Works, Book 1 · Discourse 36
DISCOURSE XXXVI.
IEREMIAH 10. 11.
Thus shall ye say unto them, The Gods that made not the Heavens and the Earth (even) they shall perish from the Earth, and from under these Heavens.
THESE words are written in the Chaldee tongue, whereas the rest of the Prophecy is in the Hebrew: the reason whereof you shall then have, when we have first seen the Occasion, Coherence and Summe of the words; which is as followeth. The Prophet having in the end of the last Chapter threatned the Iews and all the neighbouring Nations with captivity, Edom, Ammon, Moab, with the Arabians of the wilderness: in this Chapter leaving out the rest he singles out the Iews, to instruct them for their demeanour and carriage in their captivity; to wit, that they should not learn the way of the Heathen whither they should be carried,Verse 2. that they should not be dismayed at the signs of Heaven, Verse 5.nor regard their Gods of Gold and Silver, which could do neither evil nor good.
But lest they should think they had acquit themselves well if they abstained from what they should see the Heathen do; he tells them, they must yet do more than this, they must make open profession against their Gods; they must proclaim against their Idolatry and false worship: and therefore in the middle of his exhortation he enterlaceth these words in the Chaldee tongue, Thus shall ye say unto them, &c.
These words then contain a Proclamation which the Iews are enjoyned from God to make against the Gods of the Gentiles, when they should be carried captive to Babylon: wherein are to be considered two things. 1. The Proclaiming it self. 2. The Summe of the Proclamation. The Proclaiming, in these words, Thus shall ye say unto them: The Summe of the Proclamation in these, The Gods which have not made the Heavens and the Earth, (even) they shallperish from the Earth, and from under these Heavens. In the Proclaiming are three things considerable. 1. The Persons Who. 2. The Persons To whom. 3. The manner, How. The Persons Who, in the word Ye; that is, Ye Iews, who are the worshippers of the living God; Ye captive Iews carried out of your own land, and living as slaves and vassals under your proud Lords the Babylonians; Ye shall say unto them. 2. The Persons To whom; To them: what Them? even your Lordly Masters of Babylon; Ye shall say unto them. 3. The manner, How; Thus: that is, not in cryptick or mystical terms, or in your Hebrew mutterings, a language which they understand not; but in the vulgar tongue of Babylon, in plain Chaldee, Thus shall ye say unto them,—&c. foreign, The Gods which have not made the Heavens and the Earth, &c.
In the second part, which I called The Summe of the Proclamation, are two things contained. 1. A description of false Gods, in these words, The Gods which made not the Heavens and the Earth. Ier. 10. 11.2. Their doom, in these, They shall perish from the Earth, and from under these Heavens.
I shall speak of these in order; and first of the Persons who must make this Proclamation, namely, The Israelites: Ye Israelites; Ye Servants of the God of Heaven; Ye Sons of promise, and peculiar heritage of the Lord of hosts; Ye, upon whom the dew of grace is shed from heaven; Ye, to whom the most High hath given his Oracles, and made his Name known amongst you; Ye shall say unto them. Hence I observe,
That it is the office of every one who is a member of God's Church and the child of Grace, to endeavour to bring others to the knowledge of God and godliness. First, All things in nature desire and covet the propagation of that kind wherein themselves are ranked. The Fire is no sooner kindled, but presently it will turn all it lays hold upon into its own nature. As it is with the Fire of Nature, so must it be with the Fire of Grace; it is as possible for the Sun to want light, and the Fire to be without heat, as the Fire of Grace to be kindled in their hearts who endeavour not to inflame others with the same heavenly fire.
Do we not see every Citizen, every member of any Company or Society, how eagerly they desire, and how forward they are to further the enlargement of that Commonwealth and Society whereof they are members? What one nobly descended but desireth the enlargement of his house and kindred continually? What true English-man but desireth the encrease of our King's subjects, the amplifying of his dominions, and the Revenues of his Crown? We would account them monsters who should be otherwise affected; nay unworthy to live any longer as members, or enjoy the rights of Subjects. How canst thou then be a member of God's kingdom and not labour the encrease of God's Subjects? or how darest thou usurp the name of a Christian, or think thy self a child of Grace, who endeavourest not the propagation of that heavenly Hierarchy whereof thou callest thy self a member? The woman of Samaria had no sooner found the Messias, but she runs and calls the whole City to be partakers of her happiness, Iohn 4. 29. Christ bids Peter (Luke 22. 32.) When thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren.
S. Paul in nothing more expressed the Character of a Christian than in this: In the presence of Agrippa so servent was his wish that all who heard him that day were even as he was: Acts 26. 29.so great was his zeal, Rom. 9. 3. that so his loss might have been recompensed with the gaining of the whole Iewish Nation unto Christ, he could have been willing to be taken out of the Roll himself; I could wish (saith he) that my self were accursed from Christ, for my brethren my kinsmen according to the flesh.
The Devil was no sooner fallen, but he presently laboured to bring Man to the same ruine;… Pet. 5. 8. nay the restless compasser still goeth about like a roaring Lion, seeking continually whom he may devour. His Instruments are like him. The sons of Belial, how busie are they in debauching others and making them like themselves? The Pharisees ran over sea and land,Matth. 23. 15. and spared no labour to bring numbers to their Sect, though but to make them, as Christ speaks, filii Gehennae, sons of Hell. The Iesuits how run they up and down into all corners of the world, from the Sun rising unto the going down thereof, to propagate their Heresies? Nay, the very Mahumetans run about the world to gain Profelytes for their beastly Prophet Mahomet. And shall the children of the Kingdom of Heaven only want this desire, this zeal, this endeavour? Impossible: And if any such seem to be, who do it not, surely they are but bastards, and such as God will never own to be his.
Some report of Mules and other such like creatures of Mongrel and mixt generation, that they beget not again: Even such Mongrels are those Christians who beget not unto God, who labour not the conversion and drawing of others unto Christ. We pray unto God every day, Let thy Kingdom come: Let that which is our daily prayer, be also our daily endeavour, even of all that say to God [Our Father;] else he will be no Father of ours. Indeed the Kingdom of God shall come in despight of the Devil and all his Regiment, but happy are those who further it: For those that turn many unto righteousness,Dan. 12. 3. shall shine as the stars in the firmament for evermore. Thus much shall suffice for the first Observation.
One thing more I have yet to observe from the condition of the persons to whom this word [Ye] hath relation: Ye shall say; namely, Ye captives, Ye whom the Lord your God hath given into the hands of your enemies, and made you as the off-scouring and refuse in the midst of the people; Ye whose City, the glory of the whole earth, is consumed with fire, whose Priests and Princes are all slain with the sword, and the remnant of your people carried into a strange land; Ye a people overwhelmed with the flouds of affliction, and (as far as the eye of flesh can see) forsaken of the God whom ye worshipped; Ye, even ye, shall say unto them, The Gods that made not the Heavens and the Earth, &c. Hence observe, No men so fit to glorifie God, whether by confession of the mouth or devotion of the heart, as his servants when they are humbled by affliction. The Reasons are plain: For
1. It is the Love of the World which quencheth our love toward God. So long as the World pleaseth us, so long our Love to God is weak and feeble: but if once we are weaned from our delight and content in worldly things, then (if ever) we cleave firmly unto God; then are our hearts inflamed, and our whole spirit fixt in Heaven, which before stuck fast in earth. Even as the Fire in coldest weather scorcheth most; so doth the zeal of God's servants burn most in the midst of affliction. The righteous are like the Palm-tree, which then riseth highest, when the burthen laid thereon weigheth heaviest: So it is with them, the weight of their affliction makes them rise up to Heaven.
2. In affliction only it will appear whether men feared and loved God for his own sake or no, or whether for some worldly respect only. It is the property of a true Christian not to disclaim God in affliction, as hypocrites do; but then to confess him most, when the world sees least cause why they should at all. Until the storms and winds came,Matth 7. 26. the house built upon the sand seemed to stand as strong as that upon the rock.
This trial was it that Satan would have God put Iob unto: Doth Iob (saith he) fear God for nought? Iob 1. 9, 10, 11,Hast thou not made a hedge about him, and about all he hath? &c. But put forth thy hand now, and touch all that he hath; and he will curse thee unto thy face. As if he had said, While all things prosper in his hand, who knows whether he be a man that truly feareth thee? but strike and afflict him, and then it will soon appear what he is. And indeed the Devil saw soon what Iob was unto his little liking, when the weight of his afflictions pressed these words out of his mouth, Though he kill me,Iob 13. 1…. I will trust in him.
For this cause, That it might appear the Church was reared upon no earthly foundation, the Wisdom of God would have it planted in Martyrdom, and watered with the bloud of his Saints. For the same cause also was the glorious name of Confessors in the Primitive Church given unto those who had held their Faith in the time of trial and persecution: and for this cause would God have his people here to avouch him in the land of their captivity; that the more the world wondred, the more he might be glorified.
Seeing therefore we are most fit to glorifie God in the time of our affliction, Let this be a Motive unto us both of Comfort in the depth of sorrow, and of Patience in the midst of pain; always when the hand of God is upon us, confessing with David, Psal. 119. 71. Bonum est, Domine, quòd humiliasti me, It is good, Lord, that thou hast humbled me.
AND thus I come to the Persons to whom this Proclamation is to be made, intimated in the word [Them;] Thus shall ye say unto them: what Them? even your Lords and Masters, even your Lordly Masters, your Rulers, your proud Conquerors.
Sins therefore against the Person of God are to be reproved without all respect of Persons. Such sins are sins of Idolatry, or sins of the first and second Commandment: For when false Gods are worshipped, whether mediately or immediately, the Person of God is dishonoured. In these sins therefore the Cautions concerning persons who should reprove, and persons who are to be reproved, which in other sins Wisdom makes considerable, have no place at all: Be the person reproving, or the person to be reproved, publick or private, greater or lesser, it skilleth not; for in case of Idolatry, the poorest begger on the earth may admonish the greatest Emperor in the world. Indeed the quality or condition of persons may be opposed to all other respects whatsoever, and so make some time and some place unfit for reproof or admonition; nay the quality of the persons of men may be such as doth exclude some persons from reproving them: But when the case concerns the Person of God himself, then to spare or regard the persons of men is Idolatry it self; for this is to honour men more than God himself; this is to suffer God to be dishonoured, lest the honour of men should be impeached. I confess the danger is great in regard of the flesh; but we must know what our Saviour saith,Matth. 10. …7. He that loveth father or mother, yea his own life, better than me, is not worthy of me.
Thus the glorious Martyr Ignatius reproved Trajan the Emperor, whilest he was sacrificing to his Gods, even at the very Altar, and in the face of his whole Army, being at Antioch. And for the same sin we see here the poor captive Iew was to reprove his great Babylonian Lord, the miserable and contemptible slave the conqueror of the world, the miry foot the head of gold: For thus shall ye say even to them, The Gods which made not the heavens and the earth, &c.
AND so I will leave the Persons both Ye and Them, and come to the third and last circumstance I considered in this act of protesting or proclaiming against the Gods of the heathen, and that is, The manner how it should be done, intimated in the word Thus; Thus shall ye say unto them: that is, in plain Chaldee; not in Hebrew, how holy a tongue soever, but in the vulgar tongue of Babylon; Thus shall ye say unto them. Here we see That God will have his Church to utter his Oracles in the vulgar tongues of the Nations. When ye inform the Gentiles of any part of the knowledge of me, Thus shall ye say unto them. Surely our Prophet's sudden changing of his Dialect here was a Praeludium to that great publishing of God's name to the Gentiles in their vulgar tongues after the Messias should come; which*Therapeut. 5. Theodoret avoucheth to have been when he saith, that the words of the Apostles and Prophets were turned into the languages of the Romans, Egyptians, Persians, Indians, Armenians, Scythians, Sauromatans, and all the languages which any Nation used.
Certainly, to keep the Scriptures in an unknown tongue, is of all other the most unreasonable madness; but to teach Pagans the Articles of their Creed at their first conversion in the Latine tongue, as the Spaniards have done with the Indians, is a most ridiculous folly. It not the Word of God his revealed will unto his whole Church? But how is it revealed in an unknown tongue? Or is the Word of God a revealed will unto those only who are learned, and hidden to others?
But if the Scriptures were in vulgar Tongues,Object. they might be occasions of many heresies, by the mistakes of the vulgar, if they might read them.
This is strange.An…. Can every Frier in a Pulpit, when he preacheth, warrant his words from being mistaken or perverted to heresie? and are the words and sayings of God himself so obnoxious that they may not be read? Nay, if God himself may not speak in a vulgar tongue, I see far less reason why a Frier should: And so should the people know nothing at all concerning God, if a good may not therefore be done because some will abuse it to evil.
NOW I come to the second main part of my Text, The Summe of the Proclamation, containing in it two things. First, A description of false Gods, The Gods which made not the heavens and the earth. Secondly, Their doom, They shall perish from the earth, and from under these heavens.
To begin with the first, The Gods which made not, &c. He saith not, Those who were not Abraham's Gods, or Iacob's Gods, nor the Gods which brought not Israel out of Egypt, or such like; but, The Gods which made not the heavens and the earth. Whence note,
That men are to be dealt with and perswaded out of the Principles they acknowledge and are addicted to. Ethnicks, out of the Principles of Reason and Nature, or the like; Iews, out of Moses and the Prophets; Christians, out of the Gospel: In summe, All sorts of men, from that they are addicted to. This is a Maxime of wisdom which God himself hath approved.
So the Iews acknowledging Prophetical doctrine, are dealt with out of the Prophets;Esay 7. 14. A Virgin shall bear a Son. But the Magi of the East, being addicted to Astrology, are drawn to Christ by the apparition of a Star: and therefore the Star appeared not in Iudaea, Matth. 2. 2.because the Iews used not to heed such things, they had the Oracles of God; but it appeared in the East, that is, was seen by them only who dwelt in the East; which made the wise men wonder and joy so much, when afterward it went before them going to Bethlehem.Verse 10.
So S. Paul, Acts 17. 23.being to preach a God the Athenians knew not, avouched and defended his fact by an Altar of their own, inscribed foreign, To the unknown God; whence they might be convinced, that a God whom their fathers knew not might yet be a God to be worshipped. The same Apostle teacheth Tilus to convince the Cretians out of their own Poets, foreign.Ti…us 1. 12. On the contrary, S. Peter having to deal with the Iews and Proselytes, Acts 2. useth no other grounds but the Prophecies of*Verse 16. Ioel and*Verse 25. David.
Again, S. Paul being to enter with the Ethnicks of Lystra, Acts 14. 15. who would needs have sacrificed to him as to a God, insinuateth with an Argument from Nature and from the Creation of the world; Why do ye (saith he) these things? we are also men of like passions with you; and preach unto you, that you should turn from these vanities unto the living God, which made heaven and earth, and the sea, and all things that are therein.
As it is with diverse Sects in Religion, so is it with divers sorts and conditions of men; an Argument or Motive sutable to one sort is altogether unfit for another. All Vessels are best handled by their ansae or ears, on what part soever they stand: he that handleth them otherwise, handleth them but aukwardly: So it is with mens minds; there are in every man's opinion or affections certain ansae or ears, whereon a wise perswader should lay his hold, to draw men unto him. For this cause Aristotle in his Rhetoricks describes the several dispositions of several sorts of men; of men, of women; of young, of old; of rich, of poor; of noble, and ignoble; that a Rhetorician might sute his motives accordingly. A Dog is toll'd with a bone, a worm is a bait to catch a fish, a pigeon brings the hawk unto the Falconer's lure: So must every wise fisher of men, every wise angler of souls, make choice of Motives according to the several dispositions and conditions of the hearers; according to that of S. Paul, 1 Cor. 9. 20, 21, &c. VntoUnto the Iews I became as a Iew, that I might save the Iews; to them which are without the Law, as without the Law, that I might gain them that are without the Law: To the weak I became as weak, that I might gain the weak: I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some. And thus much shall suffice for this first Observation.
My second Observation from these words is this, That the true God may be known by the Principles of Nature, or the Creation of the Heaven and Earth. For that which is a character or note of false Gods must needs likewise imply an argument for the true; Rectum est index sui & obliqui: If those who made not the Heaven and the Earth are false Gods, he then that made them is the true.
This is that which some call Natural Theologie; others, the Ascent of the Soul to God by the Scale of the creatures, the steps whereof are to be ordered as followeth. How the Vnderstanding ascends to God by the Scale or L…dder of the Creatures.1. All men by God do understand some Person, or a living and Reasonable Essence. 2. All men will grant that which is God to be the most excellent of all Persons or Living Essences. 3. The Perfections of a Living and Reasonable Essence are threefold; In the Understanding, In the Will, and In the Faculties of working: In the Understanding is Wisdom; In the Will, Goodness; In the Faculties, Power: Whatsoever therefore hath a Soveraignty in these three, is the most excellent of Living and Reasonable Essences. All men therefore, if they want not the ordinary use of Reason, will assent, That under the name of God they mean Him to whom belongs a Soveraignty of Wisdom, a Soveraignty of Goodness, and a Soveraignty of Power and Might. Thus far we agree and walk together: But the error of the Nations hath been in the Application; namely, To whom belonged this Soveraignty, and whether it belonged to many, or to one alone.
But howsoever the Gentiles in this Application became vain in their Imaginations,Rom. 1. 21, 23. and transformed the glory of this incorruptible Soveraignty into the image of corruptibility; yet, as the Apostle saith,*Verse 20: God left them not without a witness, in that those invisible things of him are seen by the creation of the world: For a workman is known by his work. The greatest work and the goodliest work that ever was, is the Creation of the world. He then that made the Heaven and the Earth is he alone to whom this threefold Soveraignty belongeth: He alone is Almighty, He alone is All-good, He alone is All-wise.
What greater Power can there be than to make the Heaven and the Earth of nothing? what Might so mighty as that which made whatsoever else is mighty; even so many millions of powers as are in the Heavens above; so admirable variety of faculties as are found in the Earth below? Is there any Wisdom like unto his, who in so manifold a work made nothing superfluous or vain, but all things for their end; who ordered and appointed such means for every end as better could not be devised; who settled so goodly an Order, and gave to every thing a Law and Rule which it should observe? What Goodness so unspeakable, as to have bestowed upon every thing some portion of goodness, and to have sufficiently furnished them with endowments to attain and preserve the same? What Goodness can be like unto that which he hath shewn unto us, in making and ordaining all that ever he made for out use and service? Thus we see the admirable Power, the incomparable Wisdom, and unspeakable Goodness of him that made the Heavens and the Earth. He therefore is the true and living God, and lives for ever. Those Gods which made not the heavens and the earth are no Gods, and shall perish from the earth, and from under these heavens.
Thus have I let you see one part of The Scale of the creatures, by which the Soul ascends unto God. But there is another half yet behind, to make a compleat Iacob's ladder: For the Ascent of the Soul unto God by the comtemplation of the creatures, is either the Ascent of the Vnderstanding, to know him, or the Ascent of our Will, through obedience to worship him. The first is that which I have hitherto spoken of: The second, though it be not here used and applied by our Prophet, yet it is implied by his example in the former, in that he hath therein taught us what use to make of the consideration of the creation of the world, and creatures of God.
The Ascent therefore of the Will consists in its conformity, and the conformity of all our Affections and Actions to the Will of God,How the Will ascends to God by the Scale of the Creatures. so far as it may be seen in the works of the creatures: For God, in that he hath given them a Law, hath as it were stamped in them the character of his Will, which is the Law and Rule they observe in working. By this Ladder we may ascend two ways; either by express Example, or by Analogie. By express Example, where the Law which the Creatures observe in their workings is the very same which we ought to express in our actions. By Analogie, when the properties or actions of the Creatures, especially if they be otherwise unsutable unto our nature, are emblematically and by way of resemblance applied to admonish us of our duties. To this kind belong Parable-similies, framed according to the will of the applier; whereof we shall find examples in the Scripture. But because the Ascent by Example is the firmer and surer, I will only shew some few Examples of it.
We see all Natural agents neglect their private good and proper end, to maintain the publick good of the Universe; the Water ascends upward, the Aire downward, against nature, to maintain the connexion and indivulsion of the parts of the world: So should every good member of a Commonwealth or Society pass by his private profit and private pleasure, to further the common good of the weal publick. Every natural body will rend and break in pieces, rather than the Order of the world should be violated by a penetration of dimensions: So should every good member hazard, yea lose, both his life and estate, for the common behoof of that body whereof he is a member. All things of inferior nature give place without reluctancy to those which have a sublimity of nature above them; the Water willingly submitteth unto the Air, the Air unto the Fire, &c. yea, the one doth further, as far as it can, the ascent of the other above it: The like should we express in the subordination of degrees and conditions amongst men. All things which grow upon the earth turn their heads and faces upward, toward that by whose influence they grow and are preserved: So should we unto him in whom we live,Acts 17. 28. and move, and have our being.
These are only general Instances for a taste, drawn from the general rule of the Creatures, to admonish us of general duties. If I should from hence take a view of every several creature in his kind,Prov. 6. 6. I might shew you in clay all Ethical and Oeconomical vertues sampled in one kind or other of them. Go to the pismire, thou sluggard, saith Solomon. *Matt. 10. 16.Be wise as serpents, saith a wiser than Solomon. *Esay 1. 3.The Oxe knoweth his owner, and the ass his masters crib; but Israel hath not known me, saith the Lord by the …rophet Esay.Ier. 8. 7. The Stork in the heaven knoweth her appointed times; the turtle, and the crane, and the swallow observe the time of their coming, saith our Prophet Ieremy. Go to the lilies of the field, Matth. 6. 28.and learn of them, saith our Saviour. To say no more, There is no creature in the world but upbraids us with sin, in daily and continually breaking the Law of our creation, which they so inviolably observe.
We should therefore hence learn to use these Creatures not for our bodies only, to array them and feed them, and such like, but for the spiritual good of the inward man; that so in them and with them we may glorifie our Creator. God made all the Creation for the service of man: but not for the service of his Body alone, as most conceive it; but also for the service of his Better part, the Soul and Understanding. We should never therefore use, behold or look upon any one of our fellow-creatures, but we should be raised by them unto God, invited to devotion, and spurred to conform our Wills and Affections to the pattern of that Eternal Will which they any way express.
I doubt not but the Philosophy of Solomon was of this strain, when he spake of herbs and trees,1 King. 4. 33. and of living creatures; the fragments which here and there remain in the Proverbs may give us some taste thereof.
If we would do thus, it would abate our Pride, and make us know our selves better. Lord, what is man but the most unreasonable creature upon the face of the earth, the most unjust, lawless, irregular creature that walks under the Sun? Consider the marches of that Royal host of Heaven; look upon the fowls of the Air and fishes of the Sea; survey all that springeth, all that moveth and creepeth upon the Earth; and tell me, from the circumference above unto the centre below, what one creature, what worst creature of God's making, what silly worm doth so transgress the Law of his creation as Man doth? And yet Man hath Reason given him, whereby he knoweth the Law and Rule he is to follow; Man hath also a liberty of Will: But what doth he with them? His Reason he abuseth to most unreasonable actions; his Will, to most licencious and abominable liberty. It is a wonder the Earth can endure to bear him so vile a burthen, or the Sun to shine upon him the most unworthy creature in the world. Thus much concerning The description of the false Gods, in the words, The Gods that made not the Heavens and the Earth.
It remains I should speak of their Doom, in the last words, They shall perish from the Earth, &c. Wherein I shall observe two things: 1. Their destiny it self, which is perishing; They shall perish: and 2. The circumstances of this perishing; from the Earth, and from under these Heavens. I make them two, because they will yield different Observations and Instructions.
To begin therefore with the first, The Doom or Destiny it self, which is perishing; They shall perish. These words you see were a Prophecy of what was to come upon the Gods of the Heathen in after-times;The State a… the Times when this Prophecy of the downfal of Echni…tson was delivered. for at the time and age wherein they were spoken, things in the world were far otherwise than here is foretold they should be: For the dominion and jurisdiction of Iehovah, the God of Heaven, seemed exceeding small; his Name being only known in Iacob, and his Greatness and Throne amongst the Sons of Israel; whereas Idols, false gods, and false worship, overwhelmed as it were the face of the whole earth. The kingdom of God was but a small parcel; whereas Devils and Idols commanded and swayed all the Nations of the earth besides. The dew of grace lay only upon the fleece of Gideon; but all the earth besides was dry. This was the state of the times when this Prophecy was uttered, nay worse at that time than ever it had been before: For even that small portion of men which acknowledged the Lord God of heaven, was now almost quite extinguished and devoured by the vassals of the Gods of the Nations; Israel being carried away captive into a strange land, with much unlikelihood of return, and the most High God as it were mastered by the Gods of the Nations.
Ye have heard the state of the times wherein this Prophecy is commanded: Now let us consider of the Event; and this we shall find partly already accomplished, and partly yet to come. For the first, We have seen with our eyes, we have heard with our ears, and our fathers have told us the wondrous works of the Lord. We have heard and daily read of the admired Oracles of the Gentiles, of Apollo at Delphus, of Iupiter Ammon in Egypt, and many moe, too long to be named: but all of them are long since perished from the earth, and from under these heavens. We have heard of the names of many Gods in former times of great renown in these Islands of the Gentiles; Iupiter, Mars, Apollo, Neptune, Iuno, Vesta, Venus, Minerva, Diana, &c. all Europe, Italy, Greece, and the les…er Asia, swarming with their Temples and Ceremonies: and yet now are they perished from the earth, and from under these heavens. Where is now Bel the God of Babylon, Nisroch the God of Assyria, Baal and Ashteroth the Gods of the Sidonians, Rimmon the God of the Aramites? Where is now Dagon of the Philistines, Milcom of the Ammonites, Chemosh of Moab, and Tammuz of the Egyptians? Even these also, whose names we hear so frequent in Scripture, are perished with their very names from this earth, and from under these heavens. And the Nations which once worshipped them, worship now the great God, Creator of heaven and earth, once all of them, and yet the most of them, truly and savingly in Christ Iesus the Saviour and Redeemer of the world.
The beginning of this strange and wonderful Change was about the Birth and Incarnation of Christ our Saviour, at which time the Gods of the Gentiles grew speechless in their Oracles: or if at any time they answered, it was to testifie the nearness of that time wherein they were to be cast out, and the presence of him who should do the same. As it is reported of Augustus, Vide Suidam in Augusto Niceph. l. 1. c. 17. & Cedrenum in Synops. histor.who consulting the Oracle of Apollo, who should reign after him, received this answer;
foreign,
foreign.
foreign.
The meaning whereof is this; The Hebrew child, which rules the blessed Gods, bids me leave this house, and presently pack to hell: From henceforth depart thou with silence from our Altars. Whereupon it is said that Augustus reared an Altar in the Capitol with this Inscription, ARA PRIMOGENITI DEI, The Altar of the First-begotten of God. *In his foreign, quoted by Fusebius and Theodores.Porphyrie, though an enemy of Christians, reports three farewel Oracles of Apollo. The first whereof is this:
foreign,
foreign.
foreign.
foreign.
In English thus; O wo is me! lament ye Tripods, for Apollo is gone, he is gone, he is gone; For the burning light of heaven, that Iupiter which was, is, and shall be, O mighty Iupiter, he compels me. Ah wo is me! the bright glory of my Oracles is gone from me. And to the Priest which last consulted him, his demand being, Which was the true Religion, he answered in this manner;
foreign,
foreign,
foreign,
foreign, &c.
Then,
foreign,
foreign.
In English thus; Thou unhappiest of the Priests, oh that thou wouldst not have asked me, being now at my last, of the Divine Father, and of the dear begotten of that famous King, nor of the Spirit which comprehendeth and surroundeth all things. For, wo is me! He it is that, will I, nill I, will expel me from these Temples; and full soon shall this dividing seat become a place of desolation. And if at any time he were extremely urged by inchantments and exorcisms to break off this uncouth silence, he answered,
*Eusebius Prapar. Evang. lib. 5. cap. 16.foreign,
foreign
foreign.
foreign.
Apollo's voice is not to be recovered, it is decayed through length of time, and locked up with the keys of never-divining silence: but do you, as ye were wont, such sacrifices as it beseemeth Phoebus to have.
The ceasing of Oracles, in ancient times so frequent, made the Heathen wonder what the cause should be; for being grown very rare as the coming of Christ drew near, and at the time of his being upon the earth, the chiefest of all, the Oracle of Delphos, grown speechless, as Strabo living at that time witnesseth, before the end of that Age all the Oracles of the world in a manner held their peace.
Plutarch, Plutarch's acco…a… of the Causes why Oracles ceased.as ye all know, at that time writ a Tract of the decay of Oracles, wherein he labours to find the cause of their ceasing; and after much search and many disputes he concludes the Reason partly to be from the absence of his Demoniacal spirits, who by his Philosophy might either die through length of years, or flit from place to place, either exiled by others more strong, or upon some other dislike; and partly from the alteration of the soil where Oracles were seated, which might not yield such Exhalations as in former times they had done. This is the Summe of the Reasons in that Discourse.
But as we embrace this Testimony of Plutarch for the use and decay of Oracles; The true Cause of their ceasing.so we are better enabled to give a true reason thereof than he was or could be: namely, As Meteors and smaller lights vanish and appear not when the Sun begins to rise; So did these false lights of the Heathen vanish when the Sun of righteousness, Christ Iesus, arose unto the world. As Dagon fell down when the Ark of God was brought into his Temple;1 Sam. 5. 3. so when the true Ark of God, Christ Iesus, came into the world, all the Dagons of the Nations fell down: The time was come when (as our Saviour saith Iohn 12. 31.) the Prince of this world was to be cast out; Rom. 13. 12.The night was past, and the day was come; and therefore such Bats and Birds of darkness as these were not any longer to play such reaks as in times past they had done.
Now began that War in heaven between Michael and the red Dragon, whereof we read in the Revelation, Rev. 12. ….Michael and his Angels fought against the Dragon and his Angels: that is, Christ our Lord and his undaunted souldiers fought with the Devil and all his Ethnick forces led by the Roman Emperors. Which War, though it lasted long, and cost the bloud and lives of many a thousand valiant Martyrs; yet in the days of Constantine the Dragon received so great an overthrow, that he never could recover it: and though in the days of Iulian he made head again and kept the field a while; yet was he soon fain to quit it, and leave the victory unto Michael's army: Which defeature of his was accompanied with an ominous sign of his utter overthrow, his Throne or Temple at Delphos with earthquakes, thunder and lightening, being utterly ruined. For as by the rending of the veil of the Temple was signified the abolishment of Legal worship: so by the prodigious destruction of the chiefest Temple the Devil had in all the world, was, as it were, sealed the irrecoverable overthrow of Ethnicisme, which in the Event immediately following proved true. For though he retained some strength under Valens in the East, by still enjoying his wonted sacrifices; yet in the days of Theodosius he was utterly and finally vanquished, when his last champion Eugenius, who threatned to be another Iulian, and to restore Ethnicisme again, with his whole Army was discomfited by the prayer and prowess of Theodosius, about the year of our Lord three hundred and ninety. For after this time Ethnicisme was never publickly maintained in the Roman Empire, nor any open attempt made for restoring it again; whereby it seems the red Dragon was cast down to the earth, Rev. 12.and that now was perfected the Triumph of Michael's victory, when the Gods that made not the heaven and the earth were fully perished, as concerning their Empire, from the earth and from under these heavens.
As the War was long, so the Victory was not gotten all at once, but by certain degrees, as it were; beginning with Constantine Anno 300. and ending in Theodosius, about (as I said) the year 390. And though it be hard to pitch the time of this Trophee exactly; yet I doubt not but it falleth in some part of the time included in the foresaid limits.
Thus then have we seen the Truth and Power of God in fulfilling of this Prophecy, for so much as is already past, and may say with David, Psal. 48. 8. As we have heard, so have we seen in the city of the Lord of hosts, in the city of our God; God will establish it for ever. But who would have believed this at the time when the words were spoken, when the worshippers of the most high God were at so low an ebbe? Hence therefore must we learn to believe the Promises of God, be they never so unlikely to humane Reason: For he it is that says, Esay 46. 11. I have spoken, and I will bring it to pass. It is he that says, Ier. 32. 27. I am the God of all flesh, and there is nothing too hard for me. Gen. 17. 17. & 18. 11, 12.Though Abraham be never so old, and Sarah's womb be dead; yet if the Lord says it, he shall be Father of many Though.*Iudges 6. 16. Nations Gideon be the least of the house of Manasses; yet if the Lord says it, by him shall Israel be delivered from the Midianites. Though*1 Sam. 16. 11. David follow the sheep; yet if God promise, he shall be King of Israel. 2 Kings Chap. 6, & 7.Be the famine in Samaria never so extreme, that women eat their own children; yet if God say it, within twenty four hours shall corn be so cheap, that a measure of fine flour shall be sold for a shekel, and two measures of barley for a shekel, in the gates of Samaria. Let us take heed therefore we say not with him on whose hand the King leaned,Chap. 2. 7. If God would make windows in heaven, it could not be; nor with the Israelites, when the spies brought them news of the strength of the Inhabitants of Canaan, of chariots of iron, and the giant-like sons of Anak, Numb. 13.let us not say with them, we shall not enter: For that Lord who set humane reason against the Word and Promise of God, never eat of the abundance of Samaria; and the Iews which distrusted God, never entred the land of Canaan. But let us know, for a conclusion, that God is faithful and true, and *1 Cor. 2. 20.his Promises yea and amen.
HITHER TO we have spoken of the accomplishment of this Prophecy for so much as is already past; now let us see What that is which we expect as yet to come. For though in regard of former times, when Ethnicisme was so large, and the worshippers of the living God so small a scantling, the Extent of the Church be now at this day a goodly and large portion of the world: yet if we consider the numbers of nations yet Pagans, or not Christians, it will seem to scant as yet to be the accomplishment of this and other Prophecies concerning the Largeness of Christ's Kingdom before the end of the world.
For one hath well observed, That Christianity at this day is not above the sixth part of the known world; whereas the Mahumetans have a fifth, and all the rest are Ethnicks and Pagans. So that if we divide the World into thirty parts, Christianity is but as five in thirty, Mahumetanism as six, and Ethnicism as nineteen: and so is Christianity the least part of all, and plain Heathenism hath far above the one half of the known world; and the better part of the other is also Mahumetans. And though Christianity hath been embraced in former times where now it is not, yet it is now spred in those places where in those times it was not. And therefore all laid together, we may account Christianity at this day as large, I think, as ever it was since the Apostles time.
But that this is not that Vniversal Kingdom of Christ, that flourishing and glorious estate of the Church, which yet we expect and hope for, my Reasons are these.
First, Those frequent places of Scripture which intimate that the Lord should subdue all people, all kingdoms, all nations, and all the ends of the earth unto himself, and that all these should one day worship and acknowledge him. Psal. 22. 27. All the ends of the world shall remember and turn unto the Lord, and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before him: for the Kingdom is the Lord's, and he is governour among the nations. And Psal. 47. 1. 2, 3. Clap your hands all ye people,—for the Lord is a great King over all the earth: He shall subdue the people under us, and the nations under our feet. And again, v. 7, 8. God is King of all the earth—and reigneth over the Heathen. Psal. …6. 1, &c. Make a joyful noise unto God, all ye lands—Through the greatness of thy power shall thine enemies submit themselves unto thee. All the earth shall worship thee, and sing of thee; they shall sing unto thy Name. The whole 67. Psalm, which we read every day, is as it were a Prophecy and Prayer for this great Kingdom: That the may of God may be known upon earth, and his saving health among all nations. Let the people praise thee, O God, let all the people praise thee. Then shall the earth yield her increase, &c. God shall bless us, and all the ends of the earth shall fear him. And Psal. 86. 9, 10. All nations whom thou hast made, shall come and worship before thee, O Lord, and shall glorifie thy Name. For thou art great, and dost wondrous things; Thou art God alone. And Esay 2. 18. (which is a Prophecy of Christ's kingdom) it is said, that the Idols the Lord shall utterly abolish; or, as some read, the Idols shall utterly pass away. So Esay 54. 5. speaking of the Amplitude of the Church of the Gentiles, Thy Redeemer, (saith the Prophet) the holy One of Israel, the God of the whole earth shall he be called. Certainly this constant style of Vniversality implies more than this scantling which yet is, it being but one of the least parts of the whole earth.
Secondly, The same conclusion may be gathered from 1 Cor. 15. 25, 26. compared with Heb. 2. 8. Christ must reign (saith S. Paul in the first place quoted) till he hath put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy which shall be destroyed is death. Hence it follows, that Christ shall subdue all his enemies, whereof the Prince of this world is the chief, before the last rising of the dead: For the subduing of death, that is, the rising of the dead, shall not be afore the rest shall be done; the vanquishing of death being the last act of Christ's reigning; which done, he shall yield up the Kingdom unto his Father.
In the other place, Heb. 2. 8. the Apostle speaking of the same thing, alledgeth that of Psal. 8. 6. Thou hast put all things in subjection under his feet; (and then adds) For in that he put all in subjection under him, he left nothing that is not put under him. But now (mark it) we see not yet all things put under him.
If any say that the Apostle speaks here of the Kingdom of Glory in heaven, and not of the Kingdom of Grace on earth.
I reply 1. out of the former place, That he speaks of such a subjection whereof the rising of the dead shall be the last act of all, and which shall be before he yields up the Kingdom to his Father: But neither of these can be affirmed of the Kingdom of Glory, but the contrary; viz. The rising of the dead is at the beginning, and not at the end of the Kingdom of Glory; and so is also the yielding up of his kingdom unto his Father.
2. I reply out of this place, That the Apostle speaks of that Kingdom and subjection of the Earth, or state of the Earth, which was to come. For so he speaks, ver. 5.*See this more fully explain'd in a particular Tract of his, foreign, in Book III. VntoUnto the Angels he hath not put in subjection foreign, the Earth, or state of the Earth, which shall be, foreign, of which we speak. Here he affirms, that foreign is that of whose subjection he meaneth. If then foreign signifie only the Earth and the Earth's inhabitants, and is no where in the whole Scripture otherwise used; I cannot see how this place can well bear any other exposition.
First then to confirm this, foreign is the same which the Hebrews call foreign; for so the Septuagint render it, whose use of speaking I doubt not but the Apostle follows. But foreign most constantly signifies the habitable earth, or the earth with the things that live and dwell thereon: whence the Septuagint, though they commonly render it foreign, yet sometimes they render it foreign, The earth; sometimes foreign, That which is under heaven. Therefore with the Septuagint foreign is foreign, and foreign, The earth, and That which is under the heavens.
If this suffice not, we may yet consider, That foreign is a Participle of the feminine gender, and therefore understands foreign, the earth which is inhabited.
Lastly, Wheresoever elsewhere this word is found in the New Testament, it is most expresly used of the earth and inhabitants thereof. In the beginning of this Epistle we read,Heb. 1. 10. Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundations of the earth foreign, and the heavens are the works of thine hands. Matth. 24. 14. This Gospel of the kingdom shall be preached foreign, over all the earth, and then shall the end come. Luke 2. 1. Then went a decree from Augustus that all the world should be taxed, foreign. The rest behind are far more express; but I leave them to your own leisure, and will only add this one thing, That our English rendring in this place of the Hebrews, Heb. 2. 5.foreign, The world to come, makes it not only ambiguous, but seeming to mean The Kingdom of Glory. But we shall find that The world in that sense is always foreign, and foreign, but no where in all the Bible foreign. And so I leave this, with submission to the judgement of others.
My next Reason shall be from that we read in the Revelation, where the Church, by the conquest of Michael, Rev. 12. 6.set free from the Dragon's fury, is said to escape into the wilderness; that is, into a state, though of safety, peace and security, yet of hardship, misery and scarcity: For it seems to be an allusion to the Israelites escaping the tyranny of Pharaoh, by going into the wilderness. In this wilderness, or place of hardship, scarcity,Verse 14. misery and much affliction, the Church must remain (saith S. Iohn) a time, times, and half a time; or, as he elsewhere speaketh, a thousand, two hundred and threescore days; Verse 6.that is, a year, years, and half a year: and when this time shall be expired, (that is, as learned Divines think, when so many years shall be ended as those days are, taking the beginning of our reckoning from Michael's Trophee) then, saith our Apostle, shall the kingdoms of the world become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ, and he shall reign for ever and ever, Rev. 11. 15. Whereby it should seem that the Church is yet in the Wilderness; and that the promised happiness of the ample and flourishing glory thereof before the end of the world, is yet to come.
My last Reason shall be from Rom. 11. where S. Paul speaking of the future restoring and calling of the Iews, saith it shall be when the fulness of the Gentiles is come in; I would not (saith he) that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, &c. v. 25. Now because the Iews are not yet called, it followeth that the fulness of the Gentiles is yet to come: and what should then this Fulness be, but the Fulness of the Gospel's extent over all the nations of the world; which our Apostle, ver. 15. of the same chapter, calls life from the dead? For if the casting away of the Iews be the reconciling of the world; what shall the receiving of them be, but life from the dead? As if the Church of the Gentiles were as yet half dead, if it be compared with that glorious vigour and accession which shall come unto it when the Iews shall be again received into favour.
In brief, The Fulness here spoken of is either a Fulness of grace, a Fulness of extent, or a Fulness of time. A Fulness of time only it cannot be, because our Apostle saith, this Fulness shall enter in; namely, shall enter into the Church of Christ: but this I see not how it can be spoken of a period of time. Verse 25. foreign.As for a Fulness of grace and spiritual gifts, that was greater when S. Paul spake than ever it was since; and therefore if it be meant, it must be yet to come. And for the Fulness of extent, it was as large for the number of Nations in the Apostles times as it is now in ours; (For as for the American Christians, they are only so in name, being forced only to seem so by the Spaniards.) Whatsoever Fulness then the Apostle here meaneth, is yet to come.
I will add only one thing more, and so end this point. Some think that S. Paul in this place hath reference unto that speech of Christ, Luke 21. 24. where he foretells, That the Iews should fall by the edge of the sword, and be led captive into all nations, and Ierusalem should be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles should be fulfilled, or accomplished. But it seems to me, that the Fulness of the Gentiles and the Fulfilling or Accomplishment of their times should not be the same, howsoever they may be coincident. It should rather seem that our Saviour hath reference, as to a thing known, unto the Prophecy of Daniel, where the Times of the Gentiles, or the times wherein the Gentiles should have dominion, with the misery and subjection of the Iewish Nation,Dan. Chap. 2. & Chap 7. are set forth in the Vision of a fourfold Image, and four Beasts, which are the four Monarchies, the Babylonian, Persian, Greek and Roman. The first began with the first captivity of the Iewish Nation, and through the times of all the rest they should be in subjection or in a worser estate under them: But when their times should be accomplished, then, saith Daniel, The Saints of the most High God shall take the kingdom, Chap. 7. 18.and possess the kingdom for ever and ever; that is, there shall be no more kingdoms after it, but it shall continue as long as the world shall endure. Three of these Monarchies were past when our Saviour spake, and the fourth was well entred. If then by Saints there are meant the Iews, which we know are called the holy People in that sense their country is still called the holy Land, and their city in the Scripture the holy City, viz. relatively; then is it plain enough what Daniel's and our Saviour's words import, namely, a glorious revocation and kingdom of the Iews, when the time of the fourth Monarchy, which then remained, should be expired and accomplished.
But if here by the Saints of the most High are in general meant the Church, yet by coincidence of time the same will fall out on the Iews behalf; because S. Paul saith, that at the time when the Fulness of the Gentiles shall come in, Rom. 11. 25.the Iew shall be again restored.
For a conclusion; The last limb of the fourth Monarchy is, in Daniel, The Horn with eyes which spake proud things against the most High, Chap. 7. 8.which should continue a time, times, and half a time; that is, a year, years, and half a year. In the Revelation it is The Beast with so many heads and horns, Chap. 13. 1, 5.full of names of blasphemy, which was to continue forty two months: the same period with the former, which was expressed by times or years, and the same time with a thousand, two hundred and sixty days of the Churche's remaining in the wilderness.Rev. 12. 6.
When these Times, whatsoever they be, shall be ended, then is the period of the Times of the Gentiles and of the Iews misery, whereto our Saviour seems to refer in the Gospel: then, by S. Paul, shall the Fulness of the Gentiles enter in: then, saith S. Iohn, shall the kingdoms of the earth be the Lord's and his Christ's:Rev. 11. 15. then, saith Daniel in the former place, Chap. 7. 27. shall the kingdom, and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, be given to the people of the Saints of the most High; whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey him.
The Use we are to make upon this long Discourse is Hope and comfortable Expectation. Experience (saith S. Paul, Rom. 5. 4.) worketh hope: Let therefore our experience of God's Power and Truth in that which is past, be as a pledge and pawn unto us of the future. We have seen a great part of this Doom of false Gods fulfilled already: what though we see not the means of the full accomplishment? If thou shalt say in thy heart, (saith Moses, Deut. 7. 17, 18.) These nations are more than I; how can I dispossess them? Thou shalt not be afraid of them, but shalt remember what the Lord thy God did unto Pharaoh and unto all Egypt. So if any of us shall say, How can this be? let us remember what the Lord hath done already, in subduing so great a part of the world unto himself, which once sate in darkness and in the shadow of death.