386 OF THE ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING 



The matter informed by divinity is of two kinds ; matter 

 of belief and truth of opinion, and matter of service and 

 adoration ; which is also judged and directed by the former ; 

 the one being as the internal soul of religion, and the other 

 as the external body thereof. And therefore the heathen 

 religion was not only a worship of idols, but the whole 

 religion was an idol in itself; for it had no soul, that is, 

 no certainty of belief or confession ; as a man may well 

 think, considering the chief doctors of their church were 

 the poets ; and the reason was, because the heathen gods 

 were no jealous gods, but were glad to be admitted into 

 part, as they had reason. Neither did they respect the 

 pureness of heart, so they might have external honour and 

 rites. 



But out of these two do result and issue four main 

 branches of divinity ; Faith, Manners, Liturgy, and 

 Government. Faith containeth the doctrine of the nature 

 of God, of the attributes of God, and of the works of God. 

 The nature of God consisteth of three persons in unity 

 of Godhead. The attributes of God are either common 

 to the Deity, or respective to the persons. The works of 

 God summary are two, that of the Creation, and that of 

 the Redemption ; and both these works, as in total they 

 appertain to the unity of the Godhead, so in their parts 

 they refer to the three persons : that of the Creation, in 

 the mass of the matter to the Father ; in the disposition of 

 the form to the Son ; and in the continuance and conserva- 

 tion of the being to the Holy Spirit : so that of the 

 Redemption, in the election and counsel to the Father ; in 

 the whole act and consummation to the Son ; and in the 

 application to the Holy Spirit ; for by the Holy Ghost 

 was Christ conceived in flesh, and by the Holy Ghost 

 are the elect regenerate in spirit. This work likewise we 

 consider either effectually in the elect ; or privatively in the 

 reprobate ; or according to appearance in the visible church. 



For Manners, the doctrine thereof is contained in the 

 law, which discloseth sin. The law itself is divided, 

 according to the edition thereof, into the law of Nature, 

 the law Moral, and the law Positive ; and according to the 



