Eternall Torments; and afterwards of Purgatory, and consequently of the

walking abroad, especially in places Consecrated, Solitary, or Dark, of

the Ghosts of men deceased; and thereby to the pretences of Exorcisme

and Conjuration of Phantasmes; as also of Invocation of men dead; and to

the Doctrine of Indulgences; that is to say, of exemption for a time,

or for ever, from the fire of Purgatory, wherein these Incorporeall

Substances are pretended by burning to be cleansed, and made fit

for Heaven. For men being generally possessed before the time of our

Saviour, by contagion of the Daemonology of the Greeks, of an opinion,

that the Souls of men were substances distinct from their Bodies, and

therefore that when the Body was dead, the Soule of every man, whether

godly, or wicked, must subsist somewhere by vertue of its own nature,

without acknowledging therein any supernaturall gift of Gods; the

Doctors of the Church doubted a long time, what was the place, which

they were to abide in, till they should be re-united to their Bodies in

the Resurrection; supposing for a while, they lay under the Altars: but

afterward the Church of Rome found it more profitable, to build for them

this place of Purgatory; which by some other Churches in this later age,

has been demolished.

The Texts Alledged For The Doctrines Aforementioned Have Been Answered

Before

Let us now consider, what texts of Scripture seem most to confirm these

three generall Errors, I have here touched. As for those which Cardinall

Bellarmine hath alledged, for the present Kingdome of God administred by

the Pope, (than which there are none that make a better show of proof,)

I have already answered them; and made it evident, that the Kingdome

of God, instituted by Moses, ended in the election of Saul: After which

time the Priest of his own authority never deposed any King. That which

the High Priest did to Athaliah, was not done in his own right, but in

the right of the young King Joash her Son: But Solomon in his own right

deposed the High Priest Abiathar, and set up another in his place. The

most difficult place to answer, of all those than can be brought,

to prove the Kingdome of God by Christ is already in this world, is

alledged, not by Bellarmine, nor any other of the Church of Rome; but

by Beza; that will have it to begin from the Resurrection of Christ.

But whether hee intend thereby, to entitle the Presbytery to the Supreme

Power Ecclesiasticall in the Common-wealth of Geneva, (and consequently

to every Presbytery in every other Common-wealth,) or to Princes,

and other Civill Soveraignes, I doe not know. For the Presbytery hath

challenged the power to Excommunicate their owne Kings, and to bee the

Supreme Moderators in Religion, in the places where they have that form

of Church government, no lesse then the Pope challengeth it universally.

Answer To The Text On Which Beza Infereth

That The Kingdome Of Christ Began At The Resurrection The words are

(Marke 9.1.) "Verily, I say unto you, that there be some of them that

stand here, which shall not tast of death, till they have seene the

Kingdome of God come with power." Which words, if taken grammatically,

make it certaine, that either some of those men that stood by Christ at

that time, are yet alive; or else, that the Kingdome of God must be now

in this present world. And then there is another place more difficult:

For when the Apostles after our Saviours Resurrection, and immediately

before his Ascension, asked our Saviour, saying, (Acts.1.6.) "Wilt thou

at this time restore again the Kingdome to Israel," he answered them,

"It is not for you to know the times and the seasons, which the Father

hath put in his own power; But ye shall receive power by the comming of

the Holy Ghost upon you, and yee shall be my (Martyrs) witnesses both in

Jerusalem, & in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part

of the Earth:" Which is as much as to say, My Kingdome is not yet come,

nor shall you foreknow when it shall come, for it shall come as a theefe

in the night; But I will send you the Holy Ghost, and by him you shall

have power to beare witnesse to all the world (by your preaching) of

my Resurrection, and the workes I have done, and the doctrine I have

taught, that they may beleeve in me, and expect eternall life, at my

comming againe: How does this agree with the comming of Christs Kingdome

at the Resurrection? And that which St. Paul saies (1 Thessal. 1.9, 10.)

"That they turned from Idols, to serve the living and true God, and

to waite for his Sonne from Heaven:" Where to waite for his Sonne from

Heaven, is to wait for his comming to be King in power; which were

not necessary, if this Kingdome had beene then present. Againe, if the

Kingdome of God began (as Beza on that place (Mark 9.1.) would have it)

at the Resurrection; what reason is there for Christians ever since the

Resurrection to say in their prayers, "Let thy Kingdome Come"? It

is therefore manifest, that the words of St. Mark are not so to be

interpreted. There be some of them that stand here (saith our Saviour)

that shall not tast of death till they have seen the Kingdome of God

come in power. If then this Kingdome were to come at the Resurrection

of Christ, why is it said, "some of them" rather than all? For they all

lived till after Christ was risen.

Explication Of The Place In Mark 9.1

But they that require an exact interpretation of this text, let them

interpret first the like words of our Saviour to St. Peter concerning

St. John, (chap. 21.22.) "If I will that he tarry till I come, what is

that to thee?" upon which was grounded a report that hee should not dye:

Neverthelesse the truth of that report was neither confirmed, as well

grounded; nor refuted, as ill grounded on those words; but left as a

saying not understood. The same difficulty is also in the place of St.

Marke. And if it be lawfull to conjecture at their meaning, by that

which immediately followes, both here, and in St. Luke, where the same

is againe repeated, it is not unprobable, to say they have relation

to the Transfiguration, which is described in the verses immediately

following; where it is said, that "After six dayes Jesus taketh with

him Peter, and James, and John (not all, but some of his Disciples)

and leadeth them up into an high mountaine apart by themselves, and

was transfigured before them. And his rayment became shining, exceeding

white as snow; so as no Fuller on earth can white them. And there

appeared unto them Elias with Moses, and they were talking with Jesus,

&c." So that they saw Christ in Glory and Majestie, as he is to come;

insomuch as "They were sore afraid." And thus the promise of our Saviour

was accomplished by way of Vision: For it was a Vision, as may probably

bee inferred out of St. Luke, that reciteth the same story (ch. 9. ve.

28.) and saith, that Peter and they that were with him, were heavy with

sleep; But most certainly out of Matth. 17.9. (where the same is again

related;) for our Saviour charged them, saying, "Tell no man the Vision

untill the Son of man be Risen from the dead." Howsoever it be, yet

there can from thence be taken no argument, to prove that the Kingdome

of God taketh beginning till the day of Judgement.

Abuse Of Some Other Texts In Defence Of The Power Of The Pope

As for some other texts, to prove the Popes Power over civill

Soveraignes (besides those of Bellarmine;) as that the two Swords that

Christ and his Apostles had amongst them, were the Spirituall and the

Temporall Sword, which they say St. Peter had given him by Christ: And,

that of the two Luminaries, the greater signifies the Pope, and the

lesser the King; One might as well inferre out of the first verse of the

Bible, that by Heaven is meant the Pope, and by Earth the King: Which

is not arguing from Scripture, but a wanton insulting over Princes, that

came in fashion after the time the Popes were growne so secure of their

greatnesse, as to contemne all Christian Kings; and Treading on the

necks of Emperours, to mocke both them, and the Scripture, in the words

of the 91. Psalm, "Thou shalt Tread upon the Lion and the Adder, the

young Lion and the Dragon thou shalt Trample under thy feet."

The Manner Of Consecrations In The Scripture, Was Without Exorcisms

As for the rites of Consecration, though they depend for the most part

upon the discretion and judgement of the governors of the Church,

and not upon the Scriptures; yet those governors are obliged to such

direction, as the nature of the action it selfe requireth; as that the

ceremonies, words, and gestures, be both decent, and significant, or at

least conformable to the action. When Moses consecrated the Tabernacle,

the Altar, and the Vessels belonging to them (Exod. 40.) he anointed

them with the Oyle which God had commanded to bee made for that

purpose; and they were holy; There was nothing Exorcised, to drive away

Phantasmes. The same Moses (the civill Soveraigne of Israel) when he

consecrated Aaron (the High Priest,) and his Sons, did wash them with

Water, (not Exorcised water,) put their Garments upon them, and anointed

them with Oyle; and they were sanctified, to minister unto the Lord

in the Priests office; which was a simple and decent cleansing, and

adorning them, before hee presented them to God, to be his servants.

When King Solomon, (the civill Soveraigne of Israel) consecrated the

Temple hee had built, (2 Kings 8.) he stood before all the Congregation

of Israel; and having blessed them, he gave thanks to God, for putting

into the heart of his father, to build it; and for giving to himselfe

the grace to accomplish the same; and then prayed unto him, first,

to accept that House, though it were not sutable to his infinite

Greatnesse; and to hear the prayers of his Servants that should pray

therein, or (if they were absent) towards it; and lastly, he offered a

sacrifice of Peace-offering, and the House was dedicated. Here was no

Procession; the King stood still in his first place; no Exorcised Water;

no Asperges Me, nor other impertinent application of words spoken upon

another occasion; but a decent, and rationall speech, and such as in

making to God a present of his new built House, was most conformable

to the occasion. We read not that St. John did Exorcise the Water

of Jordan; nor Philip the Water of the river wherein he baptized the

Eunuch; nor that any Pastor in the time of the Apostles, did take his

spittle, and put it to the nose of the person to be Baptized, and say,

"In odorem suavitatis," that is, "for a sweet savour unto the Lord;"

wherein neither the Ceremony of Spittle, for the uncleannesse; nor the

application of that Scripture for the levity, can by any authority of

man be justified.

The Immortality Of Mans Soule, Not Proved By Scripture To Be Of Nature,

But Of Grace

To prove that the Soule separated from the Body liveth eternally, not

onely the Soules of the Elect, by especiall grace, and restauration of

the Eternall Life which Adam lost by Sinne, and our Saviour restored

by the Sacrifice of himself, to the Faithfull, but also the Soules

of Reprobates, as a property naturally consequent to the essence of

mankind, without other grace of God, but that which is universally given

to all mankind; there are divers places, which at the first sight seem

sufficiently to serve the turn: but such, as when I compare them with

that which I have before (Chapter 38.) alledged out of the 14 of Job,

seem to mee much more subject to a divers interpretation, than the words

of Job.

And first there are the words of Solomon (Ecclesiastes 12.7.) "Then

shall the Dust return to Dust, as it was, and the Spirit shall return to

God that gave it." Which may bear well enough (if there be no other text

directly against it) this interpretation, that God onely knows, (but

Man not,) what becomes of a mans spirit, when he expireth; and the same

Solomon, in the same Book, (Chap. 3. ver. 20,21.) delivereth in the same

sentence in the sense I have given it: His words are, "All goe, (man

and beast) to the same place; all are of the dust, and all turn to dust

again; who knoweth that the spirit of Man goeth upward, and the spirit

of the Beast goeth downward to the earth?" That is, none knows but God;

Nor is it an unusuall phrase to say of things we understand not, "God

knows what," and "God knows where." That of Gen. 5.24. "Enoch walked

with God, and he was not; for God took him;" which is expounded Heb.

13.5. "He was translated, that he should not die; and was not found,

because God had translated him. For before his Translation, he had this

testimony, that he pleased God," making as much for the Immortality

of the Body, as of the Soule, proveth, that this his translation was

peculiar to them that please God; not common to them with the wicked;

and depending on Grace, not on Nature. But on the contrary, what

interpretation shall we give, besides the literall sense of the words of

Solomon (Eccles. 3.19.) "That which befalleth the Sons of Men, befalleth

Beasts, even one thing befalleth them; as the one dyeth, so doth the

other; yea, they have all one breath (one spirit;) so that a Man hath no

praeeminence above a Beast, for all is vanity." By the literall sense,

here is no Naturall Immortality of the Soule; nor yet any repugnancy

with the Life Eternall, which the Elect shall enjoy by Grace. And (chap.

4. ver.3.) "Better is he that hath not yet been, than both they;" that

is, than they that live, or have lived; which, if the Soule of all them

that have lived, were Immortall, were a hard saying; for then to have

an Immortall Soule, were worse than to have no Soule at all. And

againe,(Chapt. 9.5.) "The living know they shall die, but the dead know

not any thing;" that is, Naturally, and before the resurrection of the

body.

Another place which seems to make for a Naturall Immortality of the

Soule, is that, where our Saviour saith, that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob

are living: but this is spoken of the promise of God, and of their

certitude to rise again, not of a Life then actuall; and in the same

sense that God said to Adam, that on the day hee should eate of the

forbidden fruit, he should certainly die; from that time forward he was

a dead man by sentence; but not by execution, till almost a thousand

years after. So Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were alive by promise, then,

when Christ spake; but are not actually till the Resurrection. And the

History of Dives and Lazarus, make nothing against this, if wee take it

(as it is) for a Parable.

But there be other places of the New Testament, where an Immortality

seemeth to be directly attributed to the wicked. For it is evident, that

they shall all rise to Judgement. And it is said besides in many places,

that they shall goe into "Everlasting fire, Everlasting torments,

Everlasting punishments; and that the worm of conscience never dyeth;"

and all this is comprehended in the word Everlasting Death, which is

ordinarily interpreted Everlasting Life In Torments: And yet I can find

no where that any man shall live in torments Everlastingly. Also, it

seemeth hard, to say, that God who is the Father of Mercies, that doth

in Heaven and Earth all that hee will; that hath the hearts of all men

in his disposing; that worketh in men both to doe, and to will; and

without whose free gift a man hath neither inclination to good, nor

repentance of evill, should punish mens transgressions without any end

of time, and with all the extremity of torture, that men can imagine,

and more. We are therefore to consider, what the meaning is, of

Everlasting Fire, and other the like phrases of Scripture.

I have shewed already, that the Kingdome of God by Christ beginneth at

the day of Judgment: That in that day, the Faithfull shall rise again,

with glorious, and spirituall Bodies, and bee his Subjects in that his

Kingdome, which shall be Eternall; That they shall neither marry, nor

be given in marriage, nor eate and drink, as they did in their naturall

bodies; but live for ever in their individuall persons, without the

specificall eternity of generation: And that the Reprobates also shall

rise again, to receive punishments for their sins: As also, that those

of the Elect, which shall be alive in their earthly bodies at that

day, shall have their bodies suddenly changed, and made spirituall, and

Immortall. But that the bodies of the Reprobate, who make the Kingdome

of Satan, shall also be glorious, or spirituall bodies, or that they

shall bee as the Angels of God, neither eating, nor drinking, nor

engendring; or that their life shall be Eternall in their individuall

persons, as the life of every faithfull man is, or as the life of Adam

had been if hee had not sinned, there is no place of Scripture to prove

it; save onely these places concerning Eternall Torments; which may

otherwise be interpreted.

From whence may be inferred, that as the Elect after the Resurrection

shall be restored to the estate, wherein Adam was before he had sinned;

so the Reprobate shall be in the estate, that Adam, and his posterity

were in after the sin committed; saving that God promised a Redeemer to

Adam, and such of his seed as should trust in him, and repent; but not

to them that should die in their sins, as do the Reprobate.

Eternall Torments What

These things considered, the texts that mention Eternall Fire, Eternal

Torments, or the Word That Never Dieth, contradict not the Doctrine of

a Second, and Everlasting Death, in the proper and naturall sense of the

word Death. The Fire, or Torments prepared for the wicked in Gehenna,

Tophet, or in what place soever, may continue for ever; and there may

never want wicked men to be tormented in them; though not every, nor

any one Eternally. For the wicked being left in the estate they were in

after Adams sin, may at the Resurrection live as they did, marry, and

give in marriage, and have grosse and corruptible bodies, as all

mankind now have; and consequently may engender perpetually, after the

Resurrection, as they did before: For there is no place of Scripture to

the contrary. For St. Paul, speaking of the Resurrection (1 Cor. 15.)

understandeth it onely of the Resurrection to Life Eternall; and not the

Resurrection to Punishment. And of the first, he saith that the Body is

"Sown in Corruption, raised in Incorruption; sown in Dishonour, raised

in Honour; sown in Weaknesse, raised in Power; sown a Naturall body,

raised a Spirituall body:" There is no such thing can be said of the

bodies of them that rise to Punishment. The text is Luke 20. Verses

34,35,36. a fertile text. "The Children of this world marry, and are

given in marriage; but they that shall be counted worthy to obtaine that

world, and the Resurrection from the dead, neither marry, nor are given

in marriage: Neither can they die any more; for they are equall to

the Angells, and are the Children of God, being the Children of the

Resurrection:" The Children of this world, that are in the estate

which Adam left them in, shall marry, and be given in marriage; that is

corrupt, and generate successively; which is an Immortality of the Kind,

but not of the Persons of men: They are not worthy to be counted amongst

them that shall obtain the next world, and an absolute Resurrection from

the dead; but onely a short time, as inmates of that world; and to the

end onely to receive condign punishment for their contumacy. The Elect

are the onely children of the Resurrection; that is to say the sole

heirs of Eternall Life: they only can die no more; it is they that are

equall to the Angels, and that are the children of God; and not the

Reprobate. To the Reprobate there remaineth after the Resurrection,

a Second, and Eternall Death: between which Resurrection, and their

Second, and Eternall death, is but a time of Punishment and Torment; and

to last by succession of sinners thereunto, as long as the kind of Man

by propagation shall endure, which is Eternally.

Answer Of The Texts Alledged For Purgatory

Upon this Doctrine of the Naturall Eternity of separated Soules, is

founded (as I said) the Doctrine of Purgatory. For supposing Eternall

Life by Grace onely, there is no Life, but the Life of the Body; and no

Immortality till the Resurrection. The texts for Purgatory alledged by

Bellarmine out of the Canonicall Scripture of the old Testament, are

first, the Fasting of David for Saul and Jonathan, mentioned (2 Kings,

1. 12.); and againe, (2 Sam. 3. 35.) for the death of Abner. This

Fasting of David, he saith, was for the obtaining of something for them

at Gods hands, after their death; because after he had Fasted to procure

the recovery of his owne child, assoone as he know it was dead, he

called for meate. Seeing then the Soule hath an existence separate from

the Body, and nothing can be obtained by mens Fasting for the Soules

that are already either in Heaven, or Hell, it followeth that there be

some Soules of dead men, what are neither in Heaven, nor in Hell; and

therefore they must bee in some third place, which must be Purgatory.

And thus with hard straining, hee has wrested those places to the proofe

of a Purgatory; whereas it is manifest, that the ceremonies of Mourning,

and Fasting, when they are used for the death of men, whose life was

not profitable to the Mourners, they are used for honours sake to their

persons; and when tis done for the death of them by whose life the

Mourners had benefit, it proceeds from their particular dammage: And so

David honoured Saul, and Abner, with his Fasting; and in the death of

his owne child, recomforted himselfe, by receiving his ordinary food.

In the other places, which he alledgeth out of the old Testament, there

is not so much as any shew, or colour of proofe. He brings in every text

wherein there is the word Anger, or Fire, or Burning, or Purging, or

Clensing, in case any of the Fathers have but in a Sermon rhetorically

applied it to the Doctrine of Purgatory, already beleeved. The first

verse of Psalme, 37. "O Lord rebuke me not in thy wrath, nor chasten me

in thy hot displeasure:" What were this to Purgatory, if Augustine had

not applied the Wrath to the fire of Hell, and the Displeasure, to that

of Purgatory? And what is it to Purgatory, that of Psalme, 66. 12. "Wee

went through fire and water, and thou broughtest us to a moist place;"

and other the like texts, (with which the Doctors of those times

entended to adorne, or extend their Sermons, or Commentaries) haled to

their purposes by force of wit?

Places Of The New Testament For Purgatory Answered

But he alledgeth other places of the New Testament, that are not

so easie to be answered: And first that of Matth. 12.32. "Whosoever

speaketh a word against the Sonne of man, it shall be forgiven him; but

whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall not bee forgiven

him neither in this world, nor in the world to come:" Where he will have

Purgatory to be the World to come, wherein some sinnes may be forgiven,

which in this World were not forgiven: notwithstanding that it is

manifest, there are but three Worlds; one from the Creation to the

Flood, which was destroyed by Water, and is called in Scripture the

Old World; another from the Flood to the day of Judgement, which is the

Present World, and shall bee destroyed by Fire; and the third, which

shall bee from the day of Judgement forward, everlasting, which is

called the World To Come; and in which it is agreed by all, there shall

be no Purgatory; And therefore the World to come, and Purgatory, are

inconsistent. But what then can bee the meaning of those our Saviours

words? I confesse they are very hardly to bee reconciled with all the

Doctrines now unanimously received: Nor is it any shame, to confesse the

profoundnesse of the Scripture, to bee too great to be sounded by the

shortnesse of humane understanding. Neverthelesse, I may propound such

things to the consideration of more learned Divines, as the text it

selfe suggesteth. And first, seeing to speake against the Holy Ghost, as

being the third Person of the Trinity, is to speake against the Church,

in which the Holy Ghost resideth; it seemeth the comparison is made,

betweene the Easinesse of our Saviour, in bearing with offences done to

him while he was on earth, and the Severity of the Pastors after him,

against those which should deny their authority, which was from the Holy

Ghost: As if he should say, You that deny my Power; nay you that shall

crucifie me, shall be pardoned by mee, as often as you turne unto mee by

Repentance: But if you deny the Power of them that teach you hereafter,

by vertue of the Holy Ghost, they shall be inexorable, and shall not

forgive you, but persecute you in this World, and leave you without

absolution, (though you turn to me, unlesse you turn also to them,) to

the punishments (as much as lies in them) of the World to come: And

so the words may be taken as a Prophecy, or Praediction concerning the

times, as they have along been in the Christian Church: Or if this be

not the meaning, (for I am not peremptory in such difficult places,)

perhaps there may be place left after the Resurrection for the

Repentance of some sinners: And there is also another place, that

seemeth to agree therewith. For considering the words of St. Paul (1

Cor. 15. 29.) "What shall they doe which are Baptized for the dead, if

the dead rise not at all? why also are they Baptized for the dead?" a

man may probably inferre, as some have done, that in St. Pauls time,

there was a custome by receiving Baptisme for the dead, (as men that now

beleeve, are Sureties and Undertakers for the Faith of Infants, that

are not capable of beleeving,) to undertake for the persons of their

deceased friends, that they should be ready to obey, and receive our

Saviour for their King, at his coming again; and then the forgivenesse

of sins in the world to come, has no need of a Purgatory. But in both

these interpretations, there is so much of paradox, that I trust not

to them; but propound them to those that are throughly versed in the

Scripture, to inquire if there be no clearer place that contradicts

them. Onely of thus much, I see evident Scripture, to perswade men, that

there is neither the word, nor the thing of Purgatory, neither in this,

nor any other text; nor any thing that can prove a necessity of a place

for the Soule without the Body; neither for the Soule of Lazarus during

the four days he was dead; nor for the Soules of them which the Romane

Church pretend to be tormented now in Purgatory. For God, that could

give a life to a peece of clay, hath the same power to give life again

to a dead man, and renew his inanimate, and rotten Carkasse, into a

glorious, spirituall, and immortall Body.

Another place is that of 1 Cor. 3. where it is said that they which

built Stubble, Hay, &c. on the true Foundation, their work shall perish;

but "they themselves shall be saved; but as through Fire:" This Fire, he

will have to be the Fire of Purgatory. The words, as I have said before,

are an allusion to those of Zach. 13. 9. where he saith, "I will bring

the third part through the Fire, and refine them as Silver is refined,

and will try them as Gold is tryed;" Which is spoken of the comming of

the Messiah in Power and Glory; that is, at the day of Judgment, and

Conflagration of the present world; wherein the Elect shall not be

consumed, but be refined; that is, depose their erroneous Doctrines, and

Traditions, and have them as it were sindged off; and shall afterwards

call upon the name of the true God. In like manner, the Apostle saith

of them, that holding this Foundation Jesus Is The Christ, shall build

thereon some other Doctrines that be erroneous, that they shall not be

consumed in that fire which reneweth the world, but shall passe through

it to Salvation; but so, as to see, and relinquish their former Errours.

The Builders, are the Pastors; the Foundation, that Jesus Is The Christ;

the Stubble and Hay, False Consequences Drawn From It Through Ignorance,

Or Frailty; the Gold, Silver, and pretious Stones, are their True

Doctrines; and their Refining or Purging, the Relinquishing Of Their

Errors. In all which there is no colour at all for the burning of

Incorporeall, that is to say, Impatible Souls.

Baptisme For The Dead, How Understood

A third place is that of 1 Cor. 15. before mentioned, concerning

Baptisme for the Dead: out of which he concludeth, first, that Prayers

for the Dead are not unprofitable; and out of that, that there is a Fire

of Purgatory: But neither of them rightly. For of many interpretations

of the word Baptisme, he approveth this in the first place, that by

Baptisme is meant (metaphorically) a Baptisme of Penance; and that men

are in this sense Baptized, when they Fast, and Pray, and give Almes:

And so Baptisme for the Dead, and Prayer of the Dead, is the same thing.

But this is a Metaphor, of which there is no example, neither in

the Scripture, nor in any other use of language; and which is also

discordant to the harmony, and scope of the Scripture. The word Baptisme

is used (Mar. 10. 38. & Luk. 12. 59.) for being Dipped in ones own

bloud, as Christ was upon the Cross, and as most of the Apostles

were, for giving testimony of him. But it is hard to say, that Prayer,

Fasting, and Almes, have any similitude with Dipping. The same is used

also Mat. 3. 11. (which seemeth to make somewhat for Purgatory) for

a Purging with Fire. But it is evident the Fire and Purging here

mentioned, is the same whereof the Prophet Zachary speaketh (chap. 13.

v. 9.) "I will bring the third part through the Fire, and will Refine

them, &c." And St. Peter after him (1 Epist. 1. 7.) "That the triall

of your Faith, which is much more precious than of Gold that perisheth,

though it be tryed with fire, might be found unto praise, and honour,

and glory at the Appearing of Jesus Christ;" And St. Paul (1 Cor. 3.

13.) The Fire shall trie every mans work of what sort it is." But

St. Peter, and St. Paul speak of the Fire that shall be at the Second

Appearing of Christ; and the Prophet Zachary of the Day of Judgment: And

therefore this place of S. Mat. may be interpreted of the same; and then

there will be no necessity of the Fire of Purgatory.

Another interpretation of Baptisme for the Dead, is that which I

have before mentioned, which he preferreth to the second place of

probability; And thence also he inferreth the utility of Prayer for the

Dead. For if after the Resurrection, such as have not heard of Christ,

or not beleeved in him, may be received into Christs Kingdome; it is

not in vain, after their death, that their friends should pray for them,

till they should be risen. But granting that God, at the prayers of the

faithfull, may convert unto him some of those that have not heard Christ

preached, and consequently cannot have rejected Christ, and that the

charity of men in that point, cannot be blamed; yet this concludeth

nothing for Purgatory, because to rise from Death to Life, is one thing;

to rise from Purgatory to Life is another; and being a rising from Life

to Life, from a Life in torments to a Life in joy.

A fourth place is that of Mat. 5. 25. "Agree with thine Adversary

quickly, whilest thou art in the way with him, lest at any time the

Adversary deliver thee to the Officer, and thou be cast into prison.

Verily I say unto thee, thou shalt by no means come out thence, till

thou has paid the uttermost farthing." In which Allegory, the Offender

is the Sinner; both the Adversary and the Judge is God; the Way is

this Life; the Prison is the Grave; the Officer, Death; from which, the

sinner shall not rise again to life eternall, but to a second Death,

till he have paid the utmost farthing, or Christ pay it for him by his

Passion, which is a full Ransome for all manner of sin, as well lesser

sins, as greater crimes; both being made by the passion of Christ

equally veniall.

The fift place, is that of Matth. 5. 22. "Whosoever is angry with his

Brother without a cause, shall be guilty in Judgment. And whosoever

shall say to his Brother, RACHA, shall be guilty in the Councel. But

whosoever shall say, Thou Foole, shall be guilty to hell fire." From

which words he inferreth three sorts of Sins, and three sorts of

Punishments; and that none of those sins, but the last, shall be

punished with hell fire; and consequently, that after this life, there

is punishment of lesser sins in Purgatory. Of which inference, there is

no colour in any interpretation that hath yet been given to them: Shall

there be a distinction after this life of Courts of Justice, as there

was amongst the Jews in our Saviours time, to hear, and determine

divers sorts of Crimes; as the Judges, and the Councell? Shall not

all Judicature appertain to Christ, and his Apostles? To understand

therefore this text, we are not to consider it solitarily, but jointly

with the words precedent, and subsequent. Our Saviour in this Chapter

interpreteth the Law of Moses; which the Jews thought was then

fulfilled, when they had not transgressed the Grammaticall sense

thereof, howsoever they had transgressed against the sentence, or

meaning of the Legislator. Therefore whereas they thought the Sixth

Commandement was not broken, but by Killing a man; nor the Seventh, but

when a man lay with a woman, not his wife; our Saviour tells them, the

inward Anger of a man against his brother, if it be without just cause,

is Homicide: You have heard (saith hee) the Law of Moses, "Thou shalt

not Kill," and that "Whosoever shall Kill, shall be condemned before the

Judges," or before the Session of the Seventy: But I say unto you, to

be Angry with ones Brother without cause; or to say unto him Racha, or

Foole, is Homicide, and shall be punished at the day of Judgment, and

Session of Christ, and his Apostles, with Hell fire: so that those words

were not used to distinguish between divers Crimes, and divers Courts

of Justice, and divers Punishments; but to taxe the distinction between

sin, and sin, which the Jews drew not from the difference of the Will

in Obeying God, but from the difference of their Temporall Courts of

Justice; and to shew them that he that had the Will to hurt his Brother,

though the effect appear but in Reviling, or not at all, shall be cast

into hell fire, by the Judges, and by the Session, which shall be the

same, not different Courts at the day of Judgment. This Considered, what

can be drawn from this text, to maintain Purgatory, I cannot imagine.

The sixth place is Luke 16. 9. "Make yee friends of the unrighteous

Mammon, that when yee faile, they may receive you into Everlasting

Tabernacles." This he alledges to prove Invocation of Saints departed.

But the sense is plain, That we should make friends with our Riches, of

the Poore, and thereby obtain their Prayers whilest they live. "He that

giveth to the Poore, lendeth to the Lord. "The seventh is Luke 23. 42.

"Lord remember me when thou commest into thy Kingdome:" Therefore, saith

hee, there is Remission of sins after this life. But the consequence

is not good. Our Saviour then forgave him; and at his comming againe in

Glory, will remember to raise him againe to Life Eternall.

The Eight is Acts 2. 24. where St. Peter saith of Christ, "that God

had raised him up, and loosed the Paines of Death, because it was not

possible he should be holden of it;" Which hee interprets to bee a

descent of Christ into Purgatory, to loose some Soules there from their

torments; whereas it is manifest, that it was Christ that was loosed;

it was hee that could not bee holden of Death, or the Grave; and not the

Souls in Purgatory. But if that which Beza sayes in his notes on this

place be well observed, there is none that will not see, that in stead

of Paynes, it should be Bands; and then there is no further cause to

seek for Purgatory in this Text.

CHAPTER XLV. OF DAEMONOLOGY, AND OTHER RELIQUES OF THE RELIGION OF THE

GENTILES

The Originall Of Daemonology

The impression made on the organs of Sight, by lucide Bodies, either in

one direct line, or in many lines, reflected from Opaque, or refracted

in the passage through Diaphanous Bodies, produceth in living Creatures,

in whom God hath placed such Organs, an Imagination of the Object, from

whence the Impression proceedeth; which Imagination is called Sight; and

seemeth not to bee a meer Imagination, but the Body it selfe without

us; in the same manner, as when a man violently presseth his eye, there

appears to him a light without, and before him, which no man perceiveth

but himselfe; because there is indeed no such thing without him, but

onely a motion in the interiour organs, pressing by resistance

outward, that makes him think so. And the motion made by this pressure,

continuing after the object which caused it is removed, is that we call

Imagination, and Memory, and (in sleep, and sometimes in great distemper

of the organs by Sicknesse, or Violence) a Dream: of which things I have

already spoken briefly, in the second and third Chapters.

This nature of Sight having never been discovered by the ancient

pretenders to Naturall Knowledge; much lesse by those that consider not

things so remote (as that Knowledge is) from their present use; it was

hard for men to conceive of those Images in the Fancy, and in the Sense,

otherwise, than of things really without us: Which some (because they

vanish away, they know not whither, nor how,) will have to be absolutely

Incorporeall, that is to say Immateriall, of Formes without Matter;

Colour and Figure, without any coloured or figured Body; and that they

can put on Aiery bodies (as a garment) to make them Visible when

they will to our bodily Eyes; and others say, are Bodies, and living

Creatures, but made of Air, or other more subtile and aethereall Matter,

which is, then, when they will be seen, condensed. But Both of them

agree on one generall appellation of them, DAEMONS. As if the Dead of

whom they Dreamed, were not Inhabitants of their own Brain, but of the

Air, or of Heaven, or Hell; not Phantasmes, but Ghosts; with just

as much reason, as if one should say, he saw his own Ghost in a

Looking-Glasse, or the Ghosts of the Stars in a River; or call the

ordinary apparition of the Sun, of the quantity of about a foot, the

Daemon, or Ghost of that great Sun that enlighteneth the whole visible

world: And by that means have feared them, as things of an unknown, that

is, of an unlimited power to doe them good, or harme; and consequently,

given occasion to the Governours of the Heathen Common-wealths to

regulate this their fear, by establishing that DAEMONOLOGY (in which

the Poets, as Principal Priests of the Heathen Religion, were specially

employed, or reverenced) to the Publique Peace, and to the Obedience of

Subjects necessary thereunto; and to make some of them Good Daemons,

and others Evill; the one as a Spurre to the Observance, the other, as

Reines to withhold them from Violation of the Laws.

What Were The Daemons Of The Ancients

What kind of things they were, to whom they attributed the name of

Daemons, appeareth partly in the Genealogie of their Gods, written by

Hesiod, one of the most ancient Poets of the Graecians; and partly in

other Histories; of which I have observed some few before, in the 12.

Chapter of this discourse.

How That Doctrine Was Spread

The Graecians, by their Colonies and Conquests, communicated their

Language and Writings into Asia, Egypt, and Italy; and therein, by

necessary consequence their Daemonology, or (as St. Paul calles it)

"their Doctrines of Devils;" And by that meanes, the contagion was

derived also to the Jewes, both of Judaea, and Alexandria, and other

parts, whereinto they were dispersed. But the name of Daemon they did

not (as the Graecians) attribute to Spirits both Good, and Evill; but

to the Evill onely: And to the Good Daemons they gave the name of the

Spirit of God; and esteemed those into whose bodies they entred to be

Prophets. In summe, all singularity if Good, they attributed to the

Spirit of God; and if Evill, to some Daemon, but a kakodaimen, an Evill

Daemon, that is, a Devill. And therefore, they called Daemoniaques, that

is, possessed by the Devill, such as we call Madmen or Lunatiques; or

such as had the Falling Sicknesse; or that spoke any thing, which they

for want of understanding, thought absurd: As also of an Unclean person

in a notorious degree, they used to say he had an Unclean Spirit; of a

Dumbe man, that he had a Dumbe Devill; and of John Baptist (Math. 11.

18.) for the singularity of his fasting, that he had a Devill; and of

our Saviour, because he said, hee that keepeth his sayings should not

see Death In Aeternum, (John 8. 52.) "Now we know thou hast a Devill;

Abraham is dead, and the Prophets are dead:" And again, because he said

(John 7. 20.) "They went about to kill him," the people answered, "Thou

hast a Devill, who goeth about to kill thee?" Whereby it is manifest,

that the Jewes had the same opinions concerning Phantasmes, namely, that

they were not Phantasmes that is, Idols of the braine, but things reall,

and independent on the Fancy.

Why Our Saviour Controlled It Not

Which doctrine if it be not true, why (may some say) did not our Saviour

contradict it, and teach the Contrary? nay why does he use on diverse

occasions, such forms of speech as seem to confirm it? To this I answer,

that first, where Christ saith, "A Spirit hath not flesh and bone,"

though hee shew that there be Spirits, yet he denies not that they are

Bodies: And where St. Paul sais, "We shall rise Spirituall Bodies," he

acknowledgeth the nature of Spirits, but that they are Bodily Spirits;

which is not difficult to understand. For Air and many other things

are Bodies, though not Flesh and Bone, or any other grosse body, to bee

discerned by the eye. But when our Saviour speaketh to the Devill, and

commandeth him to go out of a man, if by the Devill, be meant a Disease,

as Phrenesy, or Lunacy, or a corporeal Spirit, is not the speech

improper? can Diseases heare? or can there be a corporeall Spirit in a

Body of Flesh and Bone, full already of vitall and animall Spirits?

Are there not therefore Spirits, that neither have Bodies, nor are meer

Imaginations? To the first I answer, that the addressing of our Saviours

command to the Madnesse, or Lunacy he cureth, is no more improper, then

was his rebuking of the Fever, or of the Wind, and Sea; for neither

do these hear: Or than was the command of God, to the Light, to the

Firmament, to the Sunne, and Starres, when he commanded them to bee; for

they could not heare before they had a beeing. But those speeches are

not improper, because they signifie the power of Gods Word: no more

therefore is it improper, to command Madnesse, or Lunacy (under the

appellation of Devils, by which they were then commonly understood,)

to depart out of a mans body. To the second, concerning their being

Incorporeall, I have not yet observed any place of Scripture, from

whence it can be gathered, that any man was ever possessed with any

other Corporeal Spirit, but that of his owne, by which his body is

naturally moved.

The Scriptures Doe Not Teach That Spirits Are Incorporeall

Our Saviour, immediately after the Holy Ghost descended upon him in the

form of a Dove, is said by St. Matthew (Chapt. 4. 1.) to have been "led

up by the Spirit into the Wildernesse;" and the same is recited (Luke 4.

1.) in these words, "Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost, was led in

the Spirit into the Wildernesse;" Whereby it is evident, that by

Spirit there, is meant the Holy Ghost. This cannot be interpreted for

a Possession: For Christ, and the Holy Ghost, are but one and the same

substance; which is no possession of one substance, or body, by another.

And whereas in the verses following, he is said "to have been taken

up by the Devill into the Holy City, and set upon a pinnacle of the

Temple," shall we conclude thence that hee was possessed of the Devill,

or carryed thither by violence? And again, "carryed thence by the Devill

into an exceeding high mountain, who shewed him them thence all the

Kingdomes of the world:" herein, wee are not to beleeve he was either

possessed, or forced by the Devill; nor that any Mountaine is high

enough, (according to the literall sense,) to shew him one whole

Hemisphere. What then can be the meaning of this place, other than that

he went of himself into the Wildernesse; and that this carrying of him

up and down, from the Wildernesse to the City, and from thence into a

Mountain, was a Vision? Conformable whereunto, is also the phrase of St.

Luke, that hee was led into the Wildernesse, not By, but In the Spirit:

whereas concerning His being Taken up into the Mountaine, and unto the

Pinnacle of the Temple, hee speaketh as St. Matthew doth. Which suiteth

with the nature of a Vision.

Again, where St. Luke sayes of Judas Iscariot, that "Satan entred into

him, and thereupon that he went and communed with the Chief Priests, and

Captaines, how he might betray Christ unto them:" it may be answered,

that by the Entring of Satan (that is the Enemy) into him, is meant, the

hostile and traiterous intention of selling his Lord and Master. For as

by the Holy Ghost, is frequently in Scripture understood, the Graces and

good Inclinations given by the Holy Ghost; so by the Entring of

Satan, may bee understood the wicked Cogitations, and Designes of the

Adversaries of Christ, and his Disciples. For as it is hard to say,

that the Devill was entred into Judas, before he had any such hostile

designe; so it is impertinent to say, he was first Christs Enemy in his

heart, and that the Devill entred into him afterwards. Therefore the

Entring of Satan, and his Wicked Purpose, was one and the same thing.

But if there be no Immateriall Spirit, nor any Possession of mens bodies

by any Spirit Corporeall, it may again be asked, why our Saviour and his

Apostles did not teach the People so; and in such cleer words, as they

might no more doubt thereof. But such questions as these, are more

curious, than necessary for a Christian mans Salvation. Men may as well

aske, why Christ that could have given to all men Faith, Piety, and all

manner of morall Vertues, gave it to some onely, and not to all: and

why he left the search of naturall Causes, and Sciences, to the naturall

Reason and Industry of men, and did not reveal it to all, or any man

supernaturally; and many other such questions: Of which neverthelesse

there may be alledged probable and pious reasons. For as God, when he

brought the Israelites into the Land of Promise, did not secure them

therein, by subduing all the Nations round about them; but left many of

them, as thornes in their sides, to awaken from time to time their

Piety and Industry: so our Saviour, in conducting us toward his heavenly

Kingdome, did not destroy all the difficulties of Naturall Questions;

but left them to exercise our Industry, and Reason; the Scope of

his preaching, being onely to shew us this plain and direct way to

Salvation, namely, the beleef of this Article, "that he was the Christ,

the Son of the living God, sent into the world to sacrifice himselfe for

our Sins, and at his comming again, gloriously to reign over his Elect,

and to save them from their Enemies eternally:" To which, the opinion

of Possession by Spirits, or Phantasmes, are no impediment in the way;

though it be to some an occasion of going out of the way, and to follow

their own Inventions. If wee require of the Scripture an account of all

questions, which may be raised to trouble us in the performance of Gods

commands; we may as well complaine of Moses for not having set downe the

time of the creation of such Spirits, as well as of the Creation of the

Earth, and Sea, and of Men, and Beasts. To conclude, I find in Scripture

that there be Angels, and Spirits, good and evill; but not that they are

Incorporeall, as are the Apparitions men see in the Dark, or in a Dream,

or Vision; which the Latines call Spectra, and took for Daemons. And I

find that there are Spirits Corporeal, (though subtile and Invisible;)

but not that any mans body was possessed, or inhabited by them; And that

the Bodies of the Saints shall be such, namely, Spirituall Bodies, as

St. Paul calls them.

The Power Of Casting Out Devills, Not The Same It Was In The Primitive

Church

Neverthelesse, the contrary Doctrine, namely, that there be Incorporeall

Spirits, hath hitherto so prevailed in the Church, that the use of

Exorcisme, (that is to say, of ejection of Devills by Conjuration) is

thereupon built; and (though rarely and faintly practised) is not yet

totally given over. That there were many Daemoniaques in the Primitive

Church, and few Mad-men, and other such singular diseases; whereas in

these times we hear of, and see many Mad-men, and few Daemoniaques,

proceeds not from the change of Nature; but of Names. But how it comes

to passe, that whereas heretofore the Apostles, and after them for a

time, the Pastors of the Church, did cure those singular Diseases, which

now they are not seen to doe; as likewise, why it is not in the power of

every true Beleever now, to doe all that the Faithfull did then, that is

to say, as we read (Mark 16. 17.) "In Christs name to cast out Devills,

to speak with new Tongues, to take up Serpents, to drink deadly Poison

without harm taking, and to cure the Sick by the laying on of their

hands," and all this without other words, but "in the Name of Jesus,"

is another question. And it is probable, that those extraordinary gifts

were given to the Church, for no longer a time, than men trusted wholly

to Christ, and looked for their felicity onely in his Kingdome to come;

and consequently, that when they sought Authority, and Riches, and

trusted to their own Subtilty for a Kingdome of this world, these

supernaturall gifts of God were again taken from them.

Another Relique Of Gentilisme, Worshipping Images, Left In The Church,

Not Brought Into It

Another relique of Gentilisme, is the Worship of Images, neither

instituted by Moses in the Old, nor by Christ in the New Testament; nor

yet brought in from the Gentiles; but left amongst them, after they had

given their names to Christ. Before our Saviour preached, it was the

generall Religion of the Gentiles, to worship for Gods, those Apparences

that remain in the Brain from the impression of externall Bodies upon

the organs of their Senses, which are commonly called Ideas, Idols,

Phantasmes, Conceits, as being Representations of those externall

Bodies, which cause them, and have nothing in them of reality, no more

than there is in the things that seem to stand before us in a Dream:

And this is the reason why St. Paul says, "Wee know that an Idol is

Nothing:" Not that he thought that an Image of Metall, Stone, or Wood,

was nothing; but that the thing which they honored, or feared in

the Image, and held for a God, was a meer Figment, without place,

habitation, motion, or existence, but in the motions of the Brain.

And the worship of these with Divine Honour, is that which is in the

Scripture called Idolatry, and Rebellion against God. For God being King

of the Jews, and his Lieutenant being first Moses, and afterward the

High Priest; if the people had been permitted to worship, and pray to

Images, (which are Representations of their own Fancies,) they had

had no farther dependence on the true God, of whom there can be no

similitude; nor on his prime Ministers, Moses, and the High Priests;

but every man had governed himself according to his own appetite, to the

utter eversion of the Common-wealth, and their own destruction for want

of Union. And therefore the first Law of God was, "They should not take

for Gods, ALIENOS DEOS, that is, the Gods of other nations, but that

onely true God, who vouchsafed to commune with Moses, and by him to give

them laws and directions, for their peace, and for their salvation

from their enemies." And the second was, that "they should not make to

themselves any Image to Worship, of their own Invention." For it is the

same deposing of a King, to submit to another King, whether he be set up

by a neighbour nation, or by our selves.

Answer To Certain Seeming Texts For Images

The places of Scripture pretended to countenance the setting up of

Images, to worship them; or to set them up at all in the places where

God is worshipped, are First, two Examples; one of the Cherubins over

the Ark of God; the other of the Brazen Serpent: Secondly, some texts

whereby we are commanded to worship certain Creatures for their relation

to God; as to worship his Footstool: And lastly, some other texts, by

which is authorized, a religious honoring of Holy things. But before I

examine the force of those places, to prove that which is pretended, I

must first explain what is to be understood by Worshipping, and what by

Images, and Idols.

What Is Worship

I have already shewn in the 20 Chapter of this Discourse, that to Honor,

is to value highly the Power of any person: and that such value is

measured, by our comparing him with others. But because there is nothing

to be compared with God in Power; we Honor him not but Dishonour him

by any Value lesse than Infinite. And thus Honor is properly of its own

nature, secret, and internall in the heart. But the inward thoughts of

men, which appeare outwardly in their words and actions, are the signes

of our Honoring, and these goe by the name of WORSHIP, in Latine,

CULTUS. Therefore, to Pray to, to Swear by, to Obey, to bee Diligent,

and Officious in Serving: in summe, all words and actions that betoken

Fear to Offend, or Desire to Please, is Worship, whether those words

and actions be sincere, or feigned: and because they appear as signes of

Honoring, are ordinarily also called Honor.

Distinction Between Divine And Civill Worship

The Worship we exhibite to those we esteem to be but men, as to Kings,

and men in Authority, is Civill Worship: But the worship we exhibite

to that which we think to bee God, whatsoever the words, ceremonies,

gestures, or other actions be, is Divine Worship. To fall prostrate

before a King, in him that thinks him but a Man, is but Civill Worship:

And he that but putteth off his hat in the Church, for this cause, that

he thinketh it the House of God, worshippeth with Divine Worship. They

that seek the distinction of Divine and Civill Worship, not in the

intention of the Worshipper, but in the Words douleia, and latreia,

deceive themselves. For whereas there be two sorts of Servants; that

sort, which is of those that are absolutely in the power of their

Masters, as Slaves taken in war, and their Issue, whose bodies are not

in their own power, (their lives depending on the Will of their Masters,

in such manner as to forfeit them upon the least disobedience,) and that

are bought and sold as Beasts, were called Douloi, that is properly,

Slaves, and their Service, Douleia: The other, which is of those that

serve (for hire, or in hope of benefit from their Masters) voluntarily;

are called Thetes; that is, Domestique Servants; to whose service the

Masters have no further right, than is contained in the Covenants made

betwixt them. These two kinds of Servants have thus much common to them

both, that their labour is appointed them by another, whether, as a

Slave, or a voluntary Servant: And the word Latris, is the general name

of both, signifying him that worketh for another, whether, as a Slave,

or a voluntary Servant: So that Latreia signifieth generally all

Service; but Douleia the service of Bondmen onely, and the condition of

Slavery: And both are used in Scripture (to signifie our Service of God)

promiscuously. Douleia, because we are Gods Slaves; Latreia, because

wee Serve him: and in all kinds of Service is contained, not onely

Obedience, but also Worship, that is, such actions, gestures, and words,

as signifie Honor.

An Image What Phantasmes

An IMAGE (in the most strict signification of the word) is the

Resemblance of some thing visible: In which sense the Phantasticall

Formes, Apparitions, or Seemings of Visible Bodies to the Sight, are

onely Images; such as are the Shew of a man, or other thing in the

Water, by Reflexion, or Refraction; or of the Sun, or Stars by Direct

Vision in the Air; which are nothing reall in the things seen, nor in

the place where thy seem to bee; nor are their magnitudes and figures

the same with that of the object; but changeable, by the variation of

the organs of Sight, or by glasses; and are present oftentimes in our

Imagination, and in our Dreams, when the object is absent; or changed

into other colours, and shapes, as things that depend onely upon the

Fancy. And these are the Images which are originally and most properly

called Ideas, and IDOLS, and derived from the language of the Graecians,

with whom the word Eido signifieth to See. They are also called

PHANTASMES, which is in the same language, Apparitions. And from these

Images it is that one of the faculties of mans Nature, is called the

Imagination. And from hence it is manifest, that there neither is, nor

can bee any Image made of a thing Invisible.

It is also evident, that there can be no Image of a thing Infinite: for

all the Images, and Phantasmes that are made by the Impression of things

visible, are figured: but Figure is a quantity every way determined: And

therefore there can bee no Image of God: nor of the Soule of Man; nor of

Spirits, but onely of Bodies Visible, that is, Bodies that have light in

themselves, or are by such enlightened.

Fictions; Materiall Images

And whereas a man can fancy Shapes he never saw; making up a Figure out

of the parts of divers creatures; as the Poets make their Centaures,

Chimaeras, and other Monsters never seen: So can he also give Matter to

those Shapes, and make them in Wood, Clay or Metall. And these are also

called Images, not for the resemblance of any corporeall thing, but for

the resemblance of some Phantasticall Inhabitants of the Brain of the

Maker. But in these Idols, as they are originally in the Brain, and

as they are painted, carved, moulded, or moulten in matter, there is a

similitude of the one to the other, for which the Materiall Body made

by Art, may be said to be the Image of the Phantasticall Idoll made by

Nature.

But in a larger use of the word Image, is contained also, any

Representation of one thing by another. So an earthly Soveraign may be

called the Image of God: And an inferiour Magistrate the Image of an

earthly Soveraign. And many times in the Idolatry of the Gentiles there

was little regard to the similitude of their Materiall Idoll to the

Idol in their fancy, and yet it was called the Image of it. For a

Stone unhewn has been set up for Neptune, and divers other shapes far

different from the shapes they conceived of their Gods. And at this

day we see many Images of the Virgin Mary, and other Saints, unlike one

another, and without correspondence to any one mans Fancy; and yet serve

well enough for the purpose they were erected for; which was no more but

by the Names onely, to represent the Persons mentioned in the History;

to which every man applyeth a Mentall Image of his owne making, or

none at all. And thus an Image in the largest sense, is either the

Resemblance, or the Representation of some thing Visible; or both

together, as it happeneth for the most part.

But the name of Idoll is extended yet further in Scripture, to

signifie also the Sunne, or a Starre, or any other Creature, visible or

invisible, when they are worshipped for Gods.

Idolatry What

Having shewn what is Worship, and what an Image; I will now put them

together, and examine what that IDOLATRY is, which is forbidden in the

Second Commandement, and other places of the Scripture.

To worship an Image, is voluntarily to doe those externall acts, which

are signes of honoring either the matter of the Image, which is Wood,

Stone, or Metall, or some other visible creature; or the Phantasme of

the brain, for the resemblance, or representation whereof, the matter

was formed and figured; or both together, as one animate Body, composed

of the Matter and the Phantasme, as of a Body and Soule.

To be uncovered, before a man of Power and Authority, or before the

Throne of a Prince, or in such other places as hee ordaineth to that

purpose in his absence, is to Worship that man, or Prince with Civill

Worship; as being a signe, not of honoring the stoole, or place, but the

Person; and is not Idolatry. But if hee that doth it, should suppose the

Soule of the Prince to be in the Stool, or should present a Petition to

the Stool, it were Divine Worship, and Idolatry.

To pray to a King for such things, as hee is able to doe for us, though

we prostrate our selves before him, is but Civill Worship; because we

acknowledge no other power in him, but humane: But voluntarily to pray

unto him for fair weather, or for any thing which God onely can doe

for us, is Divine Worship, and Idolatry. On the other side, if a King

compell a man to it by the terrour of Death, or other great corporall

punishment, it is not Idolatry: For the Worship which the Soveraign

commandeth to bee done unto himself by the terrour of his Laws, is not

a sign that he that obeyeth him, does inwardly honour him as a God, but

that he is desirous to save himselfe from death, or from a miserable

life; and that which is not a sign of internall honor, is no Worship;

and therefore no Idolatry. Neither can it bee said, that hee that does

it, scandalizeth, or layeth any stumbling block before his Brother;

because how wise, or learned soever he be that worshippeth in that

manner, another man cannot from thence argue, that he approveth it; but

that he doth it for fear; and that it is not his act, but the act of the

Soveraign.

To worship God, in some peculiar Place, or turning a mans face towards

an Image, or determinate Place, is not to worship, or honor the Place,

or Image; but to acknowledge it Holy, that is to say, to acknowledge

the Image, or the Place to be set apart from common use: for that is the

meaning of the word Holy; which implies no new quality in the Place, or

Image; but onely a new Relation by Appropriation to God; and therefore

is not Idolatry; no more than it was Idolatry to worship God before

the Brazen Serpent; or for the Jews when they were out of their owne

countrey, to turn their faces (when they prayed) toward the Temple of

Jerusalem; or for Moses to put off his Shoes when he was before the

Flaming Bush, the ground appertaining to Mount Sinai; which place God

had chosen to appear in, and to give his Laws to the People of Israel,

and was therefore Holy ground, not by inhaerent sanctity, but by

separation to Gods use; or for Christians to worship in the Churches,

which are once solemnly dedicated to God for that purpose, by the

Authority of the King, or other true Representant of the Church. But to

worship God, is inanimating, or inhibiting, such Image, or place; that

is to say, an infinite substance in a finite place, is Idolatry: for

such finite Gods, are but Idols of the brain, nothing reall; and are

commonly called in the Scripture by the names of Vanity, and Lyes, and

Nothing. Also to worship God, not as inanimating, or present in the

place, or Image; but to the end to be put in mind of him, or of some

works of his, in case the Place, or Image be dedicated, or set up

by private authority, and not by the authority of them that are our

Soveraign Pastors, is Idolatry. For the Commandement is, "Thou shalt not

make to thy selfe any graven image." God commanded Moses to set up the

Brazen Serpent; hee did not make it to himselfe; it was not therefore

against the Commandement. But the making of the Golden Calfe by Aaron,

and the People, as being done without authority from God, was Idolatry;

not onely because they held it for God, but also because they made it

for a Religious use, without warrant either from God their Soveraign, or

from Moses, that was his Lieutenant.

The Gentiles worshipped for Gods, Jupiter, and others; that living, were

men perhaps that had done great and glorious Acts; and for the Children

of God, divers men and women, supposing them gotten between an Immortall

Deity, and a mortall man. This was Idolatry, because they made them so

to themselves, having no authority from God, neither in his eternall Law

of Reason, nor in his positive and revealed Will. But though our Saviour

was a man, whom wee also beleeve to bee God Immortall, and the Son of

God; yet this is no Idolatry; because wee build not that beleef upon

our own fancy, or judgment, but upon the Word of God revealed in the

Scriptures. And for the adoration of the Eucharist, if the words of

Christ, "This is my Body," signifie, "that he himselfe, and the seeming

bread in his hand; and not onely so, but that all the seeming morsells

of bread that have ever since been, and any time hereafter shall bee

consecrated by Priests, bee so many Christs bodies, and yet all of them

but one body," then is that no Idolatry, because it is authorized by our

Saviour: but if that text doe not signifie that, (for there is no other

that can be alledged for it,) then, because it is a worship of humane

institution, it is Idolatry. For it is not enough to say, God can

transubstantiate the Bread into Christs Body: For the Gentiles also held

God to be Omnipotent; and might upon that ground no lesse excuse their

Idolatry, by pretending, as well as others, as transubstantiation of

their Wood, and Stone into God Almighty.

Whereas there be, that pretend Divine Inspiration, to be a supernaturall

entring of the Holy Ghost into a man, and not an acquisition of Gods

grace, by doctrine, and study; I think they are in a very dangerous

Dilemma. For if they worship not the men whom they beleeve to be so

inspired, they fall into Impiety; as not adoring Gods supernaturall

Presence. And again, if they worship them, they commit Idolatry; for the

Apostles would never permit themselves to be so worshipped. Therefore

the safest way is to beleeve, that by the Descending of the Dove upon

the Apostles; and by Christs Breathing on them, when hee gave them

the Holy Ghost; and by the giving of it by Imposition of Hands, are

understood the signes which God hath been pleased to use, or ordain to

be used, of his promise to assist those persons in their study to

Preach his Kingdome, and in their Conversation, that it might not be

Scandalous, but Edifying to others.

Scandalous Worship Of Images