Works, Book 4 · Letter 52 – Letter 53
EPISTLE LII.
This that follows is under the Author's own hand, and was enclosed (its likely) in some short Letter to Dr. Twisse. What the Letter contain'd appears not, it being not to be found among the MSS. But the Discourse contains some Testimonies concerning the Kingdom of Christ: The first taken out of the Form of Ecclesiastical Doctrine set forth by the First Council of Nice; The other taken out of a Catechism set forth in K. Edward the Sixth his Reign.
I.
THat great Council of Nice called by Constantine, besides their Definition of Faith and Canons Ecclesiastical, set forth certain foreign, that is, Forms of Ecclesiastical Doctrine, according to which all Teachers in the Church were to frame their Discourse and direct their opinions. Some of these foreign; or Formulae doctrinae Ecclesiasticae are recorded by Gelasius Cyzicenus in his Historia Actorum Concilii Niceni. Amongst these there is this Formula for the Doctrine of the State of the Resurrection.
foreign, &c. i. e. Minutior (i. vilior seu imperfectior) fact us est Mundus propter praecognitionem: Simile quid habet Irena…u… lib. 5. c. 36. lin. 6.praeviderat enim Deus peccaturum esse hominem. Ideirco novos coelos & novam terram exspectamus, juxta Sacras literas, quando illuxerit Apparitio & Regnum magn… Dei & Salvatoris nostri Iesu Christi: Et tunc (ut ait acap. 7. 18.Daniel) accipient Regnum Sancti Altissimi. Et erit terra pura, sancta, terra viventium & non mortuorum, (quam oculis fidei praevidens David, clamat, bPsal. 27. 13.Credo videre bona Domini in terra viventium) terra mansuetorum & humilium. Beati enim (cMatt. 5. 5. inquit) mites, quoniam ipsi possidebunt terram: Et dEsai. 26. 6.Propheta, & calcabunt ipsam (ait pedes mansuetorum & humilium.
1. Iudge by this (notwithstanding 50 years opposition) how powerful the Chiliastical party yet was at the time of that Council. By some of whom if this Formula were not framed and composed, yet was it thus moderated as you see, that both parties might accept it, Salvâ cuique interpretatione suâ, as being delivered in the Terms and Language of Scripture.
2. Iudge secondly, whether in my Explication of the Millennium I have not kept within the compass of this foreign, and not swerved one jot therefrom.
II.
What do you think the Author of the Catechism set forth in K. Edward's time (and by him authorized 20. May in the last year of his reign) meant, when he explicates the two first Petitions of the Lord's Prayer in this manner? The Dialogue is between Magister and Auditor.
Sanctificetur Nomen tuum.
M.
Quomodo hoc fit?
A.
Dicam: Tum demum hoc fit, cùm omissis illis omnibus qui nomen Deorum sortiuntur, sive in coelo, sive in terra, sive in templis variis figuris & imaginibus adorentur, solum hunc nostrum Patrem agnoscamus, & precemur verum Deum & filium ejus Iesum Christum quem ipse misit, & eum solum cum vitae integritate & innocentia, puris & infucatis precibus sollicitemus.
M.
Rectè quidem dixisti. Perge quaeso.
A.
Secundo loco petimus, ut Adveniat Regnum ejus: Adhuc enim non videmus res omnes Christo esse subjectas: non videmus ut lapis de monte abscissus sit sine opere humano, qui contrivit & in nihilum redegit Statuam descriptam à Daniele: ut petra sola, qui est Christus, occupet & obtineat totius mundi imperium à Patre concessum. Adhuc non est occisus Antichristus: quò fit ut nos desideremus & precemur, ut id tandem aliquando contingat & impleatur; útque solus Christus regnet cum suis Sanctis, secundùm divinas promissiones;*Mark this last, I beseech you whether he could mean it otherwise than on earth. útque vivat & dominetur in mundo, juxta Sancti Evangelii decreta, non autem juxta traditiones & leges hominum & voluntatem Tyrannorum mundi.
M.
Faxit Deus, ut Regnum ejus adveniat quàm citissimé.
I have the Book by me, and have had long. But I suppose it is known but to a few. In Foxe's Martyrologie you shall find in the examination of Master Philpot, that the Bishops, when they came, brought the Catechism with them; but what special relation it had to him, I know not, nor is ought there mentioned about it.
The Kings Letters before it begin thus.
Cum brevis & explicata Catechismi ratio, à pio quodam & erudito viro conscripta, nobis ad cognoscendum offerretur; ejus pertractationem & diligentem inquisitionem quibusdam Episcopis & aliis eruditis commisimus, &c.
I. M.
EPISTLE LIII.
Dr. Twisse's Sixth Letter to Mr. Mede, desiring him to perfect his Comment upon the Apocalyps, and to communicate what Notions he had concerning the Temple in Ezekiel, as also upon some obscure passages in Dan. 11.
SIR,
—YOur love and your worth makes me zealous of your name, and so shall I ever be.The Sixth (as also the seventh) Letter of Dr. Twisse's are not entirely to be found among the M…s. but only some pieces of them: there was in the first Edition some confusion in the printing of them. And I willingly profess I never expected so rational Discourses in the explanation of passages so mysterious. We are commonly taken with pretty fictions and imaginations, the ground whereof when we come to examine, we find no solidity to fasten on. O that my desires were worthy to be considered by you, that you would be pleased in your private studies to go on to perfect that you have begun upon the Revelation! To my thinking, by considering your Specimina thereon, the three next Chapters, viz. 15, 16, 17. would be soon perfected. The touch you give me about repairing of the Temple in Ezekiel doth exceedingly content me, though I am perswaded you have some Notions, general at least, concerning many passages therein—In the eleventh of Daniel, that which you apply unto the Turk, I had thought belonged to Antichrist: and the*Dan. 11. 45. last verse, of planting his Tabernacles between the seas, seems to me fairly to set forth Rome and the Throne of the Beast therein. And as touching the*Vers. 44. tidings from the East and North, that troublesome body, if it be the Turk that is troubled, have you not some propension to apply it to the Iews, after their conversion to Christ? Thus I make that saying good, Garrit amor & benevolentia, and one thing more, a desire to sound you—
W. T.