Meditations, Meditation 59 – Meditation 63
59
Consisting of Parts.
1. Part.
It is a strange thing that in this broad day light, any man should stumble at the Popes supremacy in spirituall, much lesse in temporall matters. If with the Apostles wee will but testifie what we see, we on whom the truth clearely shineth cannot chuse but see that this supremacy is a thing much yonger then the Christian Religion; which prospered before it was, and that much better then since Religion was put out to nurse vntounto it. If we will begin with Christ, Christ equally endoweth his Apostles with power of binding and loosing; and equally appoints al nations vntounto them. If Christ should hauehave said, That on Peter he would build his Church (which he speaketh of him only who only is the Rock, 1. Cor. 10.) yet Peter answering for all, should receiue this in the behalfe of all, for whom hee answered. For since it was forbidden to all of thē to tell who Christ was, it seemes all ioyned with Peter in the knowledg and confession of Christ, and so all had interest in the benefit of that knowledge and confession. Againe, if at that time it should only hauehave beene spoken only to Peter, wee hauehave another Scripture which equalleth the other Apostles with him, euen in the building of the Church; while it sayeth, the Church is built vponupon the foundation of the Apostles: so that the Apostles are ioyned together promiscuously, not differently, towards the making vp of the foundation. Besides, Paul plainely answereth that he is not a whit inferiour to the chiefest of the Apostles; that he had of Peter the right hand of fellowship, not of inferiority: & which most cuts off the Pope from claiming vsus who are Gentiles by Peter, and turnes him ouer to fetch his especiall claime by Paul, Paul saith that the Apostleship of the circumcision or Iewes was committed to Peter, and of the Gentiles especially to him: To this Eusebius giues his testimony, saying, that Peter though cōming among the Gentiles, yet preached only to the Iewes, & withall brings forth his first Epistle, as that which was directed particularly to his own charge the Iewes. And this indeede best fitteth with the History, which reporteth, that Peter and Paul exercised their Apostleships together at Rome, which might most orderly be performed, if the one taught there the Circumcisiō; the other the Gentiles. Therefore let the Pope take heed how he robs Paul, to giuegive vntounto Peter; for hee robbes his best title, to giuegive to his worse; but hereafter let him find some new exposition of building the Church so vponupon Peter; that Paul also may hauehave a great part in the foundation wheron the Church is built. Now if we descend from the Apostles (betweene whome if there be any oddes in right to vsus, it appeares to be on Paules side) to examine whether any such supremacy descended from among them, to the succeeding ages, wee shall finde none in diuers hundred years. The church of Rome indeede was a famous Church, founded by the Apostles, flourishing with godly Bishops and Martyrs, and full of Saints; and therefore by many holy men, great and large titles were giuen to her, and her Bishops, in letters and writings. So might shee for the eminencie thereof, be called the first Church or the chiefest Church, and the Bishops, the Bishops of the chiefest Church; but a meane vnderstāding knows there is great oddes, betweene being first in order, and a head in gouernment. And this the practise of those times plainly declared; for though they had giuen neuer so many good words to the Bishops and Church of Rome, yet as soone as the Bishop of Rome intermedled with their gouernment, they presētly rose vp against him: so did Cyprian; yea a councell of African Bishops, and among them Saint Austin, walled vp their countrey from the command of the Romane Bishops. Euen in the very matter of excommunication, wherein is the pretented eminēce of their power, Irenaeus a Bishop of France & the Popes neighbour, reprooued Victor, a Bishop of Rome for excō municating the Churches of Asia vponupon the obseruation of Easter. And when Constantinus vniustly checked Liberius the Bishop of Rome for maintaining the cause of Athanasius with these words, How great a part of the world art thou, that thou alone shouldest iustifie a wicked man, and trouble the peace of the world? neither Constantinus acknowledged any supremacy in Liberius: neither did Liberius in his answer (though hee had occasion giuen to tell how great and Catholike a head hee was) thereby iustifie his doings. To conclude, (for particulars are infinite, and this matter is commonly handled;) at length by a councel, Christendome was committed to fiue Patriarches; of Rome, Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch, and Ierusalem: of which Rome was the first, but had no more authoritie ouer the rest, then the second had ouer the third; the authoritie of no one being subalterne, or subiect to other. And the proportionable practise of diuers of these Patriarches yet standing, giueth hereunto confirmation. But the same corruption of mans nature, which in a clowne stirreth vp an ambitious desire to be a gentleman, of a gentleman to become a nobleman, and of a nobleman to become a king; being in a Pope as much as in other men, hath wrought the same effect in him, that it hath in others. And so from being a Patriarch he hath laboured to bee the head of the Patriarches, that is, an vniuersall Patriarch; and from being and vniuersall Patriarch, to be an vniuersall Emperour. So Ambition still ascends, making one degree of honor, but a stayre whereon to mount it selfe vp to another; and by this meanes at length hee is come to that all-comprehending toppe wherin he meetes iust with the title prepared for him by Saint Paul: As God, in the temple of God, aboue al that is called God. But he must remember that thereunto are annexed these two other titles, the man of sin, and the sonne of perdition.
2. Part.
These things beeing so euident, most lamentable it is that there should bee plotted and deuised an ignorance so grosse that it seeth them not; that there should bee miracles by the diuell wrought or forged to stand betweene the eyes of men, and this reuealed Antichrist: that there should be distinctions coined subtill enough for lesse subtill soules, to distinguish to the manifest Antichrist from it selfe. Yet all these things are prouided by the seruants of this sonne of perdition, and so powerfull, that it is Gods election onelyonly which mainely preserues those that stand and withstands this Mysterie of Satan. And indeede how can that ignorance, which is inioyned to the disciples of Rome, be brokē through by them, which are bound thereunto by a solemne vow, and vnderunder feareful penalties? They must know but what deceiueth them, vntill they be so throughly deceiued, that it is almost impossible to bee vndeceiued againe. But this let them take with it, that the same ignorance will serue to breede vp a man in any religiō, be it neuer so grosse; and at this day it equally serues the diuels turne to nurse two of his goodliest children, the erroneous doctrines of Mahomet and the Pope. Yet lest ignorance should faile, and perchance a glimse of light might shine in vponupon the seeled eies, there are miracles daily prouided to set before the sight of men. These draw them to say, that Simon Magus is the great power of God: but wee are taught to goe from these signes to the Law, to the Testimony, to the Word; and this Word telleth vsus, that miracles in the latter times, shall be fixed and vnseparable companions of the man of sin. So in stead of conuerting vsus, they are acknowledged by vsus, to be the badge of Satan, fastned on Antichrists sleeue, and they tell vsus to whom he belongs. Wee neede no miracles now, but to reueale Antichrist; for wee beleeue the doctrine of Christ once fully confirmed by his own miracles. Lastly, if yet some greater light dazle the eies, which neither ignorance can keepe out, nor miracles employ in drawing the eies wholly to themselues; then are there prouided subtill, nice, and sublimated distinctions and reasons, whose office is to confound and intangle the vnderstanding rather then to enlighten it. Falshoods are purified and refined, and made as like truths, as possibly they may, that the vndistinguishing mind may equally accept them, and so led by a little mistaking vntounto a grosse error. And hereof at this time is there a stedy forge in the Church of Rome, which doth but expect what the Pope and his Priuie Councell say, and instantly they are ready with their excellent inuentions, to prooue it the voice of God, and not of man. Surely the wit of man is a powerfull thing in regard of man; but in regard of the Spirit which made it, alas weake it is, and the effect cannot striue with his cause, which is mightier then he. Therefore this Babel of mans wit built vp against the Lord, must needs be destroied by the Spirit of his mouth. In the meane time vntill this victory of Christ vponupon Antichrist be fully performed, let vsus pray vntounto God, that he will adde easily vntounto the Church, those who belong vntounto him; and that they may plainely see, that hee who seeketh earthly things more then heauenly, is of the earth, earthly, and farre from being the Deputie of the Lord of heauen.
60
The second resurrection needes not to seeme very strange, if wee consider the first, already done in vsus; for whereas there is naturally in vsus but a carnall wisedom, that seeth and alloweth only present & visible things for happinesse, wee hauehave in our regeneration, a wisedome placed in vsus, which blotting out the former wisedome, and the happinesse thereof, beholdeth God which is inuisible, as our onelyonly true happinesse. We hauehave also in stead of our fleshly will, which onelyonly sauoureth fleshly obiects, a will directly contrary therunto planted in stead of it, which hateth the former will, and the sinful pleasures wherein that wil chiefly delighted; and loueth euen the persecutions of Christ, which the naturall will especially hated. Thus by the new birth, light being created in darknesse out of no former creature, & a rightnesse of will being framed, where was nothing but crookednesse, and such a light and will, that they alter the affections, actions, & whole course of mā; why may not the same new birth hauehave also another power with it, euen to change the mortalitie of the body into immortality, as it hath to change the corruption of the soule and body into puritie & incorruption? it being alike easie to go to giuegive life vntounto death, as light vntounto darknes, and good to euill.
61
Because wee see not God, or at lest we do not see how he seeth vsus, wee rather thinke that he sees vsus not, or are careles of his seeing: So our blindnesse toward God, casteth the likenesse of it selfe, on God towards vsus, and imagineth him to bee vntounto vsus, as we are to him. Herein men are to God, as some birds are to men, who hiding their heads from seeing men, think that men the whilest doe not see them. But since the knowledge of God is the cause of men, the being of men can reach no farther, then the knowledge of God. So whosoeuer takes the knowledge of God from him, takes from himselfe his owne being; for where the knowledge of God ceaseth to know him, there he ceaseth to bee; otherwise should man, who is but the effect of Gods knowledge go farder then his cause, which cannot be. But surely God that made mā by his knowledge, knoweth the man that he hath made; he hath not placed him out of his owne reach; but as at first after he made his creatures, he saw euen through them, that they were throughly good; so for euer, he veweth and pierceth them, searching all things by that very wisedom which made thē. Since then we are manifest and naked, before our glorious God, who both seeth, and hateth all vncleannes, but beholdeth with pleasure, holinesse and purenes; let vsus take heede to our hearts, yea, our whole selues, that no filthinesse appeare to him, lest we bee shut out from the City into which no vncleane thing may enter: But that God seeing vsus to be pure in hart, euen in soule & body, may at length be called vp to see God, who is the fulnesse and perfection of all felicitie.
62
The very being as well as the discoursing of our naturall reason may well prooue, that man was not made onelyonly for this world. For if first it be granted, that a great and excellent wisedome created this Vniuerse which the curious subtiltie of the parts and frame therof will inforce vponupon vsus; it must also be belieued, that wisedome doth all things wisely, both in regard of order, and end, eueryevery thing bringing forth his like: now the beasts hauing a more easie and vninterrupted enioying of the world, as not tilling, or reaping, neither building Barnes nor filling thē; not foreapprehending griefes, nor long retaining them? what doth this reasonable soule in man (I speake of the generall) if his bound be this world, but teach him how to labour, how to vexe himselfe, and how to grieue, and consequently how to bee more miserable then the beasts themselues? But a soule more excellent then the beasts cannot be imagined to be giuen for this vse by so perfect a wisedome, it being extremely contrary vntounto wisdome, that the beasts shold serue a creature more base and miserable then themselues; that man shold be both aboue them, and below them: and that man should hauehave reason, thereby to be worse then he should be without it. Therefore it strongly followeth, that this aduantage of reason was giuen by wisedome to man, for some aduantage of man. And if beasts enioy the world as much as man, and yet man hath a soule more excellent then they; that this soule hath some happines aboue the world, which is the especiall end and marke thereof. To this happinesse therfore, let our soule lift it selfe vp that it may verily tend toward the end thereof, that it be not a meere drudge vntounto labour and misery, sinking downe below the beasts, but that reaching beyond them, it lay hold on that blessed refreshing which is to come, and comfort it selfe amid all the base imployments, labours and toyles of the sixe daies, in the view of the happy Sabbath and rest of God, the true aime of her desires, and the chiefe solace that swallowes and sweetens all her temporall vexations.
63
The diuel vsually raiseth temptations out of the state which is present, and therefore though wee bee past one dāger, into a calme and quietnesse, yet euen then looke that out of that calme, also some tentation will arise. He is more cunningly and industriously mischieuous, thē his scholler the Papist: One Treason being past wee may not thinke it the last, but one among the rest, and so looke for his fellowes; if we hauehave scaped, we must pray, hope, and endeauour to scape againe. Our life is a warfare, which is not a single battaile, but a continuance of many. If the diuell hauehave lost, he is the more angrie for loosing, and surely in this last time of the world as hee is more cholericke and fierce then euer, so is he more cunning. He hath man at his fingers ends, and this his increased knowledge, hee sets on worke by an increased malice, desiring because his time is short, to get in breadth what he cannot in length. It concernes vsus therefore proportionably to increase our resistance; and if wee meane to ouercome, by prayer, watchfulnesse, and industry, so to aduance our selues in the power of Christ, that we may ouermatch the power of Satan; that the house of Dauid growing stronger, and the house of Saul weaker, the kingdome of Christ the Sonne of Dauid may bee throughly and firmely established in vsus, and we in it.