Thesaurus ecclesiæ: that is, the treasure of the church consisting of the perpetuall intercession and most holy praier of Christ, set forth in the 17. chapter of the Gospel by S. Iohn: which in this treatise is plainly interpreted, with necessarie doctrines enlarged, and fit applications enforced.

The second Lecture. (Book 2)

THese things spake Iesus,* 1.1 and lift vp his eies to heauē, &c. this gesture of lifting

vp the eies in praier, was often vsed by our Sauiour, as Marke 7. 34. when hee healed the deafe man, he looking vp to hea∣uen,* 1.2 sighed, Iohn 11. 41. at the raising vp of Lazarus, Iesus lift vp his eies, and saide, Father I thanke thee: By this holy gesture of our Sauiour we are taught, as to lift vp the eies of our bodie, so to fasten the eies of our soule, vpon God, and to eleuate the meditations of our hearts, that they wan∣der not, neither bee vainely occupied while we pray.

This is that which Saint Paul saith, hee would haue men lift vp pure or holie hands 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, 1. Tim. 2. 8. that is, being holily and purely affected, to lift vp their handes as also their eies: and Saint Iames requireth, that the praier of a righteous man should bee feruent, Iames 5, 16. the word is 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉▪ effectuall, that the feare thereof bee not a∣bated or slaked with earthly and worldly thoughts.

Thus praied Dauid, Psalme 121. I will lift vp my eies vnto the hilles from whence commeth my helpe: and not his eies onelie were lift vp, but his heart: as hee saith, Psalme 57. 7. My heart is fixed, my heart is fixed, I will sing and giue praise: Thus praied Stephen, when he looked stedfastly into

heauen, and saw Iesus standing at the right hand of God, Acts 7. 56. Thus were Saint Peters affections rauished, when in his prai∣er hee fell into a traunce, and saw that vi∣sion of the foure cornerd vessell, &c. Act. 10. 10.

3 For looke as the eyes of seruants looke to the hand of their masters, so should our eyes wait vpon God, Psalme 123. 2. as Peter biddeth the lame man looke vpon him, Acts 3. 5. and he gaue heede vnto them, trusting to receiue somthing of them, verse 6. so we must looke and waite vpon GOD in our pray∣er, from whom wee expect a blessing; our eyes must be as Doues eyes, Cantic. 4. 1. that is not vnconstant, wandering vnsted∣fast, but simple, sober, chaste, staid.

4 For the Preacher saith, Ecclesiast. 9. 10. Whatsoeuer thou doest, pro omni facultate fac: Do it with all thy power: therefore when we pray, our eyes, our hands, our tongue, our heart must all be occupied and attent vpon God; and this it is to loue God with all our strength, Luke 10. 27. when we pray vnto him, and worship him with all our inward and outward powers.

5 Wherfore, they which pray with wan∣dering eyes, and wauering thoughts are not herein like vnto our Sauiour; the wise

man saith: that the eyes of the foole are in the corners of the world, Prou. 17. 24. but the eyes of the wise are in his head, Eccles. 2. 14. that is, fixed and setled to looke vp vnto God: the wandring of the eyes shew an vnstedfast heart and running thoughts: for death first entreth in by the windowes, Ioel 9. 9. And the eyes which are as the windowes of the bodie, do first minister occasion of euill. But like as in other things the husband is a veile of the eyes to the wife, as it was said to Sara, Gen. 20. 16. that is, the eyes and affection of the wife ought to be setled vpō her husband, and his likewise vpon her: so in this spiri∣tuall businesse of prayer, heauen and hea∣uenly things should be a veile to our eyes to couer and keepe them, from looking toward or attending vpon any thing else: all worldly thoughts and earthly desires should be chased away from our prayers, as Abraham droue away the birds from his sacrifice, Gen. 15. We all are subiect to this temptation in prayer: I remember Hierome thus complaineth of himselfe: Creberrimè in oratione mea, aut per porti∣cus deambulo, aut de foenore computo: sic••ine putamus orasse Ionam? sic Danielem? Often∣times in my prayer me thinke I am walking

in galleries and porches, or casting of an ac∣count and reckoning. Do we thinke that Ionas prayed so, or Daniel?

Father] God is Christs Father after a more excellent manner then he is called our Father:* 1.3 he is the Son of God by na∣ture, non factus, sed natus, not made the So••ne of God, but so bo••ne from all eter∣nitie, Prou. 8. 23. I was set vp from euerla∣sting, vers. 25. before the hils, was I begot∣ten. We are the sonnes of God facti, non nati; made, not borne: the Angels are the sonnes of God, so made by priuiledge of their creation, Iob. 1. 6. cap. 38. 7. and Adam also in the same sense is called the sonne of God, Luk. 3. 38. being created in the state of perfection: the faithfull are the sonnes of God, so made by adoption and grace. Rom. 8. 15. We haue receiued the spirit of adoption, whereby we crie Abba, Father.

From hence then this doctrine is con∣cluded,* 1.4 that Christ praying vnto God and calling him Father, (and he is his Father as he is God) did execute his Mediatorship not onely as he was man, but as he was both God and man.

This Saint Paule testifieth 2. Cor. 5. 19. God was in Christ, and reconciled the

world to himselfe. Christ then reconciled the world, wherein consisted the office and worke of the Mediator, not as he was man onely, but as God was in him; that is, as he was God: for God to be in Christ is nothing else, but to shew that Christ is God; as Colos. 2. 9. In him dwelleth all the fulnesse of the Godhead bodily. Likewise Heb. 7. 28. The Law maketh men high Priests which haue infirmitie, but the word of the oath, &c. maketh the Sonne, which is consecrated for euermore: if Christ be cō∣secrated a Priest as he is the Sonne, then as he is God; for the Sonne is God.

A further proofe and experience here∣of, [ 2] we haue in this Chapter, vers. 24. ••a∣ther, I will that they which thou hast giuen me, be with me where I am, &c. Christ prayeth not here as an inferiour, but as e∣quall vnto God, as whose will is one with Gods: neuer any humble suppliant would thus pray, I will this, or I will that. Againe another example we haue in the dispensa∣tion of the law, which was giuen by the hand of a Mediator, Gal. 3. 19. which most interpreters both old and new do vnderstand of Christ. There are onely two of the ancient Writers that I know, The∣odoret and Gennadius, that expound it of

Moses, and Maister Beza of the New. If Christ then did in some sort performe the office of a Mediator before his incarnatiō, he did it then as God: for whether we say he is called a Mediator onely Propheticè, prophetically; because he was then desig∣ned and appointed to be our Mediator, or that the legall Mediation is one, the E∣uangelicall (which before his incarnation he entred not into) another; both which I willingly grant, yet neither of these could be affirmed of Christ, without a necessary relation to his diuine Nature.

[ 3] This also is yet more euidently expres∣sed in that vision of Iohn, Reu. 5. 7. Where the Lambe taketh the booke out of the ri••ht hand of him that sate vpon the throne, which was a worke of the Mediator: this Lambe stood as though he had bene killed, (wherby his humilitie is signified) and he had seuen hornes and seuen eyes, which are the seuen spirits of God, and he was in the midst of the throne: by which three circumstances of his power, his authoritie in sending the spirit, his sitting in one throne with God, his diuine Nature, is insinuated.

[ 4] The reason why both natures of God and man must concurre not onely in the constitution, but in the execution of the

Mediatorship, Saint Paul sheweth, Gal. 3. 20. For a Mediator is not of one, but God is one: the Mediator then is not God onely, nor man onely; but he must par∣take of both, and exercise his Mediators office in both.

First then by this doctrine is refuted the [ 5] opinion of the Papists, who affirme and hold, that Christ exercised the office of his Priesthood and Mediatorship onely as man, not as God: because the Apostle saith, There is one God and one Mediator between God and man, the man Iesus Christ: which words as they vrge them, would as well conclude the Mediator not to be God, as not to exercise his Mediatorship as God. And whereas the Apostle saith, the man Iesus Christ, though he say not, God and man Iesus Christ; yet this name Iesus, which signifieth a Sauiour, inclu∣deth the Godhead also, as the Apostle saith, vers. 3. God our Sauiour.

Secondly, whereas the Arrians obie∣cted, that Christ was inferior and lesse then God, because he that prayeth is lesse then he to whom prayer is made: the an∣swer is readie; that all the parts of the Me∣diators office, which do betoken seruice or subiectiō vnto God, Christ performed

as man: but the power of the worke, per∣fection, glorie, he executed as God: though he prayed as man, he could not preuaile by the merit of his prayer, but as both God and man: and as Bernard saith, ad hunc miseria, ad illum pertinet poten∣tia: to the manhood belongeth the suffe∣rings and sorrowes of the Mediator, to the Godhead the honor and power: and as Augustine, Diuina humanitas, humana diuinitas Mediatrix: his diuine humanity, and humane Diuinitie is the Mediator.

Thirdly,* 1.5 as Christ in his prayer saith Father, so he teacheth vs to pray, Our Fa∣ther, that is, with confidence and full as∣surance: like as there is no father, which if his child aske him bread, will giue him a stone, Mat. 7. 10. much more will our hea∣uenly Father giue good things to those that aske him. Our Sauiour promiseth, that whatsoeuer we desire when we pray, if we be∣leeue that we shall haue it, it shall be done vnto vs. Mark. 11. 24. No maruell then, if when we pray doubtfully and vncertain∣ly, we obtaine not our requests. Therefore when we want any grace, and wold haue any necessitie relieued, let vs go with a chearefull resolution vnto God, as the prodigall sonne did, when he was readie

to die for hunger: I will rise (saith he) and go to my father, &c. then shall we find mercie at our heauenly fathers hand, as he did. He will call for the robe, for the ring, and shoes, Luk. 15. 22. No good thing will he with∣hold.

The houre is come] Wherby we learne,* 1.6 that before God euery thing is determi∣ned,* 1.7 he hath appointed times for euery purpose: and as the glorification of Christ, that is, the manifestation of his glorie, was assigned to this houre and time, which Christ here speaketh, which followed im∣mediatly vpon his passion: so times are li∣mited of God for the comfort and deliue∣rance of his Church.

So the Preacher saith, that there is a time to euery purpose, Eccles. 3. 1. and that God hath made euery thing beautifull in his time, vers. 11. and God hath put times and seasons in his owne power, Act. 1. 7.

Thus our Sauiour aunswered his mother, Ioh. 2. 4. Mine houre is not yet come: the same answer he maketh to his kinred, Ioh. 7. 6. My time is not yet come: and affirmatiuely, Mat. 26. 45. Behold, the houre is at hand, and the sonne of man is giuen into the hand of sinners.

This is signified by that vision of Eze∣chiel,

1. 18. he saw wheeles full of eyes•• shewing thereby, that the motion and gouernment of the world, and the course of times, runneth not by chaunce, but is ordered and directed by Gods al-seeing prouidence. S. Iohn also saw a mightie Angell, which had a rainebow about his head, which is Iesus Christ the Angell of the couenant, who sware by him that li∣ueth for euermore, that there should be no more time, Reuel. 10. 6. Who then hath the ordering of times, but he that gaue a beginning, and setteth an end of time?

[ 4] The reason the Psalmist sheweth, Psa. 104. 24. O Lord, how manifold are thy workes, in wisedome hast thou made them all. wherfore, because all wisdome is in God, and no man hath instructed him or was his counseller, Isa. 41. 13. all things must be referred to the prouidence of God. vnlesse then that men could find out a wi∣ser then God, or would take vpon them to teach and instruct him▪ his counsell and aduice must stand, his rule and gouerne∣ment, setting and ordering of times must take place.

[ 5] First, both the Stoickes and Epicures (which were two of the most famous sects of Philosophers amongst the Gentiles, as

we may reade Act. 17. 18.) are confuted: The first whereof did bring in a fatall ne∣cessitie, making all things to depend, not vpon the will and prouidence of God, but vpon a certain connexion of causes, to the which the diuine power it selfe should be subiect:* 1.8 like as vaine Astrologers and star∣gazers do attribute all to their constella∣tions and aspects of starres. But the Scri∣pture teacheth vs, that the Lord doth in heauen and earth whatsoeuer it pleaseth him Psal. 135. 6. he is not forced by, or tyed to any such fatall coniunction of causes.

The Epicures imputed all to Fortune, so do many carnall men, that cannot look into Gods prouidence, as the Preacher speaketh in the person of such, Eccle. 9. 10. Time and chance commeth to all. Ambrose hereof writeth well: Epicurei putabant ni∣hil Deum curare de nobis, & Aristoteles vsque ad lunam tantum Dei descendere pro∣uidentiam: sed quis operator negliget operis sui curam? &c. The Epicures thinke, that God taketh no care of vs: and Aristotle, that Gods prouidence descendeth no lower then the Moone: but what workeman doth cast off the care of his worke? If it be a wrong to rule them, it was a greater to work them: for not to haue made them nulla iniustitia,

was no iniustice: Non curare quod feceris summa inclementia: Not to care for that thou hasi made, is great inclemencie.

Secondly, this doctrine hath a speciall comfort both to Christs Church in gene∣rall, and to euery member thereof in par∣ticular:* 1.9 that when the time of mercie and deliuerance is fulfilled, they shal surely see the Lords sauing health. Thus the Church of the Iewes did find refreshing, Psal. 102 13. Thou wilt arise and haue mercie vpon Sion, for the appointed time is come: thus Io∣seph with patience endured his affliction, vntill his appointed time came, and the counsell of the Lord had tried him, Psal. 10••. 18. Thus euery one, whether affli∣cted in mind, or humbled in bodie, ought patiently to expect the Lords appointed time, to visite them in mercie. How was our Sauiour Christ himselfe turmoyled & tossed in this world? he endured hunger, thirst, wearinesse, he was mocked, whip∣ped, tormented, tasted of bitter sor∣rowes of his soule, and grieuous paines in his bodie, till his time came, that God manifested his kingdome and glorie.

Glorifie thy sonne, that thy sonne also may glorifi•• thee: The glorie of the Sonne re∣doundeth to the glorie of the Father. Ioh.

5. 23. He that honoureth not the Sonne, ho∣noureth not the Father. We learne hereby, that whatsoeuer gifts we aske of God, or he in his mercie vouchsafeth to vs, we should vse them to the honor and glorie of God.

Therefore our Sauiour teacheth vs to [ 1] conclude our petitions thus, For thine is the glorie, Mat. 6. 13. for we are assured to be heard, when we make the glorie of God the end of that which we ask. Pro. 3. 9. Honor the Lord with thy riches▪ so euery gift beside, either inward or outward, must be referred to the praise of God.

Thus Dauid sheweth how he would behaue himselfe in his kingdome, Psal. [ 2] 101. 2. I will walke in the vprightnesse of my heart in the midst of my house, I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes: as he recei∣ued his authoritie from God, so he vseth it to his glorie.

Achitophels counsell and wit was tur∣ned to foolishnesse, because he imployed it euill, in vpholding rebellious Absalom against his father.

Like as Manna that angelicall food, [ 3] whē the people did abuse it to couetous∣nesse, keeping it till the morning, contrary to the commaundement of God, ••tunke

and was full of wormes. Exod. 16. 20. so God depriueth them of their gifts that do not vse them well: as the talent was taken from the vnthriftie and vnprofitable ser∣uant, that did not imploy it to his maisters aduantage. Mat. 25. v▪ 26.

4. For the Lord will not giue his glory to another. Isay 42. 8. he wil not suffer that the praise of his giftes should be ascribed to any beside himselfe: and therefore was Herode stroken with wormes, because he gaue not the glorie to God. Act. 12.

5. By this doctrine they are reproued,* 1.10 which hauing receiued any grace or gift from God, as knowledge, wit strength of bodie, riches, honor, do not vse them so∣berly and vertuously to Gods glorie: as rich men become proud of their riches: they that haue knowledge, are puffed vp: they which haue abundance offend in riot and excesse: and this is the next way to de∣priue them of that they haue. As also, whē men aske any thing of God to a wrong end, they misse of their desires: as S. Iames saith, Ye aske and haue not, because ye aske amisse, that you might consume it on your lustes: wherefore if we would obtaine at Gods hands those things which we want, or would haue increased that we haue,

we must simply and vnfainedly intend Gods glory, he will admit no partner, nor deuide his glorie, or share it with any. He therefore that maketh his gifts com∣mon, that is, employing them to any other end then to Gods honor, doth pollute his gifts, as Origene well saith: Consu••tudine scripturae commune dicitur quod immundum est, consequenter quod sanctum separatū est, &c. By the vse of Scripture that is said to be common which is vncleane, that is holy which is set apart: that which is holy doth onely ap∣pertaine to God, and hath no fellowship with any other. Peccator & immundus multorum est: But the sinner and vncleane person is com∣mon to many. He then which doth not ap∣ply his gifts onely to the praise of God, but maketh them common to serue his owne carnall affections, doth pollute and defile them.

Notes

• * 1.1

  Vers. 1. Doct•• 1.
• * 1.2

  The gesture required in prayer.
• * 1.3

  God Christs father, other∣wise then ours.
• * 1.4

  Doct. 2.
• * 1.5

  Pray with confidence.
• * 1.6

  Doct. 3.
• * 1.7

  The appoint∣ment of times is from God.
• * 1.8

  Against A∣strologers.
• * 1.9

  We must wait the accepta∣ble time.
• * 1.10

  All gifts must 〈◊〉〈◊〉 vsed to Gods glory.