The Rule of Faith, Exegesis of Apostles Creed · Article 1 · Tenet 4 · Question and answer 3 – Question and answer 3
Queſt. 3. Why did God build and make this Heauen.Queſt.
Anſw. Not to be a place for himſelfe to dwell in, for hee needs no ſuch place, being Immenſe, and theſe Heauens cannot Anſw.containe him, he being in his Eſſence without and beyond all Heauens, 1. Kings 8. 27. but he made it that it might bee a a place wherein he might manifeſt his glory in ſpeciall manner. but eſpecially that in that place, hee might giuegive entertainement vntounto ſuch as by grace he had choſen to bee his children, and therefore is called the Fathers houſe.
The conſideration of the Doctrine of this Heauen of Heauens, ſhould make violent impreſſion vponupon our hearts, and that in three reſpects,
1. It ſhould wonderfully abaſe vsus, to thinke how wee hauehave neglected the knowledge, and care and deſire after this glorious place: It ſhould make vsus hate our ſelues for our ſenſeleſſnes and madneſſe, that preferre an earthly mudde-wall cottage, before ſuch a princely or rather diuine Pallace; that are in louelove with this earthly place, that is full of ſinne, ſorrow, diſgrace, darkeneſſe, and death, and yet hauehave no heart after a place ſo wonderfully free from all euill, and ſo repleniſhed with all good? Oh wretches that wee are that labour & care day and night to repaire theſe glaſſie or mud-walled Tabernacles of our bodies, and hauehave no more minde to prouide for that matchleſſe triumphing place of ſpirits.
2. It ſhould wonderfully fire our hearts to the louelove of God, that hath prouided for vsus ſuch a place of glorious inheritance, of his mercy, louelove, and grace, ſo happy, ſo laſting, ſo amiable; yea, what thankes can wee euer giuegive him for the very comfort with which he hath refreſhed vsus, in telling vsus of Heauen, that were ſuch, as in our ſelues had bin ſo farre from hauing it, as we had neuer knowne of it by the light of Nature.
3. It ſhould exceedingly transforme our hearts into the earneſt care and endeauour to carrie our ſelues ſo as might become the deſire and aſſurance of ſo bleſſed a place: wee ſhould ſhew that we vnderſtand what a place Heauen is.
1. By auoiding eueryevery thing that is abhominable, euen all thoſe ſinnes that are threatned with the want or loſſe of heauen: as remembring that that is no place for vncleane perſons to liue in, Reuel. 21. 8.
2. By earneſt endeauour to get the righteouſneſſe that may make vsus fit for that kingdome, Mat. 6. 33.
3. By ſtudying the the aſſurance of Heauen, aboue all other aſſurances whatſoeuer.
4. By a conuerſation in heauen, directing our thoughts and affections after heauen, remembring it aboue all delights, our mindes daily running vponupon it and imploying our ſelues in ſuch dueties as might ſhew that our hearts were in Heauen, though our bodies bee here: our prayers and all the parts of Gods worſhip ſhould ſauour of this knowledge, Phil. …. 20. Coloſ. 3. 1. 2.
5. By a voluntary forſaking or contemning of the profits and pleaſures of this world, being content to finde here but the entertainement of Pilgrims and ſtrangers, euen ſuch as are farre from their owne home, Heb. 11. 13, 14.
6. By inuincible Patience in bearing all the aſſaults of life here, not wearied with afflictions, conſidering this eternall weight of glory in heauen; not diſmayed with any terror of Sathan, nor perplexed with any ſcornes of the world, ſeeing the time will ſhortly come wee ſhall bee deliuered from all theſe things, and poſſeſſe an inheritance that is vndefiled and immortall in heauen: and the leſſe ſhould we be troubled about the diſſolution of our bodies, or rather wee ſhould deſire to get out of this earthly Tabernacle, that wee might come to dwell in that heauenly building, 2. Corinthians 5▪ 1. 2.
7. By our diligent labour to carry our Treaſures, to lay them vp in heauen: that is our beſt houſe, and the onelyonly ſ…fe place where neither Ruſt no Moth can corrupt, nor theeues breake through and ſteale. What we hauehave in heauen is ſafe kept by the power of God, What we hauehave on earth is vncertaine, and therefore our greateſt care ſhould be to ſend as many prayers and good workes to heauen, as accounting it the beſt treaſure, and the wiſeſt courſe ſo to imploy our ſelues, Mat 6. 20.
Thus of the Heauen of Heauens: Before we leaue that inuiſible world, we muſt intreat of the Angels, which are the Hoſte of the Lord in that vpper world.
That the Lord did a moſt glorious worke, when hee made the Angels, may appeare many waies.
1. By the names and Titles giuen them. They are called ſpirits, Starres of the Morning, Sonnes of God, Principalities, and Powers, Thrones, and Dominions, Seraphim and Cherubim, yea, Gods: all which ſhew they were wonderfully made and of great excellencie.
2. By the ſubſtance he made them to be: for the ſubſtance of Angels is not corporeall, and therefore purer then any bodies in Heauen and Earth, and ſo pure as no ſenſes can diſcerne them: for though God onelyonly be ſimply foreign, Immateriall, yet Angels are Immateriall in reſpect of any Phyſicall compoſition, for they conſiſt not of matter and forme, as other Creatures doe: but hauehave onelyonly that kinde of compoſition, which they call Metaphyſicall, for they are compounded of eſſence or act and power.
3 By the place where he ſets them when he had made them: for he ſeated them in heauenly places, Epheſ. 3. 10. hee made them to liue about himſelfe, in the Chamber of his preſence, alwaies before his face. They were Creatures made of purpoſe to liue in the Court of the King of Kings.
4 By the numbers he made of them: Daniel ſaid, hee ſaw thouſand thouſands of Angels, and an hundred times ten thouſand thouſand, Daniel 7. 10. Heb. 12. 22. It is ſaid, there is an innumerable company of Angels. Hee meanes, they are more then man can number, not more then God can number: and the number is the more to bee admired, becauſe the Angels doe not marry, and ſo are not increaſed by propagation.
5 By the manner of their being and working in reſpect of time and place: for Angels are in place definitiuely, not circumſcriptiuely, as they ſay in Schooles: that is, they are ſo in place that wholly they are there, they cannot bee ſaid to be in another place, but yet while they are there, it cannot be told by any creature, what roome they take vp, or how much place they fill, for length, bredth, or height or depth: and ſo for time, they doe not worke in a moment as God doth: but yet in reſpect of vsus they worke ſtrange things in an vnperceiueable time: and to ſhadow that out, they are deſcribed to hauehave wings, not that they hauehave, but by way of ſignification, or reſemblance.
6 By the gifts with which God endowed them, when hee made them: I will inſtance in their knowledge and power: for knowledge it muſt needes be great in Angels: for beſides the knowledge they had naturally by Creation, they know ſtrange things by reuelation from God, and by experience gather many things from the courſe of things in the world, or their cauſes in nature, and the manifold wiſdome of God is made knowne to Angels by the preaching of the Goſpell, which they ſee into with wonderfull ability, though men be ſo dull and blockiſh in hearing, 1 Cor. 11. 10. Epheſ. 5. 10. Iohn 8. 44. Daniel 8. 16. & 9. 22. adde to all theſe wayes their ſupernaturall knowledge of God, by which they are inabled to ſtand for euer without falling from God. Great alſo is the power of Angels, eſpecially in working vponupon bodily creatures. One Angell could kill almoſt all Senacheribs Army in a night; by an Angell was Peter fetched out of priſon, Acts 12. 7, 8. and Philip carried from place to place, Acts 8. 39. and the Sodomits ſmitten blinde, Gen. 19. and the Hoſt of the Syrians frighted with a noiſe they made, 2 Kings 6. 28. and without doubt, they can doe ſtrange things about the ſoules of men. They hauehave appeared to men in their dreames, and as euill angels can tempt men internally, ſo may good Angels incourage and counſell godly men, though they diſcerne not who raiſeth thoſe comforts or counſels: onelyonly Miracles of themſelues they cannot doe, nor can they know the thoughts of the heart of man of themſelues.
7 By the language in which God hath made them able to treat one with another, or with man or God: for it is cleare, they vſe not any fleſhly or corporall language in as much as they hauehave not bodies, and ſo no tongues: but they ſpeake one to another by a ſpirituall and heauenly language, without any audible ſound or vocall ſpeech or noife, I ſay after an vnutterable manner angellically, they inſinuate, inſtill, and communicate one to another, or to the vnderſtanding of men, what they will. The deliuering of the ſenſe of the minde by voice, is an inferiour kinde of meanes, becauſe it agrees onelyonly to bodies: ſuch Spirits as are onelyonly mindes and hauehave no bodies, can conuerſe one with another without ſound of words, in their owne vnderſtandings as in a moſt cleere Looking-glaſſe, ſhewing what they will one to another.
Before I come to the vſe of this part, certaine queſtions men might aske about Angels, are to be reſolued, as
Queſt. 1. When were Angels created?Quest.
Anſw. It cannot be certainly gathered, but it is probable Anſw.they were created the firſt day, when the Heauen of Heauens was created and thence are called the Angels of Heauen. Moſes ſpeakes nothing of the Creation of Angels, becauſe that is not a knowledge that properly belongs to vsus: for if the Theology for Angels were written, we ſhould neede another Bible. The Creation and gouernment of Angels conteining as great variety of matter as doth the Religion of mankinde.
Queſt. 2. What are the offices of Angels, or what vſes did Queſt.God make them for?
Anſw. Angels ſerue for many vſes. They are Apparitors Anſw.or ſeruants about God, ready to receiue Commandements from him▪ and they worſhip God, by lauding and praiſing him in Heauen, Pſal. 104. 4. & 148. 2. Eſay 6. 3. Luke 2. 14. Reuel. 4. 8, 9. & 5. 13. and they are appointed as ſpeciall attendants about CHRIST as the MESSIAH, Mat. 4. 11. and they ſerue alſo as miniſtring ſpirits to keepe and attend vponupon the Elect men, Heb. 1. 14. and manifold are the ſeruices which Angels doe for men both in life and death. In life they defend and keepe them as a ſtrong guard about them, Pſal. 34. & 91. and plague their enemies, 2 King. 19. 35. beſides, the vnknowne ſeruice they doe about the ſoules of the godly by counſelling or comforting them. And in death they are about them, and carry their ſoules to Heauen, as they did Lazarus his ſoule; and in the end of the world they will gather all the Elect from the foure winds of Heauen, and bring them to Chriſt.
Queſt. 3. But why doe you not intreat of Deuills here Quest.alſo?
Anſw. There were no Deuills by creation, GOD made Anſw.them not as Deuills: and therefore it belongs not to the Doctrine of Creation to ſpeake of the euill angels, becauſe that belongs to the Doctrine of the fall of the reaſonable Creatures.