10. Objection.Lastlie they argue thus: Everie thing is either unbegotten or unborne, or begotten and created; the spirit is not unbegotten,/557. for then he were the father; & so there should be two without beginning: neither is he begotten, for then he is begotten of the father, and so there shall be two/399. sonnes, both brothers; or hee is begotten of the sonne, and then shall he be Gods nephue, than the which what can be imagined more absurd? Ergo he is created.
*Wherto* 10. Ans. The spirit proceedeth I answer, that the division or distribution is unperfect: for that member is omitted which is noted of the verie best divine that ever was, even Jesus Christ our saviour; namelie, to have proceeded, or proceeding: That same holie spirit (saith he) which proceedeth from the father. Which place Nazanzen dooth thus interpret. The spirit, bicause he proceedeth from thence, is not a creature: and bicause he is not begotten, he is not the son; but bicause he is the meane of begotten and unbegotten, he shall be God, &c.
And thus having avoided all these cavils of the *Pneumatomachi,* Such were the Arrians, Tritheits,† Samosatenians, &c.† [Tritheists] a sect of heretikes too too injurious to the holie spirit, insomuch as they seeke what they can, to rob and pull from him the right of his divinitie; I will all Christians to take heed of their pestilent opinions, the poison whereof though to them that be resolved in the truth it can doo little hurt, yet to such as stand upon a wavering point it can doo no great good. Having thus far waded against them, and overthrowne their opinions; I must needs exhort all to whom the reading hereof shall come, that first they consider with themselves what a reverend mysterie all that hitherto hath beene said in this chapter concerneth; namelie, the spirit of sanctification, and that they so ponder places to and fro, as that they reserve unto the holie spirit the glorious title of divinitie, which by nature is to him appropriate: esteeming of these Pneumatomachi or Theomachi,Sus magis in cœno gaudet quàm fonte sereno. as of swine, delighting more in the durtie draffe of their devises, than in the faire fountaine water of Gods word: yea, condemning them of grosser ignorance than the old philosophers, who though they savoured little of heavenlie theologie, yet some illumination they had of the holie and divine spirit,The hethenish philosophers acknowledged the holie spirit. marrie it was somewhat mistie, darke, lame and limping; neverthelesse, what it was, and how much or little soever it was, they gave thereunto a due reverence, in that they acknowledged and intituled it Animam mundi, The soule or life of the world, and (as Nazanzen witnesseth) τὸν τοῦ παντος νοῦν, The/558. mind of the universall, and the outward breath, or the breath that commeth from without. Porphyrie Cyrill. lib. 1. contra Julianum. expounding the opinion of Plato, who was not utterlie blind in this mysterie, saith that the divine substance doth proceed and extend to three subsistencies and beings: and that God is chieflie and principallie good, next him the second creator, and the third to be the soule of the world: for he holdeth that the divinitie doth extend even to this soule. As for Hermes Trismegistus, he saith that all things have need of this spirit: for according to his worthinesse he supporteth all, he quickeneth and susteineth all, and he is derived from the holie fountaine, giving breath and life unto all, and evermore remaineth continuall, plentifull, and unemptied.
And here by the waie I give you a note woorth reading and considering; namelie, how all nations in a manner, by a kind of heavenlie influence, agree in writing and speaking the name of God with no more than foure letters.Marsilius Ficinus in arg. in Cratyl. Plat. As for example, the Ægyptians doo call him Theut, the Persians call him Syre, the Jewes expresse his unspeakable name as well as they can by/400. the word Adonai consisting of foure vowels; the Arabians call him Alla, the Mahometists call him Abdi, the Greekes call him Theos, the Latines call him Deus, &c. This, although it be not so proper to our present purpose, yet (because we are in hand with the holie spirits deitie) is not altogether impertinent. But why GOD would have his name as it were universallie bounded within the number of foure letters, I can give sundrie reasons, which require too long a discourse of words by digression: and therefore I will conceale them for this time. These opinions of philosophers I have willinglie remembred, that it might appeare, that the doctrine concerning the holie spirit is verie ancient; which they having taken either out of Moses writings, or out of the works of the old fathers, published and set foorth in bookes, though not wholie, fullie, and perfectlie understood and knowne: and also that our Pneumatomachi may see themselves to be more doltish in divine matters than the heathen, who will not acknowledge that essentiall and working power of the divinitie wherby all things are quickened: which the heathen did after a sort see; after a sort (I saie) bicause they separated the soule of the world (which they also call the begotten mind) from the most sovereigne and unbe/gotten559. God, and imagined certeine differences of degrees, and (as Cyrill saith) did Arrianize** [Arianize] in the trinitie.
So then I conclude against these Pneumatomachi, that in so much as they imitate the old giants, who piling up PelionOvid. lib. metamorph. 1 fab. 5. de gigantib. cœlum obsident. upon Ossa, and them both upon Olympus, attempted by scaling the heavens to pull Jupiter out of his throne of estate, & to spoile him of his principalitie, and were notwithstanding their strength, whereby they were able to carrie huge hilles on their shoulders, overwhelmed with those mountaines, and squized under the weight of them even to the death: so these Pneumatomachi, being enimies both to the holie spirit, and no freends to the holie church (for then would they confesse the trinitie in unitie, and the unitie in trinitie, and consequentlie also the deitie of the holie spirit) deserve to be consumed with the fier of his mouth, the heate whereof by no meanes can be slaked, quenched, or avoided. For there is nothing more unnaturall, nothing more monstrous, than against the person of the deitie (I meane the spirit of sanctification) to oppose mans power, mans wit, mans policie, &c: which was well signified by that poeticall fiction of the giants, who were termed Anguipedes, Snakefooted: which as Joachimus Camerarius expoundeth of wicked counsellors, to whose filthie persuasion tyrants doo trust as unto their feete; and James Sadolet Jacob. Sadol. in lib. de laud. philosoph. inscript. Phædrus. interpreteth of philosophers, who trusting overmuch unto their owne wits, become so bold in challenging praise for their wisedome, that in fine all turneth to follie and confusion: so I expound of heretickes and schismatikes, who either by corrupt doctrine, or by mainteining precise opinions, or by open violence, &c: assaie to overthrow the true religion, to breake the unitie of the church, to denie Cæsar his homage, and GOD his dutie, &c: and therefore let Jovis fulmen, wherewith they were slaine, assure these that there is Divina ultio due to all such, as dare in the ficklenes of their fansies arreare themselves against the holie spirit; of whom sith they are ashamed here upon earth (otherwise they would confidentlie and boldlie confesse him both/401. with mouth and pen) he will be ashamed of them in heaven, where they are like to be so farre from having anie societie with the saints, that their portion shalbe even in full and shaken measure with miscreants and infidels. And therefore let us,/560. if we will discerne and trie the spirits whether they be of God or no, seeke for the illumination of this inlightning spirit, which as it bringeth light with it to discover all spirits, so it giveth such a fierie heat, as that no false spirit can abide by it for feare of burning. Howbeit the holie spirit must be in us, otherwise this prerogative of trieng spirits will not fall to our lot.
Peter Mart. in loc. com. part. 2. cap. 18. sect. 33. pag. 628.But here some will peradventure move a demand, and doo aske how the holie spirit is in us, considering that Infiniti ad finitum nulla est proportio, neque loci angustia quod immensum est potest circumscribi: of that which is infinite, to that which is finite there is no proportion; neither can that which is unmeasurable be limited or bounded within anie precinct of place, &c. I answer, that the most excellent father for Christes sake sendeth him unto us, according as Christ promised us in the person of his apostles; The comforter (saith he)John. 14, 26. which is the holie spirit, whome my father will send in my name. And as for proportion of that which is infinite to that which is finite, &c: I will in no case have it thought, that the holie spirit is in us, as a bodie placed in a place terminablie; but to attribute thereunto, as dulie belongeth to the deitie, an ubiquitie, or universall presence; not corporallie and palpablie; but effectuallie, mightilie, mysticallie, divinelie, &c. John. 16, 14. & 14, 16.Yea, and this I may boldlie adde, that Christ Jesus sendeth him unto us from the father: neither is he given us for anie other end, but to inrich us abundantlie with all good gifts and excellent graces; and (among the rest) with the dis- cerning of spirits aright, that we be not deceived. And here an end.
FINIS.
[Appendix I.]
[The nine chapters forming the beginning of the fifteenth Book in the third edition, 1665, are numbered Ch. I, etc., and Scot’s Ch. I made Ch. X, and so onward]