Two Sermons Preached Before King Charles on Genesis 1:26, Title page 1 – Title page 2

Two Sermons Preached Before King Charles on Genesis 1:26 · Title page 1 – Title page 2

TWO SERMONS PREACHED BEFORE KING CHARLES, Upon the xxvi verſe of the firſt Chapter of GENESIS.

By D^r. DONNE DEAN OF PAƲLS.

¶ Printed by the Printers to the Ʋniverſitie of CAMBRIDGE. MDCXXXIIII.

p. 1Geneſis 1.26.

And God ſaid, Let us make man in our image, after our likeneſſe.

NEver ſuch a frame ſo ſoon ſet up, as this in this chapter: For, for the thing it ſelf, there is no other thing to compare it with; for it is all, it is the whole world. And for the time, there was no other time to compare it with; for this was the beginning of time, In the beginning God created heaven and earth. That earth, which in ſome thouſands of yeares men could not look over, nor diſcern what form it had (for neither Lactantius, almoſt three hundred yeares after Chriſt; nor S. Auguſtine, more then a hundred p. 2yeares after him, would beleeve the earth to be round) That earth, which no man in his perſon is ever ſaid to have compaſſed till our age: That earth, which is too much for man yet (for as yet a very great part of the earth is unpeopled) That earth, which, if we will caſt it all but into a Map, coſts many moneths labour to grave it; nay, if we will but caſt a piece of an acre of it into a garden, coſts many yeares labour to faſhion and furniſh it; all that earth: And then that heaven, which ſpreads ſo farre, as that ſubtill men have, with ſome appearance of probabilitie, imagined, that in that heaven, in thoſe manifold Spheres of the Planets and the Starres, there are many earths, many worlds, as big as this which we inhabit: That earth and that heaven, which ſpent God himſelf, Almightie God, ſix dayes in finiſhing, Moſes ſets up in a few ſyllables, in one line, In principio, In the beginning God created heaven and earth. If a Livie or a Guicciardine, or ſuch extenſive and voluminous authours had had this ſtory in hand, God muſt have made another world, to have made them a library to hold their books, of the making of this world. Into what wire would they have drawn out this earth! Into what leaf-gold would they have beat out theſe heavens! It may aſſiſt our conjecture herein, to cōſider, that amongſt thoſe men, who proceed with a ſober modeſtie and limitation in their writing, & make a conſcience not p. 3to clog the world with unneceſſary books; yet the volumes which are written by them, upon the beginning of Geneſis, are ſcarce leſſe then infinite. God did no more but ſay, Let this & this be done; and Moſes doth no more but ſay, that upon Gods ſaying it was done. God required not Nature to help him to do it; Moſes required not Reaſon to help him to beleeve: The holy Ghoſt hovered upon the waters, and ſo God wrought; The holy Ghoſt hovered upon Moſes too, and ſo he wrote: And we beleeve theſe things to be ſo, by the ſame Spirit in the mouth of Moſes, by which they were made ſo in Gods hand: OnelyOnly (Beloved) remember, that a frame may be thrown down in much leſſe time then it was ſet up. A childe, an ape can give fire to a cannon; and a vapour can ſhake the earth: and when Chriſt ſaid, Throw down this Temple, and in three dayes I will raiſe it, they never ſtood upon the conſideration of throwing it down; they knew that might be ſoon done: but they wondered at the ſpeedy raiſing of it. Now, if all this earth were made in that minute, may not all come to the generall diſſolution in this minute? Or may not thy acres, thy miles, thy ſhires ſhrink into feet, and ſo few feet, as ſhall but make up thy grave? when he who was a great lord muſt be but a cottager, & not ſo wel; for a cottager muſt have ſo many acres to his cottage: but in this caſe, a little piece of an acre, five foot, is become the houſe it ſelf, the houſe and the land; the grave is all: p. 4lower then that, the grave is the land, and the tenement, & the tenant too. He that lies in it, becomes the ſame earth that he lies in; they all make but one earth, and but a little of it. But then raiſe thy ſelf to a higher hope again: God hath made better land, the land of promiſe; a ſtronger citie, the new Jeruſalem; & inhabitants for that everlaſting citie, us, whom he made, not by ſaying, Let there be men; but by conſultation, by deliberation; God ſaid, Let us make man, &c.

We ſhall purſue our great examples, Diviſio.God in doing, Moſes in ſaying, and ſo make haſte in applying the parts. But firſt receive them: and ſince we have the whole world in contemplation, conſider in theſe words, the foure quarters of the world, by application, by fair and juſt accommodations of the words. Firſt, in the firſt word that God ſpeaks here, Faciamus, Let Ʋs, in the plurall, (a denotation of divers perſons in the Godhead) we conſider our Eaſt, where we muſt begin, at the knowledge and confeſſion of the Trinity: for though in the way to heaven we have travelled beyond the Gentiles, when we come to confeſſe but one God (the Gentiles could not do that) yet we are ſtill among the Jews, if we think that one God to be but one perſon. Zech. 6.12.Zech 6:12Chriſts name is Oriens, the Eaſt; if we will be named by him, (called Chriſtians) we muſt look to this Eaſt, the confeſſion of the Trinitie: there is then our Eaſt in the Faciamus, Let Ʋs, Ʋs make man: And p. 5then our Weſt is in the next word, Faciamus hominem: Though we be thus made; made by the councell, made by the concurrence, made by the hand of the whole Trinity: yet we are made but men; and man but in the appellation in this Text; and man there is but Adam; and Adam is but earth, but red earth, died red in bloud, in bloud, in ſoul, the bloud of our own ſouls. To that Weſt we muſt all come, to the earth; The ſunne knoweth his going down: Pſal. 104.19.Ps 104:19even the ſunne, for all his glory and height, hath a going down, and he knows it. The higheſt cannot deveſt mortality, nor the diſcomfort of mortality. Luc. 12.54.Luke 12:54When you ſee a cloud riſe out of the weſt, ſtraightway you ſay, There cometh a ſtorm, ſayes Chriſt: When out of the region of your Weſt, (that is, your latter dayes) there comes a cloud, a ſickneſſe; you feel a ſtorm: even the beſt morall conſtancie is ſhaken. But this cloud, and this ſtorm, and this Weſt there muſt be; and that is our ſecond conſideration. But then the next word deſignes a North, a ſtrong and powerfull North, to ſcatter and diſſipate theſe clouds: Ad imaginem & ſimilitudinem; that we are made according to a pattern, to an image, to a likeneſſe, which God propoſed to himſelf for the making of man. This conſideration, that God did not reſt in that preexiſtent matter, out of which he made all other creatures, and produced their forms out of their matter, for the making of man; but took a p. 6form, a pattern, a modell for that work: This is the North-winde that is called upon to carrie out the perfumes of the garden, Cant. 4.16.Song 4:16to ſpread the goodneſſe of God abroad: this is that which is intended in Job; Job. 37.22.Job 37:22Fair weather cometh out of the North. Our Weſt, our declination is in this, that we are but earth; our North, our diſſipation of that darkneſſe is in this, that we are not all earth: though we be of that matter, we have on another form, another image, another likeneſſe. And then whoſe image and likeneſſe it is, is our Meridionall height, our Noon, our South-point, our higheſt elevation; In imagine nostra, Let us make man in our image. Though our ſunne ſet at noon, Amos 8.9.Amos 8:9as the prophet Amos ſpeaks; though we die in our youth, or fall in our height; yet even in that ſunne-ſet we ſhall have a noon: for this image of God ſhall never depart from our ſoul, no not when that ſoul departs from our bodie: And that is our South, our Meridionall height and glory. And when we have thus ſeen this Eaſt, in the Faciamus; that I am the workmanſhip and care of the whole Trinitie; and this Weſt; in the Hominem; that for all this, my matter, my ſubſtance is but earth; But then a North, a power of overcoming that law and miſerable ſtate, In imagine, that though in my matter the earth, I muſt die; yet in my form, in that image which I am made by, I cannot die: And after all, a South, a knowledge that this image is not the image of angels p. 7themſelves, to whom we ſhall be like; but it is by the ſame life by which thoſe angels themſelves were made, the image of God himſelf: when I have gone over this Eaſt, and Weſt, and North, & South here in this world, I ſhould be ſorie, as Alexander was, if there were no more worlds. But there is another world, which theſe conſiderations will diſcover and leade us to, in which our joy and our glorie ſhall be to ſee that God eſſentially, and face to face, after whoſe image and likeneſſe we were made before. But as that Pilot, which hath harboured his ſhip ſo farre within land, as that he muſt have change of windes, in all the points of the compaſſe, to bring her out, cannot hope to bring her out in one day: ſo being to tranſport you by occaſion of theſe words, from this world to the next, and in this world, through all the compaſſe, all the foure quarters thereof; I cannot hope to make all this voyage to day. To day we ſhall conſider our longitude, our Eaſt and Weſt; and our North and South at another tide and another gale.

Firſt then we look towards our Eaſt, I. Part. Oriens.the fountain of light and life; There this world began: The creation was in the Eaſt, and there our next world began too: there the gates of heaven opened to us, and opened to us in the gates of death: for our heaven is the death of our Saviour, and there he lived, and died there, and there he looked into our Weſt, from the p. 8Eaſt, from his terraſſe, from his pinacle, from his exaltation (as himſelf calls it) the Croſſe. The light which ariſes to us in this Eaſt, the knowledge which we receive in this firſt word of our text, Faciamus, Let us (where God, ſpeaking of himſelf, ſpeaks in the plurall) is the manifeſtation of the Trinitie; The Trinitie, which is the firſt letter in his Alphabet, that ever thinks to reade his name in the Book of life; the firſt note in his Gammut, that ever thinks to ſing his part in the Triumphant Church. Let him have done as much as all the worthies, and ſuffer as much as all natures martyrs, the penurious Philoſophers; let him have known as much as they pretend to know, Omne ſcibile, all that can be known; nay, and Inintelligibilia, In-inveſtigabilia (as Tertullian ſpeaks) un-underſtandable things, unrevealed decrees of God: let him have writ as much as Ariſtotle writ, or as is written upon Ariſtotle (which is multiplication enough) yet he hath not learned to ſpell, that hath not learned the Trinitie: he hath not learned to pronounce the firſt word, that cannot bring three perſons into one God. The ſubject of naturall Philoſophers, are the foure elements, which God made: the ſubject of ſupernaturall Philoſophie, Divinitie, are the three elements which God is; and (if we may ſo ſpeak) which make God, that is, conſtitute God, notifie God to us, Father, Sonne, and holy Ghoſt. The naturall p. 9man, that hearkens to his own heart, and the law written there, may produce actions that are good; good in the nature, and matter, and ſubſtance of the work: he may relieve the poore, he may defend the oppreſſed; but yet he is but as an open field: and though he be not abſolutely barren, he bears but graſſe. The godly man, he that hath taken in the knowledge of a great and powerfull God, and incloſed and hedged in himſelf with the fear of God, may produce actions better then the meer nature of man, becauſe he referres his actions to the glorie of an imagined God: but yet this man, though he be more fruitfull then the former, more then a graſſie field, is but a ploughed field, and bears but corn, and corn (God knows) choked with weeds. But the man that hath taken hold of God, by thoſe handles, by which God hath delivered and manifeſted himſelf, in the notions of Father, Sonne, and holy Ghoſt; he is no field, but a garden, a garden of Gods planting, paradiſe, in which grow all things good to eat, and good to ſee (ſpirituall refection, and ſpirituall recreation too) and all things good to cure: he hath his being, and his diet, and his phyſick there, in the knowledge of the Trinitie: his being, in the merciemercy of the Father; his phyſick, in the merits of his Sonne; his dier, his daily bread, in the daily viſitations of the holy Ghoſt. God is not pleaſed, not ſatisfied with p. 10our bare knowledge that there is a God; for, it is impoſsible to pleaſe God without faith: Hebr. 11.6.Heb 11:6and there is no ſuch exerciſe of faith in the knowledge of a God, but that reaſon and nature will bring a man to it. When we profeſſe God in the Creed, by way of belief, Credo in Deum, I beleeve in God; in the ſame article we profeſſe him to be a Father too; I beleeve in God the Father Almightie: and that notion, the Father, neceſſarily implies a ſecond perſon, a Sonne. And then we profeſſe him to be maker of heaven and earth: and in the creation the holy Ghoſt, the Spirit of God, is expreſſely named: ſo that we do but exerciſe reaſon and nature in directing our ſelves upon God: we exerciſe not Faith (and without faith it is impoſsible to pleaſe God) till we come to that which is above nature, till we apprehend a Trinitie: we know God, we beleeve in the Trinitie. The Gentiles multiplied gods; there were almoſt as many gods as men that beleeved in them; and I am got out of that throng, and out of that noiſe, when I am come into the knowledge of one God: but I am got above ſtairs, got into the bed-chamber, when I am come to ſee the Trinitie, and to apprehend not onelyonly, that I am in the care of a great & powerfull God, but that there is a Father that made me, a Sonne that redeemed me, a holy Ghoſt that applies this good purpoſe of the Father and Sonne upon me, to me. The root of all is p. 11God. But it is not the way to receive fruits, to dig to the root, but to reach to the boughs. I reach for my creation, to the Father; for my redemption, to the Sonne; for my ſanctification, to the holy Ghoſt: and ſo I make the knowledge of God a tree of life unto me, and not otherwiſe. Truely it is a ſad contemplation to ſee Chriſtians ſcratch, and wound, and teare one another with the ignominious invectives and uncharitable names of Heretick and Schiſmatick, about ceremoniall and problematicall, and indeed but criticall verball controverſies; and in the mean time, the foundation of all, the Trinitie, undermined by thoſe numerous, thoſe multitudinous ant-hills of Socinians, that overflow ſome parts of the Chriſtian world, and multiply every where. And therefore the adverſaries of the Reformation were wiſe in their generation, when, to ſupplant the credit of both thoſe great aſſiſtants of the Reformation, Luther & Calvin, they impute to Calvin fundamentall errour in the divinitie of the ſecond perſon of the Trinitie, the Sonne; And they impute to Luther a deteſtation of the word Trinitie, and an expunction thereof, in all places of the Liturgie, where the Church had received that word: They knew well, if that ſlander could prevail againſt thoſe perſons, nothing that they could ſay, could prevail upon any good Chriſtians. But though in our Doctrine we keep up the Trinitie aright; yet p. 12God knows, in our Practiſe we do not: I hope it cannot be ſaid of any of us, that he beleeves not the Trinitie: but who amongſt us thinks of the Trinitie, conſiders of the Trinitie? Father and Sonne do naturally imply and induce one another, & therefore they fall oftener into our conſideration; but for the holy Ghoſt, who feels him, when he feels him? who takes knowledge of his working, when he works? Indeed our Fathers provided not well enough for the worſhip of the whole Trinitie, nor of the holy Ghoſt in particular, in the endowments of the Church, and conſecrations of the Churches, and poſſeſſions in their names: what a ſpirituall dominion in the Prayers & worſhip of the people, what a temporall dominion in the poſſeſſions of the world, had the Virgin Marie, Queen of heaven, and Queen of earth too! She was made joynt-purchaſer of the Church with the Sonne, and had aſmuch of the worſhip thereof as he, though ſhe paid her Fine in milk, and he in bloud: And, till a new ſect came in her Sonnes name, and in his name, the name of Jeſus, took the Regencie ſo farre out of that Queen-mothers hands, and ſued out her ſonnes liverie ſo farre, as that, though her name be uſed, the Virgin Marie is but a Feofee in truſt for them; all was hers. And if God oppoſe not theſe new uſurpers of the world, poſteritie will ſoon ſee S. Ignatius worth all the Trinitie in poſſeſſions and endowments; and p. 13that ſumptuous and ſplendid foundation of his firſt Temple at Rome, may well create a conjecture and ſuſpicion. Travell no farther; Survey but this Citie, and, of their not one hundred Churches, the Virgin Marie hath a dozen: The Trinitie hath but one; Chriſt hath but one; the holy Ghoſt hath none. But not to go into the Citie, nor out of our ſelves, which of us doth truely & conſiderately aſcribe the comforts that he receives in dangers or in diſtreſſes, to that God of all comfort, the Comforter, the holy Ghoſt? We know who procured us our preſentation, and our diſpenſation: you know who procured you your offices, and your honours: Shall I ever forget who gave me my comfort in ſickneſſe? who gave me my comfort in the troubles, and perplexities, and diffidencies of my conſcience? The holy Ghoſt, the holy Ghoſt brought you hither; The holy Ghoſt opens your eares and your hearts here. Till in all your diſtreſſes you ſay, Veni Creator Spiritus, Come holy Ghoſt; and that you feel a comfort in his coming: you can never ſay, Veni Domine Jeſu, Come Lord Jeſus, come to judgement. Never to conſider the day of judgement, is a fearfull thing; but to conſider the day of judgement without the holy Ghoſt, is a thouſand times more fearfull.

This ſeal then, this impreſſion, this notion of the Trinitie, being ſet upon us in this firſt plurall word of our Text, Faciamus, Let us (for p. 14Father, Sonne, and holy Ghoſt made man) and this ſeal being reimprinted upon us in our ſecond Creation, or Regeneration, in Baptiſme, (man is baptized in the name of the Father, and of the Sonne, and of the holy Ghoſt) this notion of the Trinitie, being our diſtinctive character from Jew and Gentile; this being our ſpecificall form; why doth not this our form, this ſoul of our Religion denominate us? why are we not called Trinitarians, a name that would embrace the profeſſion of all the perſons; but onelyonly Chriſtians, which limits and determines us upon one? The firſt Chriſtians, amongſt whoſe manifold perſecutions, ſcorn and contempt was not the leaſt, in contempt and ſcorn were called Nazaraei, Nazarites, in the mouth of the vulgar; and Galilaei, Galileans, in the mouth of Julian; & Judaei, Jews, in the mouth of Nero, when he imputed the burning of Rome (his own art) to them; and Chriſtiani, Chriſtians, ſo that (as Tertullian ſayes) they could accuſe Chriſtians of nothing, but the name of Chriſtians: and yet they could not call them by their right name of Chriſtians, which was gentle, quiet, eaſie, patient men, made to be troden upon; but they gave them divers names in ſcorn, yet never called them Trinitarians. Chriſtians themſelves amongſt themſelves were called by divers names in the Primitive Church, for diſtinction; Fideles, the Faithfull; and Fratres, the Brethren; and Diſcipuli, Diſciples; p. 15& after, by common cuſtome at Antioch, Chriſtians: and after that (they ſay, by a councell which the Apoſtles held at the ſame Citie, at Antioch) there paſſed an expreſſe Canon of the Church, that they ſhould be called ſo, Chriſtians: And before they had this name at Antioch, firſt by common uſage, after by a determinate Canon, to be called Chriſtians, from Chriſt; at Alexandria, they were called (moſt likely from the name of Jeſus) Jeſſeans. And ſo Philo Judaeus, in that book which he writes de Jeſſaeis, intends by his Jeſſeans, Chriſtians. And in divers parts of the world, into which Chriſtians travell now, they finde ſome elements, ſome fragments, ſome reliques of the Chriſtian religion, in the practiſe of ſome religious men, whom thoſe Countreys call Jeſſeans, doubtleſly derived and continued from the name of Jeſus. So that the Chriſtians took many names to themſelves for diſtinction (Brethren, Diſciples, Faithfull) and they had many names put upon them in ſcorn (Nazarites, Galileans, Jews, Chriſtians) & yet they were never by cuſtome amongſt themſelves, never by commandment from the Church, never in contempt from others, called Trinitarians, the profeſſion of the Trinitie being their ſpecifick form, and diſtinctive character. Why ſo? Beloved, the name of Chriſt involved all: not onelyonly becauſe it is a name that hath a dignitie in it, more then the reſt (for Chriſt is an anointed perſon, a King, p. 16a Meſſiah; and ſo the profeſſion of that name conferres an unction, a regall and a holy unction upon us, for we are thereby a royall prieſthood) but becauſe in the profeſſion of Chriſt, the whole Trinitie is profeſſed. How often doth the Sonne ſay that the Father ſent him! And how often that the Father will, and that he will ſend the holy Ghoſt! John 17.3.John 17:3This is life eternall (ſayes he) to know thee the onelyonly true God, and Jeſus Chriſt whom thou haſt ſent; and ſent with all power in heaven and in earth. This muſt be profeſſed, Father and Sonne; and then no man can profeſſe this, no man can call Jeſus the Lord, but by the holy Ghoſt: So that as in the perſecutions in the Primitive Church, the Martyrs which were hurried to tumultuary executions, and could not be heard for noiſe, in excuſing themſelves of treaſon, and ſedition, & crimes imputed to them, to make their cauſe odious, did uſe in the ſight of the people (who might ſee a geſture, though they could not heare a proteſtation) to ſigne themſelves with the ſigne of the Croſſe, to let them know for what profeſſion they died; ſo that the ſigne of the Croſſe, in that uſe thereof, in that time, was an Abridgement and a Catechiſme of the whole Chriſtian religion: So is the profeſſing of the name of Chriſt, the profeſſing of the whole Trinitie. As he that confeſſeth one God, is got beyond the meer naturall man; And he that confeſſeth a Sonne of God, beyond him: ſo p. 17is neither got to the full truth, till he confeſſe the holy Ghoſt too. The fool ſayes in his heart, There is no God: The fool, ſayes David; the emphaticall fool, in the higheſt degree of folly: But though he get beyond that folly, he is a fool ſtill, if he ſay, There is no Chriſt; for Chriſt is the wiſdome of the Father: And a fool ſtill, if he denie the holy Ghoſt. Etiam Chriſtiani nomen ſuperficies eſt, is excellently ſaid by Tertullian; The name and profeſſion of a Chriſtian, is but a ſuperficiall outſide, ſprinkled upon my face in Baptiſme, or upon my outward profeſſion in actions, if I have not in my heart a ſenſe of the holy Ghoſt, that applies the mercies of the Father, and the merits of the Sonne to my ſoul. As S. Paul ſaid, Whileſt you are without Chriſt, you are without God; It is an Atheiſme (with S. Paul) to be no Chriſtian: So whileſt you are without the holy Ghoſt, you are without Chriſt. It is Antichriſtian to denie, or not to confeſſe the holy Ghoſt. For as Chriſt is the manifeſtation of the Father, ſo the holy Ghoſt is the application of the Sonne. Therein are we Chriſtians, that in the profeſſion of that name of Chriſt, we profeſſe all the three Perſons: In Chriſt is the whole Trinitie; becauſe, as the Father ſent him, ſo ſent he the holy Ghoſt: And that is our ſpecifick form; that is our diſtinctive character from Jew & Gentile, the Trinitie.

But then is this ſpecifick form, this diſtinctive p. 18character, the notion of the Trinitie, conveyed to us, exhibited, imprinted upon us in our creation in this word, this plurall word, in the mouth of our own God, Faciamus, Let Ʋs, Ʋs. It is here, and here firſt. This is an intimation, and the firſt intimation of the Trinitie from the mouth of God, in all the Bible. It is true, that though the ſame faith, which is neceſſary to ſalvation now, were alwayes neceſſary, and ſo in the old Teſtament they were bound to beleeve in Chriſt, as well as in the new, and conſequently in the whole Trinitie; yet not ſo explicitely, nor ſo particularly as now: now Chriſt, calling upon God, in the name of the Father, ſayes, I have manifeſted thy Name unto the men which thou gaveſt me out of the world. John 17.6.John 17:6They were men appropriated to God, men exempt out of the world: yet they had not a cleare manifeſtation of Father and Sonne, the doctrine of the Trinitie, till Chriſt manifeſted it to them. I have manifeſted thy Name, thy name of Father and Sonne. And therefore the Jewiſh Rabbins ſay, that the Septuagint, the firſt Tranſlatours of the Bible, did diſguiſe ſome places of the Scriptures, in their tranſlation, leſt Ptolomey (for whom they tranſlated it) ſhould be ſcandalized with thoſe places: And that this text was one of thoſe places, which, (ſay they) though it be otherwiſe in the copies of the Scriptures which we have now, they tranſlated Faciam, and not Faciamus: p. 19that God ſaid here, I will make, in the ſingular, and not, Let us make man, in the plurall; leſt that plurall word might have miſled King Ptolomey to think that the Jews had a plurall religion, and worſhipped divers gods. So good an evidence do they confeſſe this text to be, for ſome kinde of pluralitie in the Godhead.

Here then God notified the Trinitie; and here firſt. For though we accept an intimation of the Trinitie, in the firſt line of the Bible, where Moſes joyned a plurall name, Elohim, with a ſingular verb, Bara; and ſo in conſtruction it is Creavit Dii, Gods created heaven and earth: yet beſides that, that is rather a myſterious collection, then an evident concluſion of a pluralitie of perſons: though we reade that in that firſt verſe, before this in the 26; yet Moſes writ that, which is in the beginning of this chapter, more then 2000. yeares after God ſpake this that is in our text: ſo long was Gods plurall before Moſes his plurall; Gods Faciamus before Moſes Bara Elohim. So that in this text begins our Catechiſme: here we have (and here firſt) the ſaving knowledge of the Trinitie. For, when God ſpake here, to whom could God ſpeak, but to God? Non cum rebus creandis, non cum re nihili, ſayes Athanaſius, ſpeaking of Gods firſt ſpeaking, when he ſaid of the firſt creature, Let there be light. God ſpake not then to future things, that were not. When God p. 20ſpake firſt, there was no creature at all to ſpeak to: when God ſpake of the making of man, there were no creatures. But were there any creatures able to create, or able to aſſiſt him in the creation of man? who? Angels? ſome had thought ſo in S. Baſils time; and to them S. Baſil ſayes, Súntne illi? God ſayes, Let us make man to our image; and could he ſay ſo to Angels? Are Angels and God all one? or is that that is like an Angel, therefore like God? It was ſua ratio, ſuum verbum, ſua ſapientia, ſayes that Father: God ſpake to his own word and wiſdome; to his own purpoſe and goodneſſe: And the Sonne is the word and wiſdome of God; and the holy Ghoſt is the goodneſſe and the purpoſe of God, that is, the adminiſtration, the diſpenſation of his Church. It is true, that when God ſpeaks this over again, in the Church (as he doth every day, now this minute) then God ſpeaks to his Angels, to the Angels of the Church, to his Miniſters: he ſayes, Faciamus, Let Ʋs, Ʋs both together, you and we, make a man: joyn mine ordinance (your preaching) with my Spirit (ſayes God to us) and ſo make man: Preach the oppreſſour, and preach the wanton, and preach the calumniatour, into an other nature; make that ravening wolf, a man; that licentious goat, a man; that inſinuating ſerpent, a man by thy preaching. To day if you will heare his voice, heare us; for here he calls upon us to joyn with him for the making of p. 21man. But for his firſt Faciamus, which is in our text, it is excellently ſaid, Dictum in ſenatu, Rupertus.& ſoliloquio: It was ſpoken in a ſenate, and yet in ſolitarineſſe; ſpoken in private, and yet publiquely ſpoken; ſpoken where there were divers, and yet but one, one God, and three perſons.

If there were no more intended in this plurall expreſſion, Ʋs, but (as ſome have conceived) that God ſpake here in the perſon of a Prince and Soveraigne Lord; and therefore ſpake, as Princes do, in the plurall, We command, and we forbid: yet S. Gregories caution would juſtly fall upon it, Reverenter penſandum eſt, It requires reverent conſideration, if it be but ſo: for God ſpeaks ſo, like a King, in the plurall, but ſeldome, but five times (in my accompt) in all the ſcriptures; and in all five, in caſes of important conſequence. In this text firſt, where God creates man, whom he conſtitutes his vice-Roy in the world; here he ſpeaks in his Royall plurall: And then in the next Chapter, where he exempts mans term in this vice-regencie to the end of the world, in propounding man means of ſucceſſion; Faciamus, Let us make him a helper: there he ſpeaks in his Royall plurall. And alſo in the third Chapter, in declaring the hainouſneſſe of mans fault, & arraigning him, and all us in him, God ſayes, Sicut unus ex nobis, Man is become as one of us, not content to be our vice-Roy, but our ſelves: there is his Royall plurall too: And again, in p. 22that declaration of his juſtice, in that confuſion of the builders of Babylon, Deſcendamus, Confundamus, Let us do it. And then laſtly, in that great work of mingling mercy with juſtice, which (if we may ſo ſpeak) is Gods maſterpiece, when he ſayes, Quis ex nobis? Who will go for us, and publiſh this? In theſe places, & theſe onelyonly (and not all theſe neither, if we take it exactly according to the originall; for in the ſecond, the making of Eve, though the vulgar have it in the plurall, it is indeed but ſingular in the Hebrew) God ſpeaks as a King, in his Royall plurall ſtill. And when it is but ſo, Reverenter penſandum eſt, ſayes that Father, It behoves us to hearken reverently to him, for kings are images of God; ſuch images of God, as have eares, and can heare; and hands, and can ſtrike. But I would ask no more premeditation at your hands, when you come to ſpeak to God in this place, then if you ſued to ſpeak with the King: to ſpeak with no more fear of God here, then if you went to the King under the conſcience of a guiltineſſe towards him, and a knowledge that he knew it. And that is your caſe here; ſinners, and even manifeſt ſinners: for even midnight is noon in the ſight of God; and when your candles are put out, his ſunne ſhines ſtill. Nec quid abſconditum à calore ejus (ſayes David) There is nothing hid from the heat thereof: Pſal. 19.6.Ps 19:6not onelyonly no ſin hid from the light thereof, from the ſight of God; but not from the heat thereof, p. 23not from the wrath and indignation of God. If God ſpeak plurally, onelyonly in the majeſtie of a ſoveraigne Prince, ſtill Reverenter penſandum, that calls for reverence. What reverence? There are nationall differēces in outward reverence and worſhips: ſome worſhip princes, and parents, and maſters, in one; ſome in another faſhion: children kneel to ask bleſſing of parents, in England; but where elſe? ſervants attend not with the ſame reverence upon maſters in other nations, as with us: Acceſſes to their princes, are not with the ſame difficultie, nor the ſame ſolemnitie in France, as in Turkie. But this rule goes through all nations, that in that diſpoſition, and poſture, and action of the bodie, which in that place is eſteemed moſt humble and reverent, God is to be worſhipped. Do ſo then here. God is your Father; ask bleſſing upon your knees; pray in that poſture: God is your King; worſhip him with that worſhip which is higheſt in our uſe & eſtimation. We have no Grandes, that ſtand covered to the King: where there are ſuch, though they ſtand covered in the Kings preſence, they do not ſpeak to him for matters of grace, they do not ſue to him: ſo, ancient Canons make difference of perſons in the preſence of God: where and how this and this ſhall diſpoſe of themſelves in the Church of God, dignitie, and age, and infirmitie will induce differences. But for prayer, there is no difference: one humiliation is required p. 24of all: As when the King comes in here, howſoever they ſat diverſly before, all return to one manner of expreſſing their acknowledgement of his preſence: ſo at the Oremus, Let us pray, Let us all fall down, and worſhip, and kneel before the Lord our maker.

So he ſpeaks in our Text: not onelyonly as the Lord our King, intimating his providence and adminiſtration; but as the Lord our maker; and then a maker ſo, as that he made us in a Councell; Faciamus, Let us: and that he ſpeaks as in councel, is an other argument for reverence. For what truſt or freedome ſoever I have by his favour with any Counſellour of ſtate; yet I ſhould ſurely uſe another manner of conſideration to this pluralitie in God, to this meeting in Councel, to this intimation of a Trinitie, then to thoſe other actions, in which God is preſented to us ſingly, as one God; for ſo he is preſented to the naturall man as well as to us. And here enters the neceſſitie of this knowledge, Oportet denuo naſci; without a ſecond birth, no ſalvation: And ſo no ſecond birth without Baptiſme; no Baptiſme, but in the name of the Father, Sonne, and holy Ghoſt. It was the entertainment of God himſelf, his delight, his contemplation, for thoſe infinite millions of generations, when he was without a world, without creatures, to joy in one another, in the Trinitie, as Gregorie Nazianzene, and a Poet as well as a Father, as moſt of the Fathers were, expreſſes it:

p. 25—Ille ſuae ſplendorem cernere formae

Gaudebat—

It was the Fathers delight to look upon himſelf in the Sonne,

— Numén que ſuum triplici que pari que

Luce nitens —

And to ſee the whole Godhead, in a threefold and equall glorie. It was Gods own delight, and it muſt be the delight of every Chriſtian, upon particular occaſions to carry his thoughts upon the ſeverall perſons of the Trinitie. If I have a barre of iron, that barre in that form will not nail a doore: If a ſow of lead, that lead in that form will not ſtop a leak: If a wedge of gold, that wedge will not buy my bread. The generall notion of a mighty God, may leſſe fit my particular purpoſes: But I coyn my gold into currant money, when I apprehend God in the ſeverall notions of the Trinitie; That, if I have been a prodigall ſon, I have a Father in heaven, and can go to him, and ſay, Father, I have ſinned, and be received by him; That, if I be a decayed father, and need the ſuſtentation of my own children, there is a Sonne in heaven, that will do more for me then my own children (of what good means or good nature ſoever they be) can or will do; If I be dejected in ſpirit, there is a holy Spirit in heaven, which ſhall bear witneſſe to my ſpirit, that I am a childe of God: And if the ghoſts of thoſe ſinners, whom I made ſinners, p. 26haunt me after their deaths, in returning to my memorie, & reproaching my conſcience with the heavy judgements that I have brought upon them; If after the death of my own ſinne, when my appetite is dead to ſome particular ſinne, the memorie and ſinfull delight of thoſe paſſed ſinnes, the ghoſts of thoſe ſinnes haunt me again: yet there is a holy Ghoſt in heaven, that ſhall exorciſe theſe, and ſhall overſhadow me. The God of the whole world is God alone, in the generall notion, as he is ſo, God; but he is my God moſt eſpecially, & moſt appliably, as he is received by me in the ſeverall notions of Father, Sonne, and holy Ghoſt.

This is our Eaſt; II. Part. Occidens.here we ſee God, God in all the perſons, conſulting, concurring to the making of us. But then my Weſt preſents it ſelf; that is an occaſion to humble me, in the next word: he makes but man; a man, that is, but Adam, but Earth. I remember 4. names, by which man is often called in the ſcriptures: & of theſe foure, three do abſolutely carry miſerie in their ſignifications; three to one againſt any man, that he is miſerable: One name of man is Iſh; and that they derive à ſonitu; Man is but a voice, but a ſound, but a noiſe: he begins the noiſe himſelf, when he comes crying into the world; & when he goes out, perchance friends celebrate, perchance enemies calumniate him, with a diverſe voice, a diverſe noiſe. A melancholick man is but a groning; a ſportfull man, p. 27but a ſong; an active man, but a trumpet; a mighty man, but a thunder-clap: every man but Iſh, but a ſound, but a noyſe. An other name is Enoſh. Enoſh, is meer calamitie, miſerie, depreſſion. It is indeed moſt properly oblivion; And ſo the word is moſt elegantly uſed by David, Quid eſt homo? where the name of man is Enoſh: And ſo that which we tranſlate, What is man, that thou art mindfull of him? is indeed, What is forgetfulneſſe, that thou ſhouldeſt remember it; that thou ſhouldeſt think of that man, whom all the world hath forgotten? firſt man is but a voice, but a ſound: but becauſe fame & honour may come within that name of a ſound, of a voice; therefore he is overtaken with another damp, man is but oblivion: his fame, his name ſhall be forgotten. One name man hath, that hath ſome taſte of greatneſſe and power in it, Gheber; and yet, I that am that man (ſayes the Prophet, for there that name of man Gheber is uſed) I am the man that hath ſeen affliction by the rod of Gods wrath. Man Iſh is ſo miſerable, Lam. 3.1.Lam 3:1as that he afflicts himſelf, cries, and whines out his own time; and man Enoſh, ſo miſerable, as that others afflict him, and bury him in ignominious oblivion: and man, that is, Gheber, the greateſt & powerfulleſt of men, is yet but that man, that may poſſibly, that may juſtly ſee affliction by the rod of Gods wrath. And from Gheber, he made Adam, which is the fourth name of man, indeed the firſt name of man, the p. 28name in this text, and the name to which every man muſt be called, and referre himſelf, and call himſelf by; earth, and red earth.

Now God did not ſay of man, as of other creatures, Let us, or let the earth bring forth herbs, and fruits, and trees, as upon the third day; Now let the earth bring forth cattell and worms, as upō the ſixth day, the ſame day that he made man: Non imperiali verbo, ſed familiari manu, ſayes Tertullian; God calls not man out with an imperious command, but he leads him out with a familiar, with his own hand. And it is not, Fiat homo, but, Faciamus; not, Let there be, but, Let us make man. Man is but an earthen veſſell. It is true: but when we are upon that conſideration, God is the potter: if God will be that, I am well content to be this: let me be any thing, ſo that that I am be from my God. I am as well content to be a ſheep as a lion, ſo God will be my ſhepherd; and the Lord is my ſhepherd: to be a cottage, as a caſtle; the houſe, as a citie, ſo God will be the builder: and the Lord builds, and watches the citie, the houſe; this houſe, this citie, me: to be rye, as wheat, ſo God will be the husbandman: and the Lord plants me, and waters, and weeds, and gives the increaſe: and to be clothed in leather, as well as in ſilk, ſo God will be the merchant: and he clothed me in Adam, and aſſures me of clothing, in clothing the lilies of the field; and is fitting the robe of Chriſts righteouſneſſe to p. 29me now this minute: Adam is as good to me, as Gheber; a clod of earth, as a hill of earth, ſo God be the potter.

God made man of earth, not of aire, not of fire. Man hath many offices, that appertain to this world, and whileſt he is here, muſt not withdraw himſelf from thoſe offices of mutuall ſocietie, upon pretence of zeal, or better ſerving God in a retired life. A ſhip will no more come to the harbour without ballaſt, then without ſails: A man will no more get to heaven without diſcharging his duties to other men, then without doing them to God himſelf: Man liveth not by bread onelyonly, ſayes Chriſt; Luke 4.4.Luke 4:4but yet he liveth by bread too: every man muſt do the duties, every man muſt bear the encumbrances of ſome calling.

Pulvis es, Thou art earth: he whom thou treadeſt upon, is no leſſe; and he that treads upon thee, is no more. Poſitively, it is a low thing to be but earth: and yet the low earth, is the quiet center: there may be reſt, acquieſcence, content in the loweſt condition: But comparatively, earth is as high as the higheſt. Challenge him that magnifies himſelf above thee, to meet thee in Adam; there bid him, if he will have more nobilitie, more greatneſſe then thou, take more originall ſin then thou haſt. If God have ſubmitted thee to as much ſin, and penalty of ſin, as him; he hath afforded thee as much, and as noble earth as him. And if p. 30he will not trie it in the root, in your equalitie in Adam; yet, in another teſt, another furnace, in the grave, he muſt: there all duſts are equall. Except an epitaph tell me who lies there, I cannot tell by the duſt; nor by the epitaph know, which is the duſt it ſpeaks of, if another have been layed there before, or after, in the ſame grave: nor can any epitaph be confident in ſaying, Here lies; but, Here was laid: for ſo various, ſo viciſſitudinarie is all this world, as that even the duſt of the grave hath revolutions. As the motions of an upper ſphere imprint a motion in a lower ſphere, other then naturally it would have; ſo the changes of the life work after death. And as envie ſupplants and removes us alive; a ſhovell removes us, and throwes us out of our grave, after death. No limbeck, no weights can tell you, This is duſt royall, this plebeian duſt: no commiſſion, no inquiſition can ſay, This is catholick, this is hereticall duſt. All lie alike, and all ſhall riſe alike: alike, that is, at once, and upon one command. The ſaint cannot accelerate, the reprobate cannot retard the reſurrection. And all that riſe to the right hand, ſhall be equally kings; and all at the left, equally what? the worſt name we can call them by, or affect them with, is devil: and then they ſhall have bodies to be tormented in, which devils have not. Miſerable, unexpreſſible, unimaginable, macerable condition, where the ſufferer would be glad to be p. 31but a devil; where it were ſome happineſſe, and ſome kinde of life, to be able to die; and a great preferment, to be nothing!

He made us all of earth, and all of red earth: our earth was red, even when it was in Gods hands: a redneſſe that amounts to a ſhamefaſtneſſe, to a bluſhing at our infirmities, is imprinted in us by Gods hands: for this redneſſe is but a conſcience, a guiltineſſe of needing a continuall ſupply, and ſucceſſion of more and more grace: and we are all red, red ſo, even from the beginning, and in our beſt ſtate. Adam had, the angels had thus much of this infirmitie, that though they had a great meaſure of grace, they needed more. The prodigall childe grew poore enough after he had received his portion: and he may be wicked enough, that truſts upon former or preſent grace, and ſeeks not more. This redneſſe, a bluſhing, that is, an acknowledgement that we could not ſubſiſt with any meaſure of faith, except we pray for more faith; nor of grace, except we ſeek more grace, we have from the hand of God: and an other redneſſe from his hand too, the bloud of his Sonne; for that bloud was effuſed by Chriſt, in the vail of this ranſome for us all, and accepted by God in the vail thereof for us all: and this redneſſe is in the nature thereof as extenſive, as the redneſſe derived from Adam is: both reach to all; ſo we were red earth in the hands of God, as redneſſe denotes our generall infirmities: and as p. 32redneſſe denotes the bloud of his Sonne, our Saviour, all have both. But that redneſſe which we have contracted from bloud ſhed by our ſelves, the bloud of our own ſouls, by ſinne, was not upon us when we were in the hands of God: that redneſſe is not his tincture, not his complexion: no decree of his is writ in any ſuch red ink. Our ſins are our own, & our deſtruction is from our ſelves. We are not as acceſſaries, and God as principall in this ſoul-murder: God forbid. We are not as executioners of Gods ſentence, and God the malefactour in this ſouldamnation: God forbid. Cain came not red in his brothers bloud out of Gods hands; nor David red with Ʋriahs bloud; nor Achitophel with his own; nor Judas with Chriſts, or his own. That that Pilate did illuſorily, God can do truely, waſh his hands from the bloud of any of thoſe men. It were a weak plea to ſay, I killed not that man; but it is true, I commanded one who was under my command, to kill him: It is rather a prevarication, then a juſtification of God, to ſay, God is not the authour of ſinne in any man: but is is true, God makes that mans ſinne, that ſinne. God is innocencie: and the beams that flow from him, are of the ſame nature and colour. Chriſt, when he appeared in heaven, was not red, but white; his hand, his head, and hairs too: he, and that that grows from him; he, and we, as we come from his hands, are white too: his angels, that provoke us to the p. 33imitation of that pattern, are ſo in white; two men, Acts 1.10.Acts 1:10two angels ſtood by the apoſtles in white apparell: the imitation is laid upon us, by precept too: Eccles 9.8.Eccl 9:8At all times let thy garments be white; thoſe actions, in which thou appeareſt to the world, innocent. It is true that Chriſt is both; My beloved is white and ruddy, Cant. 5.10.Song 5:10ſayes the Spouſe: but the white was his own; his redneſſe is from us. That which Zipporah ſaid to her husband Moſes in anger, the Church may ſay to Chriſt in thankfulneſſe, Verè ſponſus ſanguinum, Thou art truely a bloudy husband to me; Damim, ſanguinum; of blouds, blouds in the plurall: for all our blouds are upon him. This was a merciemercy to the militant Church, that even the triumphant Church wondred at it. They knew not Chriſt, when he came up into heaven in red; Who is this that cometh in red garments? Iſa. 63.1.Isa 63:1wherefore is thy apparell red, like him that treadeth in the wine-preſſe? They knew he went down in white, in entire innocencie; and they wondred to ſee him return in red: but he ſatiſfies them; Calcavi, You think I have troden the wine-preſſe, and you miſtake it not: I have troden the wine-preſse: and Calcavi ſolus, and that alone: All the redneſſe, all the bloud of the whole world is upon me: and as he addes, Non vir de gentibus; Of all people there was none with me; with me ſo, as to have any part in the merit; ſo, of all people there was none with me: without me ſo, as to be excluded by p. 34me, without their own fault, from the benefit of the merit. This redneſſe he carried up to heaven; Col. 1.21.Col 1:21for by the bloud of his croſſe came peace, both to the things in heaven, and the things on earth. For the peccabilitie, that poſſibilitie of ſinning, which is in the nature of the angels of heaven, would break out into ſinne, but for that confirmation, which thoſe angels have received in the bloud of Chriſt. This redneſſe he carried to heaven; and this redneſſe he hath left upon earth, that all we, miſerable clods of earth, might be tempered with his bloud: that in his bloud, exhibited in his holy & bleſſed Sacrament, our long robes might be made white in the bloud of the Lambe: that, though our ſinnes be robes, habits of long continuance in ſinne; yet, through that redneſſe which our ſinnes have caſt upon him, we might come to participate of that whiteneſſe, that righteouſneſſe, which is his own: We; that is, all we: for, as to take us in, who are of low condition, and obſcure ſtation, a cloud is made white, by his ſitting upon it; He ſat upon a white cloud: ſo, to let the higheſt ſee, that they have no whiteneſſe, but from him, he makes the throne white by ſitting upon it: He ſat upon a great white throne. It had been great, if it had not been white: white is the colour of dilatatiō; Goodneſſe enlarges the throne. It had not been white, if he had not ſat upon it. That goodneſſe onelyonly which conſiſts in glorifying p. 35God, and God in Chriſt, and Chriſt in the ſinceritie of the truth, is true whiteneſſe. God hath no redneſſe in himſelf, no anger towards us, till he conſiders us as ſinners. God caſts no redneſſe upon us, inflicts no neceſſitie, no conſtraint of ſinning upon us: we have died our ſelves in ſinnes as red as ſcarlet, we have drowned our ſelves in ſuch a red ſea. But as a garment that was waſhed in the Red ſea, Pſal. 106.22.Ps 106:22would come out white, (ſo wonderfull works hath God done at the Red ſea, ſayes David) ſo doth his whiteneſſe work through our red, and makes this Adam, this red earth, Calculum candidum, that white ſtone, that receives a new name, not Iſh, not Enoſh, not Gheber; no name that taſts of miſerie, nor of vanitie; but that name renewed and manifeſted, which was imprinted upon us in our elections, the ſonnes of God; the irremoveable, the undiſinheritable ſonnes of God.

Be pleaſed to receive this note at parting, that there is Macula alba, a ſpot, and yet white, as well as a red ſpot: a whiteneſſe, that is an indication of a leproſie, as well as a redneſſe. It is whole-Pelagianiſme, to think nature alone ſufficient; half-Pelagianiſme, to think grace once received to be ſufficient; ſuper-Pelagianiſme, to think our actions can bring God in debt to us by merit, and ſupererogation, & Cathariſme, imaginarie puritie, in canonizing our ſelves as preſent ſaints, and condemning all that differ p. 36from us, as reprobates. All theſe are white ſpots, and have the colour of goodneſſe; but are indications of leproſie. So is that, that God threatens, Joel 1.7.Joel 1:7Decorticatio ficûs & albi rami; that the fig-tree ſhall be barked, and the boughs thereof left white. To be left white without bark, was an indication of a ſpeedy withering. Oſtenſa candeſcunt, & areſcunt, ſayes S. Gregorie of that place: the bough that lies open without bark, looks white, but periſheth. The good works that are done openly to pleaſe men, have their reward (ſayes Chriſt) that is, ſhall never have reward. To pretend to do good, and not mean it; to do things good in themſelves, but not to good ends; to go towards good ends, but not by good wayes; to make the deceiving of men thine end, or the praiſe of men thine end; all this may have a whiteneſſe, a colour of good: but all this is a barking of the bough, and an indication of a miſchievous leproſie. There is no good whiteneſſe, but a reflexion from Chriſt Jeſus, in an humble acknowledgement that we have none of our own; and in a confident aſſurance, that in our worſt eſtate we may be made partakers of his. We are all red earth. In Adam, we would not; ſince Adam, we could not avoid ſinne, and the concomitants thereof, miſeries; which we have called our Weſt, our cloud, our darkneſſe. But then we have a North, that ſcatters theſe clouds, in the next word, Adimaginem; p. 37that we are made to another pattern, in another likeneſſe then our own. Faciamus hominem. So farre we are gone, Eaſt and Weſt; which is half our compaſſe, and all this dayes voyage: for we are ſtruck upon the ſand, and muſt ſtay another tide and another gale for our North and South.

FINIS.

THE SECOND SERMON PREACHED BEFORE KING CHARLES, Upon the xxvi verſe of the firſt Chapter of GENESIS

By D^r. DONNE DEAN OF PAƲLS.

¶ Printed by the Printers to the Ʋniverſitie of CAMBRIDGE. MDCXXXIIII.