the tryall of trueth: or, a discovery of false prophets. containing a plaine and short discovery of the chiefest points of the doctrine of the great antichrist, and of his adherents the false teachers and hereticks of these last times. / by e.p. mysticall wolfe pagitt, ephraim, 1574 or 5-1647. this text is an enriched version of the tcp digital transcription a90607 of text r212353 in the english short title catalog (thomason e270_17). textual changes and metadata enrichments aim at making the text more computationally tractable, easier to read, and suitable for network-based collaborative curation by amateur and professional end users from many walks of life. the text has been tokenized and linguistically annotated with morphadorner. the annotation includes standard spellings that support the display of a text in a standardized format that preserves archaic forms ('loveth', 'seekest'). textual changes aim at restoring the text the author or stationer meant to publish. this text has not been fully proofread approx. 1 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 1 1-bit group-iv tiff page image. earlyprint project evanston,il, notre dame, in, st. louis, mo 2017 a90607 wing p184 thomason e270_17 estc r212353 99870979 99870979 159444 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a90607) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 159444) images scanned from microfilm: (thomason tracts ; 45:e270[17]) the tryall of trueth: or, a discovery of false prophets. containing a plaine and short discovery of the chiefest points of the doctrine of the great antichrist, and of his adherents the false teachers and hereticks of these last times. / by e.p. mysticall wolfe pagitt, ephraim, 1574 or 5-1647. [2+] p. printed by m.o. for robert trot under st. edmonds in lumbard-street over against st. clements lane, london, : 1645. an edition of: pagitt, ephraim. the mysticall wolfe (wing p183). annotation on thomason copy: on verso of final leaf of previous tract (e.270(16)): "the misticall wolfe vide the misticall wolfe formerly printed. this is but only a new title to that booke. vide feb: 3d" [thomason's copy of "the mysticall wolfe" e.27(9) is entered under nov. 24, 1644 in thomason catalogue]; on title page: e.p. is expanded to e. p"agit"; "feb: 24th 1644"; the 5 in imprint date is crossed out. imperfect: t.p. only. reproduction of the original in the british library. eng antichrist -early works to 1800. heresies, christian -early works to 1800. a90607 r212353 (thomason e270_17). civilwar no the tryall of trueth: or, a discovery of false prophets.: containing a plaine and short discovery of the chiefest points of the doctrine of pagitt, ephraim 1645 114 2 0 0 0 0 0 175 f the rate of 175 defects per 10,000 words puts this text in the f category of texts with 100 or more defects per 10,000 words. 2007-07 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2007-07 aptara keyed and coded from proquest page images 2007-08 mona logarbo sampled and proofread 2007-08 mona logarbo text and markup reviewed and edited 2008-02 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion the tryall of trueth : or , a discovery of false prophets . containing a plaine and short discovery of the chiefest points of the doctrine of the great antichrist , and of his adherents the false teachers ▪ and hereticks of these last times . by e. p. math . 16 ▪ o yee hypocrites , yee can discern the face of the skie , and can ye not discern the signes of the times ? 2 thes. 2. let no man deceive you by any meanes . london , printed by m. o. for robert trot under st. edmonds in lumbard-street over against st. clements lane , 1645. an ordinance presented to the honorable house of commons, by mr. bacon, a lawyer in suffolk, and mr taet, both of them members of the same house, and by their means was twice read, and referred to a committee for the preventing of the growing and spreading of heresies. bacon, nathaniel, 1593-1660. this text is an enriched version of the tcp digital transcription a77000 of text r212306 in the english short title catalog (thomason 669.f.9[69]). textual changes and metadata enrichments aim at making the text more computationally tractable, easier to read, and suitable for network-based collaborative curation by amateur and professional end users from many walks of life. the text has been tokenized and linguistically annotated with morphadorner. the annotation includes standard spellings that support the display of a text in a standardized format that preserves archaic forms ('loveth', 'seekest'). textual changes aim at restoring the text the author or stationer meant to publish. this text has not been fully proofread approx. 5 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 1 1-bit group-iv tiff page image. earlyprint project evanston,il, notre dame, in, st. louis, mo 2017 a77000 wing b355 thomason 669.f.9[69] estc r212306 99870944 99870944 161167 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a77000) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 161167) images scanned from microfilm: (thomason tracts ; 245:669f9[69]) an ordinance presented to the honorable house of commons, by mr. bacon, a lawyer in suffolk, and mr taet, both of them members of the same house, and by their means was twice read, and referred to a committee for the preventing of the growing and spreading of heresies. bacon, nathaniel, 1593-1660. taet, mr. 1 sheet ([1] p.) s.n., [london : 1646] imprint from wing. annotation on thomason copy: "10 sept: london. 1646". reproduction of the originals in the british library. eng heresies, christian -england -early works to 1800. great britain -church history -17th century -early works to 1800. a77000 r212306 (thomason 669.f.9[69]). civilwar no an ordinance presented to the honorable house of commons, by mr. bacon, a lawyer in suffolk, and mr taet, both of them members of the same h bacon, nathaniel 1646 990 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 a this text has no known defects that were recorded as gap elements at the time of transcription. 2008-07 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2008-08 spi global keyed and coded from proquest page images 2008-10 mona logarbo sampled and proofread 2008-10 mona logarbo text and markup reviewed and edited 2009-02 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion an ordinance presented to the honorable house of commons , by mr. bacon , a lawyer in suffolk , and mr taet , both of them members of the same house , and by their means was twice read , and referred to a committee . for the preventing of the growing and spreading of heresies . be it ordained , that all such as shall from and after the date hereof , willingly preach , teach , print , or write , publish and maintain , any such opinion contrary to the doctrines ensuing ; viz. that god is present in all places , that god is , or that he is one in three persons , or doth know or fore-know all things ; or that he is almighty , or that he is perfectly holy , or that he is eternall . or that shall in like manner publish , that christ is not god coequall with the father ; or shall deny the manhood of christ , or that the godhead and manhood of christ are severall natures , or that the manhood of christ , is pure , unspotted of sin ; or that shall publish , that christ did not die , or rose from the dead , nor ia ascended into heaven bodily , or that his death is meritorious in behalfe of beleevers . or that shall publish or maintain , as aforesaid , that christ is not the son of god , or that the holy ghost is not god , or that the scriptures are not the word of god , or that the bodies of men shall not rise after they be dead , or that there is no day of judgement after death . such publishing with obstinacie , shall be judged felony : such persons shall by two witnesses be bound over by two iustices unto the gayl-delivery , and the delinquent shall be indited for felony ; and upon finding the same inditement , and that the party bee found guilty , and shall not abjure his said error , he shall suffer the pains of death , without benefit of clergy : but upon abjuring of the said error , he shal upon two sufficient sureties be bailed . and be it further ordained , that if after abjuring the said errours , he shall publiish it again , he shall be indited and put to death . and be it further ordered , that if any person shall wittingly and presumptuously , or contrary to admonition , blaspheme the name of god , or any of the holy trinity , or shall impugne the word of god , such offences shall be adjudged fellony , & the offender committed without bayl or mainprize ; and the party being found guilty shall be branded in the left cheek , with the letter b. and upon the like offence the second time shall suffer death . and be it further ordained , that all persons who shall publish any of the severall errours hereafter ensuing , viz. that all men shal be saved ; that a man by nature hath free wil to turn to god ; that god may be worshipt by pictures or images ; or that the soule of any man after death goes neither to heaven nor hell , but to purgatory ; or that the soule of man dies or sleepes when the body is dead ; or that the revelations or workings of the spirit , are a rule for a christians life ; though divers from or contrary to the written word of god ; or that a man is bound to believe no more then by his reason he can comprehend ; or that the morrall law contained in the ten commandements is no rule of a christian life ; or that god sees no sinne in the justified ; or that a believer need not repent nor pray for the pardon of sinne ; or that the two sacraments of baptisme , and the lords supper , are not ordinances commanded by the word of god ; or that the baptizing of infants is unlawfull ; or that such baptizing is void , and of none effect ; or that such persons are to be baptized again : and in pursuance thereof , shall baptize any person formerly baptized : or that the observation of the lords day , as it is injoyned by the ordinances and lawes of this realm , is not according , or contrary to the word of god , or that it is not lawfull to joyn in publique , or family prayer , or to teach children to pray ; or that the churches of england are not true churches ; or that the ministers or ordinances , are not true ministers or ordinances ; or that the church government by presbytery , is antichristian , or unlawfull ; or that the magistracy , or power of the civill-magistrate by law established in england , is unlawfull ; or that all the use of armes for publique defence ( be the cause never so just ) is unlawfull . and in case the party so accused for any of the said errours , be committed before two justices , the party so committed shall be ordered to renounce his said errour in the publike congregation of the parish church whence the complaint comes ; and in case he refuses or neglects the same at or upon the day , time , and place appointed by the said justices , that he shall be committed to prison by the said justices , untill he shall find two sureties , of subsidy men , that he shall not publish or maintain the said errour or errours any more . london10 sept : 1646 some modest and humble queries concerning a printed paper, intituled, an ordinance presented to the honourable house of commons, &c. for the preventing of the growing and spreading of heresies, &c. goodwin, john, 1594?-1665. this text is an enriched version of the tcp digital transcription a85416 of text r201102 in the english short title catalog (thomason e355_1). textual changes and metadata enrichments aim at making the text more computationally tractable, easier to read, and suitable for network-based collaborative curation by amateur and professional end users from many walks of life. the text has been tokenized and linguistically annotated with morphadorner. the annotation includes standard spellings that support the display of a text in a standardized format that preserves archaic forms ('loveth', 'seekest'). textual changes aim at restoring the text the author or stationer meant to publish. this text has not been fully proofread approx. 30 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 8 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. earlyprint project evanston,il, notre dame, in, st. louis, mo 2017 a85416 wing g1204 thomason e355_1 estc r201102 99861665 99861665 113806 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a85416) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 113806) images scanned from microfilm: (thomason tracts ; 57:e355[1]) some modest and humble queries concerning a printed paper, intituled, an ordinance presented to the honourable house of commons, &c. for the preventing of the growing and spreading of heresies, &c. goodwin, john, 1594?-1665. [2], 6, 9-12 p. printed by matthew simmons for henry overton, and are to be sold in popes-head alley, london, : 1646. "published by authoritie." attributed to john goodwin by wing. text is continuous despite pagination. a reply to: bacon, nathaniel, and taet, mr. an ordinance presented to the honourable house of commons (wing b355). annotation on thomason copy: "7ber [i.e. september] 22". reproduction of the original in the british library. eng bacon, nathaniel, 1593-1660. -ordinance presented to the honourable house of commons. taet, -mr. -ordinance presented to the honourable house of commons. church of england -discipline -early works to 1800. heresy -early works to 1800. heresies, christian -england -early works to 1800. religious tolerance -england -early works to 1800. great britain -church history -17th century. a85416 r201102 (thomason e355_1). civilwar no some modest and humble queries concerning a printed paper, intituled, an ordinance presented to the honourable house of commons, &c. for the goodwin, john 1646 5134 20 0 0 0 0 0 39 d the rate of 39 defects per 10,000 words puts this text in the d category of texts with between 35 and 100 defects per 10,000 words. 2007-09 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2007-09 apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images 2007-10 elspeth healey sampled and proofread 2007-10 elspeth healey text and markup reviewed and edited 2008-02 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion some modest and humble qveries concerning a printed paper , intituled , an ordinance presented to the honourable house of commons , &c. for the preventing of the growing and spreading of heresies ▪ &c ▪ rom. 14. 5. let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind . isa. 59. 9. therefore is judgement farre from us , neither doth justice over ●ake us : we waite for light , but behold obscurity , &c. job . 8. 1. who is this that darkneth counsell by words without knowlege ? hos. 5. 1. heare ye this , o priests , and hearken ye house of israel — for judgement is towards you ; because you have been a snare on mispah , and a net spred upon tabor , hos. 9. 8. the watchman of ephraim was with my god : but the prophet is the snare of a fowler in all his wayes , and hatred in the house of his god . quid prodest habere zelum dei , & non-habere scientiam dei ? orig. quid ergo saviunt , ut stulticiam suam dum minuere volunt , augeant ? longe diversa 〈◊〉 carn●●●●… & pietas — defendenda religio est ▪ non occidendo , sed moriendo ; non savitiâ , sed patientiâ . non scelere , sed 〈◊〉 illa enim malorum sunt , haec bonorum . lactant. de iust. c. lib. 5 cap. 20. omnis lex debet 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 suae equitatis . calv. published by authoritie . london ▪ printed by matthew simmons for henry overton , and are to be sold in popes-head alley , 1646. to the reader . being accidentally encountred by a vagrant ▪ paper , printed though without authority , yet with this inscription ; an ordinance presented to the honourable house of commons , &c ▪ and conceiving partly by the frame and spirit of the discourse , partly from some un-clerk-like expressions in it , that certainly those worthy gentlemen , whose names are specified in the said inscription , were more or lesse wronged by the publishing and spreading of it under their names ; and that it was some other spirit that breathed in it , not theirs ; i supposed that possibly i might doe the said gentlemen some right , by a proposall of some queries upon occasion of some particularities in it , by meanes whereof they may the better consider , in case it relates to them either in whole , or in part , whether it be not unworthy of them ; or whether , and to what degree those have injured them , who issued the said undeserving papar with such a badge of honour upon it , as the two names of two such well-deserving men . queries about the ordinance . whether it be agreeable to the spirit of christ , ( who came into the world , as himself saith not to destroy mens lives , but to save them a , ) to make snares of any of his doctrines for the destruction of the lives of men ? whether it be agreeable to the mind of christ , for men to inflict the heavie censure of death upon their brethren , for holding forth such doctrines , or opinions in religion , suppose contrary to admonition , which , for ought the said inflicters know , except they make themselves infallible , may be the sacred truths of god ? whether it be agreeable to the will of christ , for civill magistrates to compell men , upon paine of death , to call them rabbi , or masters , when as he hath so expressely charged men , yea ▪ his apostles themselves as well as others , not to be called rabbi , or masters b ▪ or whether to injoyne and compell men ( especially upon the penaltie of death , ) to preach and teach in many the most weighty and difficult points of religion , nothing but the dictates of their owne judgments and wills , be not much more then simply to be called rabbi , or masters , i. then simply to connive at , & comply with those , who professe in all things to submit their judgements and consciences unto them ? yea , whether is it not , to threaten men , and that in the ●orest manner of all other , if they will not call them rabbi , or masters , i. if they will not sin against the commandement of christ ? whether is it christian to maintaine that religion , by putting others to death , which ( as lactantius saith ) men ought to defend , non occidendo , sed moriendo , i. not by slaying others , but by dying our selves for it ? whether is it not evident from tertullian , lactantius , and other ancient and authentick writers , that the idolatrous heathen sought to maintaine their idolatrous religions , by the same stratagems ▪ methods , and wayes , which the said ordinance proposeth , for maintaining the religion of christ ? whether our best records of later times doe not cleerely shew , that the papacy , and antichristian party in the world , have still gone about to uphold that false and abominable religion , which they professe , by those very shores and props , wherewith the ordinance we speake of seeks to support the true religion of christ ? whether are errours and heresies any other things ; then some of those strong holds and imaginations in men , which ( as the apostle saith ) exalt themselves against the knowledge of god a ? or whether can they be better throwne downe then by those weapons ▪ which ( as the same apostle speaketh ) are mighty through god ▪ for that very purpose ? and whether are these weapons carnall , or spirituall ? whether to injoyn ministers or others upon pain of death , imprisonment , &c. not to teach or maintaine any thing , in many the greatest and most weighty points in religion , contrary to the present sense and apprehensions of the said injoyners , being but few in number , ( comparatively ) be not to quench proceedings ; and to say ( in effect ) unto the holy ghost , reveale nothing more unto others , then thou hast revealed unto us ; or rather thus ; if thou hast not revealed the truth unto us , reveale it not unto any other men ? whether they , who inflict the heavie sentence of death upon men , for maintaining an opinion or doctrine contrary to their sense and interpretation of a scripture , one or more , had not need be as infallible in their judgements , ( at least as touching the sense and meaning of all such scriptures ) as god himself ? whether did luther ( with divers other worthy assertors of the truth in his dayes against the papists ) deserve death , imprisonment , &c. for maintaining , and that publiquely , and against frequent admonition , by zuinglius , calvin , &c. the erroneous opinion of consubstantiation ; an error farre more grosse and dangerous then many particulariz'd in the ordinance ; besides many others not inferior in evill unto this , as concerning free-will , election & c ? whether did calvin deserve either imprisonment or death , for , teaching and maintaining publiquely by writing , that the observation of the lords day , as it is injoyned by the ordinances and lawes of this realme , is not according to the word of god ? whether doth a minister , in case that in the performance of his office in preaching the gospel , he shall mistake the mind of christ , or the true sense of a scripture , one or more , cited , & interpreted by him according to the best light which god hath given him , deserve either death or imprisonment , for his mistake ? or whether many of the opinions made liable hereunto by the ordinance , be constructively , any thing moe , or of any worse demerit , then a mistake , or misunderstanding of some scriptures ? whether a mistake in judgement , ( as suppose a man verily and in the simplicitie of his heart , judgeth that infants ought not to be baptized , or that presbytery is unlawfull , or the like ) joyned with a publique and free profession of his judgement in this kinde , be more sinfull , or more deserving imprisonment , death , &c. then an open and manifest deniall in works , of such truths , which yet men professe in words ; as when men professe that they beleeve jesus to be the son of god , and that the scriptures are the word of god , &c. and yet live loosly , prophanely , in drunkennesse , riot , &c. or whether the ordinance maketh not the former denialls , which at most are but of truths very questionable and obscure , yea and but of inferior consequence neither ( at least comparatively ) punishable by imprisonment or death ; whereas it inflicts no censure at all upon these latter denialls ( except it be in the case of blasphemy ) which are every whit as full & publique as the other , yea and of truths both more generally received , and farre more easie to be proved ; yea and of a far greater and more formidable consequence , then those other ? whether ministers , truly faithfull and conscientious , being fully perswaded in their soules and consciences , that many of the opinions asserted in the ordinance for truths , yet are not such , but errors ( of wch perswasion there are many such ministers in england ) shall doe well to comply with the ordinance , ( so called ) against their judgements ; and publiquely hold forth to the people those things for truths , which they are absolutely perswaded in their judgements , to be nothing lesse ? or whether the said ordinance , threatening them with imprisonment or death , in case they shall declare themselves otherwise , be not a dangerous temptation upon them , to draw their foot into that snare of death ? whether , the publicke holding of any such opinion , which according to the doctrine of the apostles themselves , deserves not excommunication from , or by a christian church , may yet deserve imprisonment , or a cutting off by death , by the civil magistrate ? or are they , who are meete and worthy to live and converse as members in a church of christ , unworthy so much as to live in a politique or civill state ? or were there not in the church of corinth , ( yea and in other churches besides in the apostles dayes ) who publiquely held some opinions of farre worse consequence , then very many of those , which the said ordinance censureth , either with imprisonment , or with death ; of whose excommunication , notwithstanding the apostle is silent , even then when he argueth against , and condemneth their errors . yea doth he not intreat them graciously , notwithstanding the danger of their error , calling them beloved brethren a & admonisheth them to take heed of being deceived ; to be stedfast & unmoveable ? &c. whether is it not very possible , that persons , who may hold , and upon occasion publiquely maintaine , many of the opinions condemned as errors , by the ordinance , may yet be as full of grace and goodnesse , as precious in the sight of god , as fruitfull in every good worke , as serviceable to the state , and common-wealth , as those who are of another judgement and practise ? o● what repugnancy is there in either of those things , unto any of these ? if so , whether can it be a thing well pleasing unto god , or of any good accommodation to the state , to make a law for the punishing or afflicting of such persons ? whether is not such an ordinance , ( were it an ordinance indeed ) in the very nature and direct tendency of it , likely to prove a grand discouragement unto many from taking the calling of the ministery upon them , ( the kingdome suffering at present so extreamely for want of able and faithfull men in this calling , ) and especially such , who are most ingenuous , and most eminently qualified by god for this great worke ? or whether are not men of greatest worth for parts and abilities , especially in conjunction with good and tender consciences , ( the most absolute composition for the ministery , ) more like then other men to decline that imployment , wherein they are so much the more like to suffer for a good conscience sake , then other men ; by how much the more likely they are to discover the common errors and misprisions of the present age in matters of religion , then they ? whether is not the said ordinance , in the example of it , a direct incouragement and confirmation to popish magistrates , to persecute the faithfull servants of god , who live in their territories with fire & sword , for professing the truth of god amongst them ? and whether doe not they , who here seeke to plucke up the tares , by such an ordinance , plucke up the wheat also there , by the same ? whether was there ever any such ordinance , or state act , ever heard of , or knowne , in any the reformed churches ? i meane , which was so apparently bent against the faces , if not of the greatest part , yet of so considerable a part of the best and most conscientious men amongst them , as this is ? whether was there ever any thing done in the bishops times , or any thing attempted to be done by this generation of men in the day of their greatest interest and power in the kingdome , of that bloudy consequence to those godly persons , ministers , or others , whom they most hated , and sought to crush , as this ordinance , if once established , is like to be , to surre greater numbers of truely pious and conscientious men ? whether the said ordinance ministreth not an advantage , of opportunity to the worst and wickedest of men , who commonly hate the best and faithfullest ministers most , to accuse them unduly of such things , which according to the ordinary course of law , may touch their lives , or otherwise bring much affliction , and vexation to them ? whether twelve simple countrimen , such as our ordinary juries usually confist of at countrey assizes , who ( alas ! ) are far from being versed , or any wayes judgemented in the profound questions in divinity , ( unto many of which the ordinance relateth ) and who are generally uncapable of such equipollencies , proprieties , and differences of words , upon the understanding , or right discerning whereof , the innocencie or guiltinesse of the person indited is very likely to depend , be of any competent faculty or interest , to passe upon the life or liberty of a studious , learned , and conscientious man , in such cases , which the greatest and ablest professors of divinitie in the world , are not able cleerly , or with any competent satisfaction to the scrupulous ( many times ) to resolve , or determine ? whither an ordinary judge of ass●●e , who either doth not pretend , or ( at most ) in most cases , doth but pretend to any thoroughnesse of search or inquiry into the deep things of god in the abstruse and disputable points of religion , as that of free will , of the trinity , of the hypostaticall union , concerning the death of christ , the condition of the soule after death , &c. be a competent judge in such questions and cases as these , especially over , and against such men ( to the bereaving of them , either of life or libertie ) who are knowne to be men of able parts , and to have made the study of divinity , their sole imployment all their dayes , being otherwise , grave , and sober , and conscientious men in all their wayes ? whether these two opinions , ( both of them attainded for errors , and made equally punishable by the ordinance , ) 1o that the morrall law contained in the ten commandements is no rule of a christian life . 2o that the observation of the lords day , as it is enjoyned by the ordinances and lawes of this realme , is not according , or contrary to the word of god ; can possibly be both errors , or justly punishable ; since the observation of the lords day , as it is enjoyned by the ordinances and lawes of this realme , is no where to be found in the morall law contained in the ten commandements ; this law requiring the observation of another day , differing from that , the observation whereof is injoyned by the ordinances and lawes of this realme ? or if the law contained in the ten commandements be the rule of a christian life , whether doe they walke christianly , who doe not conforme themselves unto it ? nay , who place a great part of their christianity , in walking , if not contrary to it , yet quite beside it ? as all they doe , who observe the lords day , as it is injoyned by the ordinances and laws of this realme ; and celebrate the two sacraments , baptisme , and the loods supper , mentioned likewise in the ordinance ? whether doth the ordinance , making this a punishable errour , to hold that a man by nature hath free will to turne unto god , by this expression , of having free will to turne unto god , intend to grant any will at all in men by nature to turne unto god , though much incumbred and oppressed with corruption , and indisposition to such an act , and in that respect , meaneth that it is not free ; or else to denie all , and all manner of will in men , in respect of this act ; so that when god purposeth to make men willing to turne to him , he must create a new facultie of will in him , as also a new disposition or propension in this will , whereby it may be freely carried upon this act of conversion ? what does the ordinance mean , by blasph●ming the name of god , or any of the holy trinity ? doth it mean any kinde or degree of sin , against the third commandement ? or any , and every kinde of swearing ▪ as by faith , troth , or the like ; so that upon the second offence committed in this kinde , after , and contrary to admonition , the party offending is to suffer death ? or doth it by blaspheming the name of god , &c. intend onely the highest kindes of blasphemy , as the calling of god , or of jesus christ , accursed , wicked , unjust , unfaithfull , & c ? what doth the ordinance mean , by impugning the word of god ? doth it mean , the opposing by way of argument and discourse , every truth contained and delivered in the word of god ? or onely the proposall and inforcement of such reasons and grounds , the tendency whereof is , to prove it , indefinitly taken and considered , not to be the word of god ? in what sence doth the ordinance make it erroneous and punishable , to hold , that god seeth no sin in the justified ? inasmuch as there is a sence , ( if not more then one ) wherein it is most certainly true , that god seeth no sin in such persons ( a ) ? in what sence doth the ordinance adjudge it an error , worthy to be punished , and that with no lesse than perpetuall imprisonment , in case it be not abjured ; to hold and maintain ▪ that a man is bound to beleeve no more , than by his reason hee can comprehend ? doth it intend to make men of this faith , that they are bound in conscience to beleeve more than they can comprehend , that is , cleerly and fully conceive any reason why they should beleeve ? if so , then how much , or to what proportion of object are they bound to beleeve , beyond what they are able to comprehend by reason , sufficient & cleer grounds of beleeving ? are they bound to beleeve in this kinde ( i mean , beyond what they are able to comprehend by reason ) without measure , bounds , or limits ? if so , are they bound to beleeve all things without exception , that shall any wayes , or by any hand be presented unto them ? or , if reason ought not to regulate or limit men about the object or matter of their beleeving , then are they bound to beleeve those things , concerning which , there is no ground or reason at all , why they should be beleeved ? if so , whether is divine revelation , or the asserting of things by god , any ground or reason , comprehensible in that relation , by that faculty of reason , or understanding in a man , for the beleeving of all things so revealed , and asserted ? if so , whether is not reason , able to comprehend and judge of all things required by god as necessary to be beleeved , so farre , as they are necessary to be beleeved , i. e , as farre as they are revealed by god ? or is any man bound to beleeve that , concerning which it is unpossible for him , or any man , to comprehend , or conceive any reason , why it should be a truth ; and consequently worthy or meet to be beleeved ? or what instance can be given in any particular branch of the object of faith , which ought to be beleeved , and yet is unpossible to be comprehended by reason , that it is a truth ? or whether ought any man ( at least , in sensu composito , ) to beleeve the deepest or highest mystery in religion , any further , or any otherwise , then as , and as farre , as he hath reason to judge it to be a truth ? what doth the ordinance mean , by publishing doctrines with obstinacy ? doth it mean a publishing of them , contrary to the will , pleasure , or prohibition of the assembly of divines , or of any particular man , whether they shew unto the assertors or publishers of such doctrines , any sufficient reason to convince them , or no ? or what kinde , or manner of reasons doth it intend those shall be , upon the tender whereof , either by the said assembly , or others , the publisher of the doctrines shall be judged obstinate , in case he shall still publish them ? or if , by publishing with obstinacy , be meant , a publishing contrary to the desires , or injunctions of men , without any sufficient reason given of their desires , or injunctions in this kinde ; then in what sense or notion doth the ordinance understand the word obstinacy ? or how many desires , prohibitions , or injunctions of men to the contrary , must precede and be administred , before a man shall according to meaning and intent of the ordinance , be said to publish a doctrine obstinately ? whereas the said ordinance maketh it an error , and the publishing of it punishable with imprisonment , to hold , that government by presbytery is unlawfull ; whether doth it mean , that government by presbytery which the parliament hath established , or that government by presbytery , which is so importunely desired and defended by the ministers ; because there is ( it seems ) a strong opposition , and vast difference between the one and the other , at least in some things ? or doth it intend , all , and all manner of government by presbytery , in what sense or notion soever ? what doth the paper mean , by blaspheming the name of god , or impugning the word of god , wittingly , and presumptuously , considering , that ( as mr. prynne informes us at a large ) the word , presumptuously admits of a strange variety of significations ? and since the sin of blaspheming the name of god ( with the other ) must be committed wittingly , and presumptuously , or contrary to admonition , before the ordinance ( so called ) takes hold of it , or maketh it punishable ; upon what testimony , evidence , or indication , one or more , shall the said sins be adjudged to be committed wittingly ? again , inasmuch as the said sins committed contrary to admonition , are made so severely punishable by the ordinance ; by whom is it intended that this admonition must be given , to bring the said sins under the dint and stroke of the ordinance ? whether by a magistrate only , or by a minister , and that either in his publique ministery , and in generall , or in private , and in personall addresse , or by any man , of what rank or quality soever ? god having appointed an expresse punishment ( by way of remedy and cure ) of blasphemy , in the new testament ( whom i have delivered up unto satan , saith paul , that they may learn not to b blaspheme , ) whether is it either reasonable or christian , to decline this punishment of so sovereign a nature for the healing of the sin , and to preferre a punishment mentioned onely in the old testament , which , though appointed by god for those times , yet hath no such evangelicall vertue or property ascribed unto it ? whether the ordinance , in ordering the delinquent or party accused , to renounce his error in the publique congregation of the parish-church whence the complaint comes ; intends onely this renunciation , when the complaint of the error preached or maintained , comes from , or out of such a publique congregation ? or in case it comes from , or out of another congregation , viz. which is not parochiall , or held in a parish-church , whether then doth the ordinance intend any such renunciation at all ? or in what congregation doth it intend it ? or whether is any complaint of an error published or maintained , admittable by the ordinance , but onely those , that come from some publique congregation of a parish-church ? in what sense desireth the paper to be understood , when it maketh an action punishable with imprisonment , to publish , that it is not lawfull to teach children to pray ? or whether doth it measure children , by age , or by understanding ? if by either , at what age , or under what line or scantling of understanding must they be , when it shall be punishable by the ordinance , for any man to affirme , that it is not lawfull to teach them to pray ? for doubtlesse it is not lawfull to teach children , or whosoever , to pray , unlesse we can reasonably judge them capable of our instruction in this kinde , and of learning how to pray . the scriptures not having cleerly determined or defined , what is erroneous , or hereticall , in many ( if not in the most ) of the particulars mentioned in the said ordinance ; who , or of what capacity or interest ought they to be , that are meet to be constituted judges or determiners of such cases and questions ? whether those , that already are profoundly ingaged on the one hand ? or those who as yet stand undeclared in either ? or who have any power or authority from god to appoint judges in such cases as they please ? whether did god ever give any power or authority to civill magistrates , or others , either in the old testament or the new , to make any controverted exposition of any clause or clauses in the law , controvertible between priest and priest , scribe and scribe , though published and declared , or any matter whatsoever of doubtfull disputation between grave , learned , pious , and conscientious men on both sides , punishable either with imprisonment or death ? and whether are not many of the points condemned by the ordinance , matters of this nature , controvertible ( i mean ) yea , and actually controverted between persons of equall worth , parts , learning , judgement , conscience , on both sides ? finis . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a85416e-400 a luk. 5. 56. b mat. 23. 8. 10. a 2 cor. 10. a 1 cor. 15. 58. a numb. 23. 21. jer. 18. 23. psal. 32. 1. &c. a truth triumphing over falshood , p. 109 ▪ b 1 tim. 1. 20 mysteries discovered, or, a mercuriall picture pointing out the way from babylon to the holy city for the good of all such as during that night of generall errour and apostasie, 2 thes. 2.3. revel. 3.10 have been so long misted with romes hobgoblin / by me paul best ... best, paul, 1590?-1657. this text is an enriched version of the tcp digital transcription a27527 of text r9886 in the english short title catalog (wing b2053). textual changes and metadata enrichments aim at making the text more computationally tractable, easier to read, and suitable for network-based collaborative curation by amateur and professional end users from many walks of life. the text has been tokenized and linguistically annotated with morphadorner. the annotation includes standard spellings that support the display of a text in a standardized format that preserves archaic forms ('loveth', 'seekest'). textual changes aim at restoring the text the author or stationer meant to publish. this text has not been fully proofread approx. 34 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 10 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. earlyprint project evanston,il, notre dame, in, st. louis, mo 2017 a27527 wing b2053 estc r9886 12643368 ocm 12643368 65064 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a27527) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 65064) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 974:6) mysteries discovered, or, a mercuriall picture pointing out the way from babylon to the holy city for the good of all such as during that night of generall errour and apostasie, 2 thes. 2.3. revel. 3.10 have been so long misted with romes hobgoblin / by me paul best ... best, paul, 1590?-1657. [2], 16, [1] p. s.n.], [london : 1647. reproduction of original in union theological seminary library, new york. defense against charges of socinianism and heresy. eng catholic church -controversial literature. heresies, christian -history -modern period, 1500 socinianism. a27527 r9886 (wing b2053). civilwar no mysteries discovered. or a mercuriall picture pointing out the way from babylon to the holy city, for the good of all such as during that ni best, paul 1647 6023 3 0 0 0 0 0 5 b the rate of 5 defects per 10,000 words puts this text in the b category of texts with fewer than 10 defects per 10,000 words. 2006-04 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2006-04 aptara keyed and coded from proquest page images 2006-05 andrew kuster sampled and proofread 2006-05 andrew kuster text and markup reviewed and edited 2006-09 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion mysteries discovered . or a mercuriall picture pointing out the way from babylon to the holy city , for the good of all such as during that night of generall errour and apostasie , 2 thes. 2. 3. revel. 3. 10. have been so long misled with romes hobgoblins . byme paul best prisoner in the gatehouse , westminster . printed in the yeer , 1647. mysteries discovered . chap. 1. being so extreamly necessitated after so manifold a manner , as first for the discharge of my conscience to god , and man ; that woe is mee if like a fearfull or idle servant i should bury that simple talent ; secondly , for the vindication of my reputation , if i should sitdowne in silence , i might seeme to be an accessory to the false accusation of those that blast we with the most odious infamy of blaphemy ( to deny the heavenly trinity , and jesus christ to be our blessed saviour , ) and the truth of the sacred canonicall scriptures ; lastly , by my long and excessive indurance , being that i cannot procure by the best friends i have , or of those that are appointed by the parliament , a petition to be presented to the honourable house of commons in parliament , to omit , that i cannot receive that small annuity due into me out of yorkshire , besides the false reports of injurious and ignorant persons , that i am not onely a most debosh'd , and desperate , but a distracted and mad man ; which i hope will be a sufficient plea to indifferent judges for the publishing of my bonds . and i appeale to my countrey and all good christians , whether or no by so long imprisonment , without any allowance , or having a determinate hearing , notwithstanding above 100 petitions printed and written to the house in generall , and the most eminent ( and concerning members ) i be not debarred of christian , but of the liberty of a subject contrary to law , ordinance of parliament : equity and humanity . so that without a speedy remedy of such common continuate , and unheard of cruelties our ensuing end is like to be worse then that which we suffered in our late civill wars . for it is not the continuance of our mock-fasts that will excuse , so long as our oppression continueth , isa. 58. 5 , 6. &c. yea , of such as conclude their fasts like that of january 28th . 1645 , at westminster , with a consultation how to murther an innocent , and that after a most cruell ( more then heathenish manner without any legall hearing ) much lesse laudable proceeding : ( being not allowed of the divines once to oppose , or yet to give an advised answer by writing ) lord , lay not this to their charge , being but an intent ( through ignorance ) which by gods providence , and the more gracious of the parlament was prevented . for my discovery of two grand mysteries , viz. that anomious or lawlesse mystery , 2 thess. 2. from the third to the thirteenth verse , as also revel. 17. 1 , 5. and its opposite , revel. 10. 7. the mystery of god , to wit , the father and creatour , 14. 17. for the better cleering of which misty mysteries , imagine some great king like some of the old persians , that would seldome or never be seen of the people , should send his sonne and heire fully acquainted with his will and pleasure , as his vicegerent plenipotentiary and prolocutor , whether the sonne being equivalent ( to use that terme ) in way of reference , john 14. 9. as 13. 20. 1 thess. 2. 13. be in himself coequall to the king , for that ( as ) john 5. 23. is an adverbe of like quality and not equality ; this we know that god the father is that invisible and indivisible king , 1 tim. 1. 17. 6. 15 , 16. john 1. 18. 5. 37. 1 john 4. 12. and that the inauguration or anointing of our blessed saviour was his baptisme , matth. 3. 17. 4. 17. acts 1. 22. 10 , 37. which is therefore termed the beginning , viz. of his gospel , iohn 1. 1. 1 iohn 1. 1. and that new creation , 2 cor. 5. 17. so that christ is to us both god and his word , as moses was to aaron , and aaron to him , exod. 4. 16. not that a word is christ , or christ life everlasting , but in a figurative sence after a scripture manner and meaning , according to the character of that beloved apostle , as erasmus observeth in his argument to his epistles , and hierome in his preface to his gospel sheweth that this apostle had a speciall intent to confute corinthus and the ebionites that affirmed christ to be but an ordinary man the sonne of joseph , &c. this apostle being the best commentator of his own meaning ; how christ is said to be that visible god , as isa. 40. 7. the word , iohn 3. 34. yea , and palpable word , 1 iohn 1. 1. life eternall , 5. 20. that lambe of god , iohn 1. 36. our passeover , 1 cor. 5. 7. the the rock 10. 4. david our king , ezek. 34. 23. hosea 3. 5. in them typicall predications , and the like , john 15. 1. matth. 17. 12. is . 1. 10. revel. 11. 8. by a metaphor , or metonymy , as perkins and alsted in their tracts of sacred tropes ; where alsted expounds that 1 cor. 15. 28. then shall the sonne also himself be subject , that is acknowledged to be . chap. 2. to come to the question whether christ ( after the doctrine of athanasius in his symbole ) be coequal with the father ? wee know what charge the apostle giveth , gal. 1. 10. against such setters up of new creeds without warranty , contrary to the first and great commandement set forth by proclamation of the great king , expresly testifying not only his unity , deut. 6. 4. psal. 83. 18. 86. 10. isa. 37. 16. &c. &c. &c. but also his supremacy and majority , psal. 13. 5 , 5. joh. 10. 29. 14. 28. ephes. 1. 17. 4. 6. luke 1. 32. john 17. 3. mark 13. 32. in exclusive and superlative expressions : of which see more , mat 20. 23. 27 , 46. iohn 20. 17. heb. 1. 9. 1 cor. 15. 28. the son being tenant in capite , to god the father , 1 cor. 11. 3. both for his words , works , and honours , iohn 3. 34. 5. 19. 2 pet. 1. 17. and therefore not coequall , for without contradiction the lesse is dignified by the greater . also god and christ are distinguished , iohn 14. 1. 1 thess. 3. 11. it being an observation of the learned erasmus , that where god is put absolutely the father is understood , as iohn 8. 54. to come to the offices of christ our mediatour , 1 tim. 2. 5. as a king , acts 17. 31. matth. 25. 34. as a priest , heb. 7. 24. of a prophet , deut , 18. 18. according to that most usuall epithite of his sanctification , the son of man , denominations , being for the most part taken from the more worthy , so john 8. 40. acts 2. 23. 13. 38. rom. 5. 15. 1 cor. 15. 21. col. 1 15. heb. 2. 16. 4. 15. 2. esdras 13. 25 , 32. which were to no purpose if the better part of his person were not man : there being but a graduall difference betwixt him and moses and us , heb. 3. 5 , 6. 4. 15. rom. 8. 17. there being not one such word , or any one text tending to that purpose in the whole holy scriptures , but many to the contrary : if we have respect to the scope , coherence , analogy , and the originalls , in discerning figurative forms and phrases according to the sence and meaning , which is the spirit and life of the two testaments , revel. 11. 11. whereas the letter is but the corpes common as the high-way throughout christendom . wherefore to speak definitively of the heavenly trinity . i beleeve the father to be god himself , as 1 thess. 3. 11. expressed by these adjuncts , the god of heaven , revel. 11. 13. the living god and father , joh. 6. 57. 69. and that the son is our messiah , 4. 26. whom god made lord and christ , acts 2. 36. prince and saviour , 5. 31. and that the holy spirit is the very power of god , luke 1. 35. 24 , 49. as 1 cor. 2. 11. or the father god essentially , the sonne vicentially , the holy spirit potentially , or the father god above all , ephes. 4. 6. the son of god with us , matth. 1. 23. the holy spirit god within us , 1 cor. 2. 16. but for the son to be coequall to the father , or the holy spirit a distinct coequall person i cannot finde ; and i beleeve that these three are one , or agree and conspire in the substance of the same truth to salvation . see 1 cor. 13. 13. 1 john 5. 8. of two trinities without coequalls , or yet persons . * and that of three coequall persons to be but the chappell of rome , for the church of christ , and that which keepeth the rest of the world in the popes pownd forth of his fold , both the jews that beleeve the old testament , the turk , and the great mogoll , &c. according to the dictate of common intelligence , not corrupt in this kind by a contrary habit , who cannot be brought to believe in a trinity implying polytheosie , or apotheosie , i. e. many gods or a man-god . so that the denying of a second deity or godhead is not destructive of faith , but onely removes it from false foundation to a true , that is god the father by christ jesus , 2 cor. 5. 19. 1 pet. 5. 10. for that john 5. 18. was a misprision of the jews proceeding from their ignorance , as may appeare , 10. 34 , 35 , 36 , 37. by our saviour his own comment . chap. 3. to answer objections of scriptures wrested by that third semipagan century , and a prepossessed posterity ; as in gen. 1. 26. let us make man , which in the next verse , also 5. 1 , 2. six severall times ; and matth. 19. 4. mark . 10. 6. is expounded in the singular number like that , gen. 11. 7 , 8. which were a contradiction , not an exposition , and that elohim bara , the gods made in the first verse , a solecisme and not an hebraisme , being a figurative consultation with his wisdom , or communication with the holy angels by way of approbation , as 1 kings 22. 19. iob 1. 6. or enallage of the plurall number for the singular , for the more honour , * as iob 18. 2. dan. 2. 36. iohn 3. 11. as kings write in the style of majesty after the manner of the holy tongue , see gen. 24. 9. of abraham his masters , iosh. 24. 19. hee is holy gods , is . 19. 4. 54. 5. &c ▪ but to infer three coequal persons from thence , the person of christ ( according to the flesh ) nor then existing is altogether inconsequent ; of the like sort seems that to be , eccles. 12. 1. if parents be not implyed . for them high and glorious epithites , isa. 9. 6. of a man-child that was to be born , it is granted , they are very great and excellent , yet well beseeming our blessed saviour , the founder and governour of his church ; of whose wonderfull birth and works wee have sufficient testimonies ; being of his fathers most intimate counsell , a mighty god ( not almighty god ) above all appellative gods , 1 cor. 8. 5. revel. 1. 5. the everlasting father , or of the age to come , ( as ierome ) eyther by way of regeneration , and that by , an excellency or equivalency ; as iohn 14. 9. of whose government although there were a beginning , heb. 10. 6. yet shall there be no enduring the term militant , or of mortality , 1 cor. 15. 26. so that it is not a small thing for christ to be so dignified by the father , unlesse hee be deified and equallized with the father , see gen. 41. 43. exod. 34. 14. 1 sam. 18. 23. ester 6. 9. as is . 49. 6. that jer. 23. 6. is but an argument from the name for some relation to god , as gen. 22. 14. exod. 17. 15. judg 6. 24. 2 sam. 6. 2. as it may appeare , 1 cor. 1. 30. 2 cor. 5. 21. unlesse wee would make iehovahim gods in the plurall , which were dissonant to that incommunicable name . that zach. 13. 7. speaketh of a sociall and not a coequall party , as iudg. 18. 20. acts 15. 28. god and christ concurring as sociall causes , to wit , primary efficient , and principall instrument in the businesse of salvation , iohn 6. 44. 14 6. 1 iohn 1. 3 , 6. chap. 4. that john 2. 29. is an enallage of the active for the passive , and is spoken declaratively , as 20. 23. levit. 13. and 14. &c. of the priest clensing the leper , like that , gen. 41. 13. by the divine power wherewith god endowed him , john 5. 2 , 9 there being so many testimonies to that purpose , acts 2. 24. 13. 31. rom. 4. 24. 1 cor. 15. 19. 2 cor. 4. 14. gal. 1. 1. ephes. 1. 20. col. 2. 12. 1 thess. 1. 1. with heb. 13 10. &c. that acts 20. 28 . in some translations is with that peculiar bloud , and not gods own bloud which is absurd . that rom. 9. and 5th . is spoken of christ , as he was an israelite by kinde , with the like clause to that , rom. 1. 25. 2 cor. 11. 31. that philip . 2. 6. should be tooke not upon him the equality of a god , lord or master , as posselius and pusor shew ; the apostle exhorting them by the example of christ , who being in a twofold form , as john 13. 13. gal. 4. 1. took upon him the form of a servant , wherefore god hath highly exalted him , as verse 9th . so that john 20. 28. is as much as lord and master , like elohim and adonim , for the truth of christs resurrection was that which thomas doubted , and not his deity . that john 8. 58. of christ his being before abraham , is to be understood in place and dignity , as verse 53. and not time ( as appeareth ) by circumstance 57 : like that 1. 15 , 30. of the baptist . that 1 john 5. 7 , 8. be the same in effect , like that , mar. 10. 8. one by conspiration , or conjugation , not individuation , as 1 cor. 6. 17. john 17. 21. acts 4. 32. heb. 2. 11. jer. 32. 39. otherways we should confound the trinity by such an unity . that john 17. 5. is a scripture prolepsis , in regard of divine anticipation ; as may be gathered from that 13. 31 , 33. luke 24. 26. according to revel. 13. 8. so jer. 1. 5. in regard of gods sore-knowledge and decree ; acts 2. 23. gal. 1. 15. ephes. 1. 4 , 3. 11. 2 tim. 1. 9. that 1 pet. 3. 19. is understood of noe as in the next verse , who by the same spirit ( 1 cor. 12. 4. ) preached whiles the ark was in preparing ; before christ began to preach , mat. 4. 17. that christ in the revelation is called alpha and omega , so is the angell , 22. 13. it being usuall to attribute that to the ministeriall cause , which is proper to the primary , gen. 22. 15 , 16 , 18. 17. exod. 3. 6. 7. judg. 2. 1. josh. 1. 11. 15. 2 esdras 7. 3. for that which some contend , the first chapter to the hebrews to be of the some , they are to observe the manifold transitions ; as first of the father , 2 , 3 , 4. of the son , 5 , 6 , 7. of the angels ; 8. to the sonne ; 9 , 10 , 11 , 12. to the father according to the 102 psalme in which not a word of the son ; 13 , 14 of the angels again ; so that in the sixth verse is understood of a secondary and not supreme worship like a shadow to the person it belongeth to , 1 chron. 29. 20. so that inference of the whole first chapter to the hebrews , is a fallacy from a part to the whole . that john 1. 3. all things were made by him , is not meant of this materiall world , as appeareth by the 10 verse , but according to the subject intended , the new creation , 2 cor. 5. 17. according to that , heb. 1. 2. which ought to be ages , and not worlds , see 2. 5. concerning spirituall and eternall things , as 2 cor. 4. 8. col. 1. 16. that christ is said to be our saviour , we may read the like of others respectively in their kinde , judg. 3. 9. 15. isa. 19. 20. that pro. 8. 11 , only argues that gods wisdome was alwayes present with him , and doth infer his holy spirit , ler. 10. 12. iob 33. 3. as wisd. 7. 25. to which actions are attributed , prov. 8. 1. by a prosopopie of a person , as psal. 85. 10 ▪ 11. that trifagie , isa. 6. 3. is a reduplication expressing the excesse of the action or affection , as 2 sam. 18. 33. prov. 31. 2. deut. 13. 14. wherefore let us labour to reconcile scripture by scripture , and by no means admit of an absurd sense . chap. 5. that which is objected that christ were not a sufficient satisfaction if he were not equall to the father ; is dissonant from the condition of remunerative justice consisting in a geometricall proportion of acceptance by the partie offended , the party offended being sinfull man , besides that inferreth imminution to christ his most pretious blood , mat. 26. 28. 1 tim. 2. 6. heb. 10. 29. 1 pet. 1. 19. revel. 12. 11. iohn 15. 3. for a corollary i will conclude with that , exod. 34. 14. because the lord whose name is zealous , is a zealous god , and will not give his glory to another . as isa. 48. 11. having no equall in heaven , as psal. 89. 6. isa. 48. 11. for to add or substract to and from equals , maketh them unequall , equals agreeing in the same common measure , as revel. 21. 16. so that if christ be equall to the father , as touching his godhead he is so much more by the addition of his manhood , which i now doe more then suspect to be that 2 thes. 2. 4. of that catholike professor in a romish sense , according to the originall at thessalonia , hist. tripart . 9. 7. and if this , that , and another person , be equally god , almighty , eternall , &c. ( three ones make three , as well in the greatest persons as least parts , also if the son be from the father , and the holy spirit from both by a personall generation and procession , there must needs follow a hysteren proteron in the deity , to say that from god to naturals is inconsequent , it is to be noted that for particular respects , god having a voluntary agent , and that infinite , doth whatsoever he pleaseth , even beyond ordinary means , yet in generall respects , there is good consequence to and from god , with naturals observing the distance that is due to his majesty , as malac. 1. 6. mat. 5. 48. 7. 11. wherefore to make christ coequall to his father , is to mak another or a false christ ▪ or ( to deal plainly with friends ) an idoll christ , or two gods ( as much as in us lyeth ) the great indignity to his imparalleld father , which the indignation of his most pious son , in wounding the father through his sides , and i feare that which we now , and others hereafter shall suffer for , as revel. 6. 16 , 17. for as it is high treason to equallize even the kings sonne , with the king himselfe , so it is high blasphemy to equallize the first borne of every creature , col. 1. 15. with the creator himselfe , rom. 1. 25. and i suppose that blasphemy of the beast , with seven heads and ten hornes , revel. 13. 1 , 3 , 5 , &c. and that mystery of iniquity written in the forehead of the g. whore , 17. 5. diametrally opposite to that of the fathers name , written in the forehead of the 144000 , 14 , 1 , 7 , 7 , 3 , &c. as for that common evasion , applyed to christ as he is god , and as he is man , it is contrary both to reason and scripture , to limitate by so great a disparity , as hos. 11. 9. for i am god and not man , isa. 31. 3. 40. 17. implying contradiction , as he is , and as he is not , and is but a presumptuous begging of that which is in question , and if it be illogicall to limitate by a superiour , or subordinate ( as the pope errs , not as he is pope , but as he is man ) it is much more absurd to limitate by a disparate , and that of infinite disparity , to omit that luke 2. 40. the grace of god was with him , and act. 10. 38. for god was with him , which were an idle tautalogie if he were god , onely he is called god by a metaphor , as gabriell a man , dan. 9. 21. and judas a devill , iohn 6. 70. chap. 6. thus we may perceive how by iniquity of time the reall truth of god hath been trodden under foot by a verball kinde of divinity , introduced by the semipagan christians of the third century in the western church , immediately upon the ceasing of the heathenish emperours , who for their open hostility were likened to a lyon , 2 tim. 4. 17. as their successors to a dragon , for their serpentine subtilties , continuing 1260 years , begun by the first nicen councill about 328 , and made catholike by the imperiall decree at thessalonica , 342 , hist. tripart . 9. 7. but that prescription is no plea against god , and god be thanked , the time of this generall apostasie is expired , the mystery discovered , and the unity of god , zach. 14. 9. come upon the stage , covenant . the second particular , that i cannot forbeate but to cry out with the people , it is fallen , it is fallen , babylon the great , whiles i perceive that first resurrection from antichristian errour , as napier , and the calling of the jews comming so fast on , rom. 11. 15 , &c. to make one sheepfold , joh. 10. 16. wherefore to make the g. whore stigmaticall , first , by her brand in the forehead , reveal . 17. 5. by that which is in the very frontispiece of all the catholiks confessions concerning the trinity . secondly , by prescription ( or marke in her hand ) thereunto revel. 13. 16. thirdly , by her seat and place notorious , by seven hils , and ten kingdoms , 17. 9. fourthly , by that so well known name latemos , 13. 18. as moulin in his accomplishment of prophecies . fifthly , by her persecution of the saints , 12 , 13 , 7 , 17. 6. dan. 17. 11. sixtly , by a heathenish polytheosie of many gods , and apotheosie of a man-god . seventhly , by her tricotomy of the three catholike professions , revel. 16. 19. holding with the whore in tail generall . chap. 7. howsoever constantine by gods providence was ordained for ceasing the heathenish persecutions , yet had he no commission for setting up a new religion of redivived ethnicisme , as mede , revel. 11. 3. in imitation of the three sons of saturne , their three major gods ; the deifying of hercules , augustus , &c. their heroes ; in forcing some more difficult and figurative texts to confirme their inventions ; whereas that which is most plain , common and commanded is the measure of that which is more difficult and obscure ; for which cause they are termed gentiles in the revelation ; and the true beleevers jews . to passe by the reports of zosimus concerning the conversion of constantine ; we may observe by those , iudges 8. 27. 2 sam. 17. 23. 1 kings 1. 5. 12. 28. ier. 44. 17. how kings , captains , and counsellores , ( albeit renowmed ) are not presidents for religion more the meaner men , as 1 cor. 1. 27. 2 , 6. so that such servile cattell and men-admirers for advantage , iude 10. are the very bain of all ingenuity and christianity . chap. 8. to come to the first nicen council ( the load-star of the three following ) ; besides that humane councils are but externall and accidentall means of truth ; it was falsified by sozimus the civilian concerning the point of primacy ; and is generally condemned for there-baptization of the cataphrygians ; their three and ten yeares penance ; that men should pray rather standing then kneeling ; and is reproved by hierome , for equallizing the history of iudith with the holy canon , besides that divers of the best learned of them dissented from the rest and major part , according to that exod. 23. 2. also calvine could not endure that very god of very god in their creed ; for god being a most pure act , a begotten god ( to speak properly ) is a most grosse contradiction : and that begotten not made , contrary to that , rom. 1. 3. gal. 4. 4. generation being proper to living and mortall creatures for continuance of their kind ; thus by going forth of mens buildings or systemes , as 2 esdras 10. 54. transported by some good angell into the wildernesse , as revel. 17. 3. i got a glympse not onely of the g. whore , but of the spouse of christ , 12. 6. 21. 9. which things although they may seeme strange and new , the reason resides in the abolishing of an old errour , see zech. 14. 7. &c. isa. 30. 26. 2 esdras 5. 4 , 6. 22. for mysteries they are either of things more hard to be understood as parables not expounded , matth. 13. 11. prophesies not fulfilled , ephes 3. 3 , 4. godlinesse to a sensuall worldly and wicked man , 1 cor. 2. 14. or that cannot be understood , as meerlyes in believing things that are not , especially expresse contradictions concerning the unity and supremacy of god , as 2 thess. 2. 11. revel. 22. 15. for to multiply the deity , or detract from its unity is blasphemy , as all the doctors define . chap. 9. but me thinks i smell a fox or rather a wolfe , in the fable , and unlesse the lord put to his helping hand of the magistrate , for the manacling of satan in that persecuting power , revel. 20. 2. there is little hope either for the liberty of the subject , or law of god amongst us , psal. 119. 126. so this wo will not depart untill it rest in a poor and terrified remnant , as revel. 11. 13. and i cannot understand what detriment could redound either to church or common wealth by the toleration of religious , not antipoliticall , but rather benefit , as we see by example in holland and poland . chap. 10. for that which was objected concerning arrius his formidable end , it is rather an argument of his equivocall perjury , &c. hist. tripart , 3. 10. like ananias and saphira , act. 5. or judas 1. 18. then of the cause : as for that which is commonly answered , that god is not divided but distingoished into three equall persons , is as much as if they had not a reall , but only a relative or rationall being or existence , as if essence and existence differed in god , or in any thing whose kind consists in one individuall : for hypostaticall union and communion of properties , they are but reall contradictions , and the froglike croaking of the dragon , the beast and false prophet , revel. 16. 13. by vertue of a hocus pocus and a babylonian mouth , thus after the precipice of this romish jezabel , and the death of her two daughters , homousia and symousia like aholah , and aholibah , ezech. 23. i perceive how the western sun declineth to its period and setting : and as for that third reformation which succeeded the calvinian upon the turkish territories more remote from the romish tyranny , especially , about anno 1560 , in transilvania , lituania , livonia , and polonia , wee cannot expect to be compleat before the revolution to the east ( where it first began ) revel. 7. 9 , 9. 14 , 16. 12. ( there being 12 bishops successively at antioch , unto the yeer 400 , * antioch being the metropolis of syria , ( famous for that , acts 11. 6 ; and the ten persecutions , bounded on the east by euphrates . chap. 11. as for presumption , to professe that which god commands , yea , that first and great commandement i aver it to be none , deut. 18 , 20. and the son of syrach 3. 23. 5. 10. be it opposed by never so many , or great ; numb. 14. 44. 16. 2. or never so glorious titles of the orthodox nicene fathers , and the pope his holinesse , for that iob 32. 22. therefore , howsoever some object that it is damnable to beleeve no more then what we can comprehend , as iob 11. 7. yet let them consider that in the precepts necessary to salvation , we are to beleeve what we may apprehend according to our best understanding , mark 12. 33. ier. 9. 24. this i say to the shame of such as shut their eyes against the most illustrious and authenticall testimonies of all or the most memorable and approved times , places , and persons ; hardly to be brought that ever they had greater grand fathers , &c. not allowing any more of authentick and classick testimonies , then the most vain and improbable traditions amongst men ; nor to beleeve the histories of moses , christ , &c. because they had not the happy houre of st. thomas , or others to be seeing , and sensible witnesses , as iohn 20. 27. 1 iohn 1. 1. the lord god of his most gracious goodnesse grant , that the more able and ingenuous , like true and trusty souldiers of jesus christ , whose eyes the god of this world hath not blinded ; would do their utmost endevour to reduce the rest from that long captivity of our spirituall babylon , under that man of sin ; and that god would prosper their endevours that are studious of the sincere truth ; and strive for the same to death , as the son of syrach , 4. 28 ; and defend justice for their life , to the exaltation of their nation , as prov. 14. 34 ; that releeve the oppressed , &c. as isa. 1. 7 ; that so wee may enjoy the good things of the land . amen . to the honourable house of commons at westminster . the humble petition of paul best prisoner in the gatehouse . humbly sheweth , that whereas your petitioner hath been a close prisoner ever since the fourteenth of february 1644 , onely for this his premised reasons or opinion committed to a minister ( a supposed friend ) for his judgment and advice onely ; having at all times shewed himself a liege loving and active subject to the utmost of his ability : in these and whatsoever else humbly submitting himself to your most serene and able judgments . your honours would be graciously pleased in commiseration of his exceeding distressed estate , with what sufferings hee hath already endured , to grant him his release or judgment , according to the worth and wisdome of this honourable and independant court , and your petitioner shall pray , &c. notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a27527e-130 * purchas pilgrimage . covert's travels . * buxtorsii thesaur . 2. 10. drusius uno elohim . sixtinus amama gram. annot. * more's chronoll . magdeburgs hist. mr. anthony wotton's defence against mr. george walker's charge, accusing him of socinian heresie and blasphemie written by him in his life-time, and given in at an hearing by mr. walker procured ; and now published out of his own papers by samuel wotton his sonne ; together with a preface and postcript, briefly relating the occasion and issue thereof, by thomas gataker ... wotton, anthony, 1561?-1626. 1641 approx. 87 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 33 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2007-01 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a67122 wing w3643 estc r39190 18253003 ocm 18253003 107259 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a67122) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 107259) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 1138:22) mr. anthony wotton's defence against mr. george walker's charge, accusing him of socinian heresie and blasphemie written by him in his life-time, and given in at an hearing by mr. walker procured ; and now published out of his own papers by samuel wotton his sonne ; together with a preface and postcript, briefly relating the occasion and issue thereof, by thomas gataker ... wotton, anthony, 1561?-1626. wotton, samuel. gataker, thomas, 1574-1654. [2], 62 p. printed by roger daniel ..., cambridge (england) : 1641. imperfect: cropped and tightly bound. reproduction of original in the union theological seminary library includes bibliographic references. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. 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range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng walker, george, 1581?-1651. -socinianisme in the fundamentall point of justification. jesus christ -divinity. socinianism. heresies, christian -england. 2005-10 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2006-01 spi global keyed and coded from proquest page images 2006-04 emma (leeson) huber sampled and proofread 2006-04 emma (leeson) huber text and markup reviewed and edited 2006-09 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion mr. anthony wotton's defence against mr. george walker's charge , accusing him of socinian heresie and blasphemie : written by him in his life-time , and given in at an hearing by m r walker procured ; and now published out of his own papers by samuel wotton his sonne . together with a preface and postscript , briefly relating the occasion and issue thereof , by thomas gataker , an eye and eare-witnesse of either . hieronym . adv . errores joan. hierosol . nolo in suspicione haereseωs quenquam esse patientem . cambridge , printed by roger daniel , printer to the university . anno dom. 1641. the preface . it hath ever been and is generally held a breach , not of charity alone , but even of * piety too , to insult over and trample upon persons deceased : which if in any sort of men doth well deserve such a censure , surely among christian men especially it may justly be so deemed for any in that manner to deal with their christian brethren , such as have lived and died in the profession of the same common faith in christ , and in the fellowship of the same church of god with themselves . not that it is presumed an act unwarrantable or uncharitable to refute any errour that such have broched while they lived , or to remove any scruple that thereby may remain in the minds of those that yet survive : for * a fond thing were it , not to offer to pull out the shaft sticking yet in the body , or not to seek to close up the wound by it made in the flesh , because the party were gone and had withdrawn himself who had shot the one , and thereby caused the other . free it is at all times to defend necessary truths , whether the authours and patrons of them survive yet or be deceased : but to insult and triumph over any , when they are now dead and departed from us , as if we had convinced and conquered them while they were yet alive with us , when as indeed we have done nothing lesse ; yea , to renew aspersions and imputations of the most heinous and horrible guilt that can be against them long after their decease , when we suppose the memory of things so long before past and gone may be worn out with the most , and buried with the greater number of those that were privy to what was then done , recharging them in most vehement & virulent manner with those crimes which the parties then cleared themselves of , nor were we then able to make any good proof of against them , may deservedly be censured ( if i be not much mistaken ) to argue no small defect , not of piety and charity alone , but even of humanity , ( not to adde , of common honesty it self ) in those that so do . now this whether m r george walker have made himself guilty of or no , in his treatise lately published under the title of socinianisme in the fundamentall point of justification discovered and confuted , concerning m r anthony wotton , a man , by m r walkers own confession , of speciall note for his piety , life and learning , while he lived , which both the university of cambridge , and the city of london are able also to give ample testimony unto ; i say nothing my self , but leave it to be tried and judged by the sequele , wherein i shall be only a relatour of that that my self was for the most part either an eye or an ear-witnesse of , leaving m r wotton to plead his own cause , and m r walker's own dayes-men by their award under their own hands either to cast or to clear him . the relation . not to hold my reader therefore long in the entry ere i come to the relation : m r walker in a letter directed to m r wotton ( whom he had before bitterly inveighed against both in private and publick ) dated may the second , 1614. yet to be seen under his own hand , chargeth him ( for you shall have it precisely in his own words ) on this wise , the errours and opinions which you maintain , and wherewith you have infected divers , are of all that ever were sown by the enemy of god and man amongst christian people the most pestilent and dangerous , being nothing else but the heresies of servetus and socinus those most damnable and cursed hereticks , the greatest monsters that ever were born within the borders of christ his church . and after this charge in such hideous terms conceived , in the same letter he subjoyneth this peremptory challenge , meet me as a christian before eight learned and godly ministers chosen equally by both , that they may be witnesses betwixt you and me , and that it may be seen whether i do justly charge you with heresie and blasphemy or no , and whether your writings do not shew you to be a socinian . upon receit of this letter containing much other lavish and menacing language , m r wotton repaired to the right reverend , the then bishop of london , d r king their diocesan , acquainted him with the businesse , and requested his lordship to convent m r walker and himself , and to heare them both together ; not refusing , if m r walker could make his charge good against him , to undergo such censure and penalty as he should be deemed thereby to have justly deserved ; otherwise requiring due satisfaction by his lordships means from him who had wronged him in such manner . but the bishop perswaded m r wotton rather , according to m r walkers own proposition , to referre the matter to such a number of their brethren the ministers as were by him mentioned , and so to make a private end of the businesse . whereunto m r wotton returned this answer , that howsoever he desired rather that his lordship would be pleased to have the hearing of it himself , yet since that he seemed to like better of the other course by m r walker propounded , he was well content to condescend thereunto , so be that his lordship would be pleased to assigne one of his chaplains then present to be one of the foure to be nominated by him , though a stranger to him ; for that he cared not who they were , acquaintance or strangers , so they be godly and learned , that should heare and judge his cause . and the bishop accordingly promised that it should so be , assigning m r henry mason , a grave and reverend divine , being then and there present , to undertake that office with such others as were to be adjoyned unto him in the same : who yet surviving in the city is able to testifie of this passage with the bishop , whether it were according to this relation or no. for i have this onely from m r wotton's own report ( though nothing doubtfull of the truth of it ) who meeting me accidentally in pauls church as he came from the bishop , having not seen him long before , shewed me m r walker's letter , told me what speech he had had thereupon with the bishop , and what by the bishops perswasion he had yielded unto ; withall requesting me to be one of those that were on his part to be named for the discussing and deciding of this difference . which motion of his albeit i desired to wave , wishing him rather to make choise of some other , both nearer at hand , and of better abilities , the city affoording such not a few ; yet at his instant request , the rather pressing it upon me , because he had , as he said , so happily light upon me unexpected , and notwithstanding that he knew before my judgement in some particulars to differ from his , having both by word of mouth , and in writing also sometime at his own request manifested to him as much , yet making no reckoning thereof , i was at length induced to condescend thereunto . the persons nominated by m r walker were m r stocke , m r downame , m r gouge , and m r westfield ; whereof three is yet living , m r stock onely is deceased . those that were nominated by m r wotton ( because m r mason by occasion of an extraordinary employment by his majestie suddenly enjoyned , of surveying a book of d r john whites ready to be published , could not attend the businesse , another therefore being substituted in his stead ) were these , m r balmford , m r randall , m r hicks , chaplain to the earl of excester , and my self ; who alone ( i suppose ) of all the foure now survive , and am the rather induced to affoord this christian office to so worthy * a deceased friend . it was thought not so fit to meet in a private house ( which at first we had done , but found therein some inconvenience ) as in some church that stood out of the way of ordinary concourse . by occasion hereof d r baylie , afterward bishop of banghor , came in as one of us , and made up a ninth , because we desired to make use of his church . there accordingly we met , and some time being spent , or , if you will , wasted , rather in loose invectives then in orderly disputes , i made bold to propound a course to the rest of the company ( because time was precious , and my self came farthest ) for the better expediting of the businesse undertaken by us ; which was also generally approved of by the rest , and by both parties agreed unto . the proposition was this , that m r walker should in a parallel consisting of two columns set down socinus his hereticall and blasphemous errours and positions on the one side , and m r wottons assertions , wherein he charged him to concurre with socinus , over against them on the other side : upon view whereof it might the sooner appear how the one suited with the other . m r walker undertook so to do ; and m r wotton required onely to have m r walker's said writing delivered unto him some two or three dayes before the set time of our next meeting , that he might against that day prepare a brief answer thereunto , in writing then to be exhibited . the motion was on either side deemed equall ; nor did m r walker himself mislike it . now by this means , god in his providence so disposing it ( which at the present in likelihood was little dreamed of ) m r wotton , as * abel , though deceased , is inabled to speak in his own defence , and to plead now his own cause as well as then he did . m r walkers parallel , and therein his evidence produced for the proof of his charge above mentioned , you shall have in his own words as it was then given in ; those pieces of it onely that were conceived in latine being faithfully translated word for word , as near as could be , into english , because in english m r walker's book with the renewed charge is abroad . m r walker 's evidence . that it may plainly appear that socinus , servetus , ostorodius , gittichius , arminius and m r wotton do in the doctrine of justification hold one and the same opinion in all points , i shew by the parts and heads of their doctrine set down in order , and by their own sayings and testimonies paralleled and set one by another . the first errour of socinus and his followers is , that justification is contained onely in remission of sinnes , without imputation of christ his righteousnesse . socinus . his own words . 1 for ( as oft hath been said by us ) in remission of sinnes , which is the same w th not-imputation of sins , is our righteousnesse contained : and therefore with paul , not to impute sinnes , and to impute righteousnesse , or to account righteous are the same . and with this imputation ( as we have said ) the imputation of anothers righteousnesse hath no commerce . treatise of christ the saviour . part. 4. chap. 4. pag. 463. column . 2. near the end . 2 there is no one syllable extant in holy writ of christs righteousnesse to be imputed unto us , chap. the same , pag. 462. 3 it is the same with paul , to have sinnes covered , to have iniquities remitted , to have sinne not imputed , that it is , to have righteousnesse imputed without works . and this manifestly declareth , that there is no cause why we should suspect mention to be made of anothers righteousnesse , since we reade that faith was imputed unto abraham for righteousnesse , or unto righteousnesse , pag. the same . col . 2. 4 god delivered the lord jesus unto death , that by him rising from the dead we might hope to obtain justification , that is , absolution from our sins , pag. 463. col . 2. 5 that is first to be considered , that this imputation can in no wise be upheld , in the same place . wotton . 1 albeit with piscator i willingly acknowledge that the justification of a sinner is wholly comprehended in the alone pardon of sins ; yet i find no where in holy writ that there is need of the imputation of christs passive obedience unto the attaining of it , theses in latine . 2. that christs obedience is imputed by god to the justification of a sinner , doth not appear by any testimonie of scripture , or by any argument , or by any type or ceremonie in the law , or by any signification in the sacraments of the gospel , in the same , arg . 1. 3 no necessary use or end can be assigned of the imputation of the obedience of christ to the justification of a sinner , in the same , arg . 4. 4 i renounce the law , both in whole and in part , performed by our selves , or any other in our stead , to the justifying of us in the sight of god. 5 i assent to piscator , that justification consisteth wholly in remission of sinnes . for so doth the apostle , rom. 3. & 4. propound and dispute the question , without any mention or inckling of christs righteousnesse . these are his words in a little english pamphlet , first published briefly , and secondly by him enlarged . the second point or errour is , that faith is a condition appointed by god to be performed on our parts for obtaining of justification . socinus . 1 the promise was made to abraham not without a secret condition , to wit , that he should walk before god and be perfect , that is , he should not refuse to obey him . now to walk before god , and to obey him , are included in faith , and cannot be without it ; yea they flow from it alone , as he himself teacheth after in the same chapter . 2 the confidence saith he ( which he had before affirmed to be faith ) is the cause of our obedience : therefore a man believeth , because he trusteth . and it is perfected by obedience : because no man is truly said to have trusted , before he do indeed obey , part. 4. chap. 11. pag. 555 , 556. and a little after , 3 whereby that appeareth to be most true , which we even now strove to prove , that that faith , which of it self so far as concerneth what is in us doth justifie us , is confidence in christ , 559. wotton . 1 the condition to be performed on our part to justification , is to believe , sermon 8. upon john , pag. 352. 2 the act of faith or believing bringeth justification and adoption onely and merely by the place and office which the lord of his own mercie hath assigned it , to be the condition required on our parts for the atchieving of these favours and honours , serm. 9. pag. 452. the third errour is , that faith doth not justifie us , as it apprehendeth christ and his righteousnesse , but by it self , in a proper not metonymicall sense . socinus . 1 we are justified by faith in christ , so farre forth as we trust in christ , part. 4. chap. 11 pag. 558. col . 2. 2 the faith of christ doth justifie us by it self , or ( to speak more rightly ) god doth justifie us by himself , pag. 559. col . 1. wotton . 1 faith in that place ( to wit , rom. 4.5 . ) is to be taken properly unlesse peradventure it be used for to believe or to trust . for that which is by some alledged of a trope , whereby they suppose that christs obedience apprehended by faith is signified , i doubt how i may grant . and a little after , 2 what trope should there lie hid , i see not . 3 also serm. 9. on john. abraham believed god ; and it , that is , his believing , was counted to him for righteousnesse , pag. 453. 4 also in his purgation , i think that faith in christ , without a trope , in proper speech is imputed to all believers for righteousnesse . the fourth errour is , that for faith properly taken , and dignified and made worthy , not of it self , but in gods acceptation and of his mercie , a man is justified , and may lay claim ( as it were ) to remission of sinnes . socinus . 1 for faith we are deemed perfectly just . and a little after , 2 abraham believed god ; and for that cause he was accounted of him for righteous , part. 4. chap. 4. pag. 462. col . 2. 3 for one act of faith was abraham righteous , servetus , book 2. of law and gospel , as calvine reciteth in his refutation of servetus , pag. 903. wotton . 1 he that believeth is accounted by god , to all purposes concerning eternall life , to have done as much according to the covenant of the gospel , as he should have been accounted to have done , according to the covenant of the law , if he had perfectly fulfilled it , in his first english paper . the fifth errour is , that faith is no firm perswasion , by which men apprehend and lay hold upon christ and his righteousnesse , and apply them to themselves , as of right belonging to us by our spirituall union : but that it is a trust and confidence in christ for salvation joyned with obedience to christs precepts : or ( to speak plainly ) a confidence that christ , having obtained by his obedience the kingdome and all power , will certainly give us salvation , if we relie on him , and obey his counsels . socinus . 1 faith in christ , which maketh us righteous before god , is nothing else but to trust in christ , part. 4. chap. 11. in the beginning : and in the same , page 560. col . 2. 2 to believe in christ , is nothing else but to trust in christ , to cleave to christ , and from the heart to embrace his doctrine as heavenly and healthsome . and a little before , 3 this your apprehension of christ , is a mere humane device , and a most empty dream . and towards the end of the chapter . 4 he calleth our perswasion of righteousnesse , already obtained and gotten by christ , vain . wotton . 1 as for that perswasion , wherein some would have faith to consist , it followeth him that is justified , not goeth before , as faith must needs do , ser. on john , p. 392. also p. 338. and 448. 2 to believe in christ is to trust in christ , and to rest on him , to have his heart settled , and to relie wholly and onely on him . and what this trust is , he describeth more particularly , pag. 390. where he saith , 3 it is such a faith , as maketh us rest upon god for the performance of his promise . the sixth errour is , that christs whole obedience and righteousnesse serve , first and immediately for himself , to bring him into favour and autoritie with god : and secondly onely for us : not that it might be communicated to us in him , to make us truly and formally righteous , but onely that it might serve for our use in that it maketh him gracious with god , and so both able to obtain that faith might be accepted for righteousnesse , and we for it ; and also powerfull to give those blessings which are promised to those that trust in him . socinus . 1 as adams offense made him and all mankind procreated by him guiltie of death , so christs righteousnesse and obedience procured life eternall to christ himself . whereby it cometh to passe , that so many as shall by procreated by him become partakers of the same life , part. 4. chap. 6. and , 2. part . 2. chap. 8. p. 178. col . 2. and , 3. part . 3. chap. 3. in the end . wotton . in a paper written in latine . 1 all the good will wherewith god embraceth us proceedeth from that grace , that christ is in with god. now that is in these things for the most part contained , that he is by nature the son of god , that he is perfectly holy , that he hath performed obedience exact in all respects , both in fulfilling the law , & in performing all things belonging to the office of a mediatour : from whence it followeth , that those that believe are for christs righteousnes gracious with god. and in the same paper , 2 if question be concerning the formall cause of justification , i exclude from it either obedience of christ . if of the efficient by way of merit , i maintain it to depend upon both . the seventh errour is , that christ did not satisfie the justice of god for us , in such sort , that we may be said ( when we truly believe ) to have satisfied the justice of god and his wrath in him : and that god of his mercie without christs satisfaction made ours , doth pardon our sinnes and justifie and redeem us . socinus . 1 reade over all the places of the new testament , in which mention is made of redemption , and you shall find none in which there is evident mention of the paiment of any true price , or of satisfaction , part. 2. chap. 1. pag. 109. col . 2. and a little after , 2 as we are said to be sold under sinne , that is , enslaved to it , without any true price intervening ; so are we said to be redeemed from the same by christ , that is , freed , though no price hath truly and properly intervened . 3 likewise part. 1. chap. 7. in the end , he denieth satisfaction . 4 also chap. 4. pag. 84. col . 2. that there is no need of any satisfaction , when the offense is not imputed to him that hath offended by the party against whom he hath offended , or the debt is by the creditour remitted . wotton . in the paper written in latine . 1 neither ( that i speak freely what i truly think ) can i understand what place is left for pardon , if by payment of pains in christ we be deemed to have satisfied the wrath of god , and to have born the punishment due to our sinnes : for pardon and punishment are contraries . 2 also in his english paper enlarged , the same words are rehearsed , and the same reason given , even , because pardon and punishment are contraries . thus have you the evidence by m r walker then given in for the justifying of that his charge : which , for the effect and substance of it , is in as broad and odious terms in print now again renewed , some six and twenty years after the cause according to his own request heard , and some fourteen years after m r wotton's decease . may it please you now to heare m r wotton's answer in his own defense , as it was in writing by him then exhibited . mr. wotton's defence . a. w. in the doctrine of justification holdeth one and the same opinion in all points with socinus : and therefore is justly charged by g. w. to be guilty of heresie and blasphemy . that he doth hold the same in all points , is shewed by these seven errours following : the first errour of socinus and his followers is , that justification is contained onely in remission of sinnes , without imputation of christs righteousnesse . 1. if you mean without imputation of christs righteousnesse as the meritorious cause of justification , i grant the proposition to be hereticall and blasphemous . and so doth socinus deny imputation . i. christ ( saith he ) did not satisfie for our sinnes : treatise of christ the saviour , part 1. chap. 1. pag. 1. part 2. chap. 17. pag. 245. col . 1. part 3. pag. 306. beginning , and chap. 1. pag. 307. col . 1. ii. he could not satisfie , part 2. chap. 24. pag. 288. col . 2. part . 3. in argum . chap. 6 : pag. 406. iii. he did not pacifie god , part 2. chap. 2. pag. 120. col . 1. part 1. chap. 7. pag. 76. col . 2. iv. there was no need of any satisfaction to be made , part 1. chap. 1. pag. 1. v. god would not that any satisfaction should be made , part 3. chap. 2. pag. 317. col . 2. and pag. 324. col . 1. but i do not so deny imputation of christs righteousnesse : for i acknowledge it to be the meritorious cause of our justification , and that for it we are accepted of god as fully as if we had fulfilled the law perfectly , treatise of the justification of a sinner , in explication of the definition of reconciliation , and in the definition of adoption , and in the conclusion . 2. if you mean without imputation of christs righteousnesse , as the formall cause whereby we are made formally righteous , by having fulfilled the law , and satisfied the justice of god in christ , i say the proposition is neither hereticall nor blasphemous . and that i must be so understood , my writings shew . for , first , i professe that i speak of the formall cause of justification , treat . of justific . of a sinner , in the state of the question , in answer to argum. for position 1. and to arg. 1. for position 3. and in the conclusion . secondly , i expresse that manner of formally righteous , treat . of justific . of a sinner : where i expound what it is to impute to a sinner christs obedience ; and of justification , where i deliver mine own opinion , sect. 2. which is the very place that m r walker alledgeth against me out of the english . therefore i agree not with socinus in this first errour , but am unjustly charged to be guilty of heresie and blasphemy for holding one and the same opinion with him in all points in the doctrine of justification . the second errour is , that faith is a condition appointed by god to be performed on our parts for obtaining justification . 1. socinus defineth believing on christ to be nothing else then to yield ones self obedient to god , according to the rule and prescript of christ , and by so doing to expect from christ himself the crown of life eternall , treat . of christ the saviour , part 3. chap. 2. pag. 321. col . 1. 2. he maketh faith to be indeed ( as m r walker saith ) a confidence in christ , but he addeth immediately ( which m r walker leaveth it ) that is , an obedience to christs precepts , with a firm hope of obtaining those things which he hath promised to those that obey him , part 4. chap. 11. pag. 559. col . 1. and in the same page he laboureth to prove , that faith doth signifie obedience to christs commandments , sect. hinc factum est . 3. he maketh repentance and amendment of life the means to obtain that forgivenesse of sinnes which christ hath brought , part 3. chap. 2. pag. 321. col . 1. 4. and whereas faith is added to repentance , act. 20.21 . it is not ( saith he ) because faith in christ is required unto the obtaining of remission of sinnes , as working somewhat more in us besides repentance it self , that doth hereunto appertain ; but because this repentance cometh not but by faith in christ . in the same columne , sect. manifestum . 5. he saith , that whereas john sent the people to christ , and warned them to believe in him ; it was not as if they should find any other thing besides repentance in christ that was requisite unto the obtaining of pardon from god , but , first , that they might be exactly taught of christ what that repentance ought to be . besides , that from christ they might understand that that was wholly so indeed , which he delivered onely as a messenger . lastly , that they might not be washed with water onely , but have the holy ghost poured upon them , part 3. pag. 320. col . 1. but i never writ , spake , nor conceived so of faith to the obtaining of justification . nay , it is evident that i make faith not a believing of that which christ taught , and an assurance of obtaining that he promised upon our repentance and obedience ( which is socinus his confidence , part 4. chap. 11 pag. 559. col . 1. ) but a resting and relying upon christ , a trusting to christ for salvation , serm. 6. upon john , pag. 286. and serm. 8. pag. 386 , 389 , 398. yea a means , and , if you will , an instrument to apprehend and receive christ to our justification , treat . of justific . in explicat . of the definition of reconcil . so that , for ought i hold of faith , christs righteousnesse may be even the formall cause of our justification . therefore i agree not with socinus in this second errour , but am unjustly charged to be guilty of heresie and blasphemy for holding one and the same opinion with him in all points in the doctrine of justification . the third errour is , that faith doth not justifie us , as it apprehendeth and applieth christ and his righteousnesse ; but by it self , in a proper not metonymicall sense . this third errour hath two propositions , which shall be answered to severally . the former is , that faith doth not justifie as it apprehendeth and applieth christ and his righteousnesse . i hold this proposition to be false ; acknowledging and confessing that faith doth not justifie us but onely as it apprehendeth and applieth christ and his righteousnesse ; the very condition of the gospel being , that by faith we apprehend and apply christ and his righteousnesse to be justified thereby , treat . of justifie . in explic . of the definit . of reconcil . the other proposition is , that faith doth justifie us by it self in a proper not metonymicall sense . i never said or thought that faith doth justifie us by it self . this onely i say , that in this proposition , faith is counted for righteousnesse , the word faith is to be taken properly , not tropically ; the question being in such propositions not of the meritorious or formall cause of our justification , but of the condition required on our part instead of keeping the law. therefore i agree not with socinus in this third errour , but am unjustly charged to be guilty of heresie and blasphemy for holding one and the same opinion with him in all points in the doctrine of justification . the fourth errour is , that for faith properly taken , and dignified and made worthy , not of it self but in gods acceptation and of his mercy a man is justified , and may lay claim to remission of sinnes . neither socinus nor servetus ( in the words you bring out of them ) affirm that a man is justified and may lay claim to remission of sinnes , for faith any way dignified , &c. nay , socinus avoucheth , that repentance and amendment of life is that by which that forgivenesse of sinnes which is brought by christ is obtained , part 3. chap. 2. pag. 322. col . 1. how then am i proved to agree with him in that errour which he is not proved to hold ? especially , seeing that i never said that we are justified for faith , and do renounce all dignity and worth in faith , and give the whole merit of our justification to our saviour christ and his obedience . that which is alledged out of my papers is no more but this , that the condition of the gospel being faith , as the condition of the law is keeping of the law ; he that believeth in christ hath done as much , that is , performed the condition of the gospel , as well as he that keepeth the law hath fulfilled the condition of the law : so that on his part god requireth no more to his justification . and that this is certainly my meaning , the words going before in that english paper , and those also that follow in the other english paper , and in the latine , do manifestly shew . therefore i agree not with socinus in this fourth errour , but am unjustly charged to be guilty of heresie and blasphemie for holding one and the same opinion with him in all points in the doctrine of justification . the fifth errour is , that faith is no firm perswasion by which we apprehend and lay hold upon christ and his righteousnesse , and apply them to our selves as of right belonging to us by our spirituall union ; but that it is a trust and confidence in christ for salvation , joyned with obedience to christs precepts : or ( to speak plainly ) a confidence that christ , having obtained by his obedience the kingdome and all power , will certainly give us salvation if we rely on him and obey his counsels . whether the three propositions set down in this errour , be rightly gathered from the words alleaged by m r walker out of socinus or no , i leave to other mens judgement . but whatsoever socinus held , i have nothing to do with any of these propositions . onely of the first i say , that the perswasion , whereof i speak in the place he bringeth , is that particular assurance that every man ( as some define faith ) must have to justification ; viz. that his sinnes are forgiven in christ : whereas faith ( being the condition required on our part ) must go before justification , at least in nature . but this perswasion followeth it , and is bred in us by the spirit of god after we believe and are justified . for it is given to us , being already adopted sons , gal. 4.5 . and adoption is a prerogative vouchsafed us upon our believing , john 1.12 . therefore i agree not with socinus in this fifth errour , but am unjustly charged to be guilty of heresie and blasphemy for holding one and the same opinion with him in all points in the doctrine of justification . the sixth errour is , that christs whole obedience and righteousnesse serve first and immediately for himself to bring him into favour and authority with god ; and secondly , onely for us : not that it might be communicated to us in him , to make us truly and formally righteous ; but onely that it might serve for our use , in that it maketh him gracious with god , and so both able to obtain , that faith might be accepted for righteousnesse and we for it ; and also powerfull to give those blessings which are promised to those that trust in him . the words you alledge out of socinus prove no more ( at the most ) but the first point of this errour , that christs whole obedience and righteousnesse serve first and immediately for himself , to bring him into favour and authority with god. there is nothing in this sixth errour that toucheth me . all that i say , in the former place alledged by m r walker , is no more but this ; that whatsoever maketh christ beloved of god is some cause of gods love to us who are beloved in and for him , ephes . 1.3 , 4 , 6. now among other things for which christ is beloved , his holinesse and obedience have no mean place . whereupon it followeth that they may be reckoned in the number of those causes that make us beloved of god in and for his sonne our saviour jesus christ , treat . of justific . of a sinner , in explic . of the definit . of reconcil . in the latter i say , that we are not accounted to be formally righteous , by having fulfilled the law and satisfied the justice of god in christ . and yet i acknowledge that we are ( for his obedience ) accepted of god as righteous no lesse then if we had indeed performed those things . and this was determined in the first errour to be neither heresie nor blasphemy . therefore i agree not with socinus in this sixth errour , but am unjustly charged to be guilty of heresie and blasphemy , for holding one and the same opinion with him in all points in the doctrine of justification . the seventh errour is , that christ did not satisfie the justice of god for us in such sort that we may be said ( when we truly believe ) to have satisfied the justice of god and his wrath in him : and that god ( of his mercy ) without christs satisfaction made ours , doth pardon our sinnes , and justifie and redeem us . socinus denieth all satisfaction by christ , not onely with limitation ( as you propound it in this seventh errour ) but absolutely , as appeared in mine answer to the first errour : and accordingly he maintaineth that we are pardoned , justified , and redeemed without any satisfaction made by a true price paid to god the father by our saviour christ for us . but i acknowledge and professe that christ hath made satisfaction for us , by paying a true price to god his father for us : and that god doth not pardon us but for and in respect of that payment made for us . in the places alledged out of my writings i say no more , but that we cannot be held to have satisfied the wrath of god in christ , and withall to be truly and properly pardoned . if we have been punished , how are we pardoned ? if we be pardoned , we have not been punished . christ hath been punished for us ; we are pardoned for his punishment , esa . 53.5 . therefore i agree not with socinus in this seventh errour , and ( having cleared my self of agreeing with him in any of the seven ) am unjustly charged by m r walker to be guilty of heresie and blasphemy for holding one and the same opinion with socinus in all points in the doctrine of justification . the issue . thus have you both m r walker's charge and evidence , and m r wotton's answer in his own defence thereunto . you exspect now ( i suppose ) in the next place to heare what the issue of it was . upon the delivery in therefore and view of both compared together , there was by word of mouth further debating of the severall points at large , as well between m r walker and m r wotton , as by the parties nominated on either side among themselves . who albeit they agreed not with m r wotton in all particulars ; and in some things then debated were not all of one mind , as in that question occasioned by m r wotton's answer to one branch of the last article , to wit , whether in the work of redemption the faithfull be considered as one with christ , or no : or in plainer terms , whether our insition into christ in the order of nature be deemed to precede the work of our redemption , or the work of our redemption in the order of nature to go before it : concerning which , being somewhat a nice subtiltie , they were divided ; some holding the one part , and some the other : yet so farre were they from condemning m r wotton as guilty of heresie and blasphemie in the points above mentioned , as that they professed divers of them , and that some of m r walker's own choice , no one denying or opposing the rest therein , to have oft taught some of them , namely the second , to wit , that faith is a condition appointed by god to be performed on our part for obtaining justification : which yet m r walker affirmed to be a most dangerous errour . in conclusion , it was without further question or contradiction of any of the whole eight then present , as well the nominated by the one as those assigned by the other , with unanimous consent generally resolved and pronounced , that there appeared not to them either heresie or blasphemy in ought that m r wotton was by m r walker convinced to have delivered or maintained . which m r wotton requiring further to be testified under their hands , albeit m r walker , perceiving it to be deemed equall and meet , began to storm and flie out , and demanded of them , whether they would take upon them to determine heresie ; whereunto such answer was returned as was fit : yet it was accordingly ( as of right it ought ) yielded unto . the writing by all the eight then present subscribed , being committed to the custodie of d r bayly , upon promise by him made to deliver it to m r wotton , when it should by two of the parties , one of either side nominated , be demanded of him in his behalf . now howsoever the doctour afterward upon some pretences refused to deliver it as he had promised to do , whether pressed by m r walker to detain it or no , i wot not , himself best knoweth : yet for the truth of this issue , as it hath here been related in the behalf of m r wotton , it will plainly appear by the attestation of two of those of m r walkers party yet surviving ( for a third is deceased , and the fourth was absent at the meeting that concluded all ) in the very terms ensuing , written with one of their hands , and subscribed by them both . we whose names are under-written do testifie , that the eight ministers at the hearing of the foresaid points in controversie betwixt m r wotton and m r walker , and continuing till the end of that meeting ( though in every part they assented not to every of those positions ) under their hands witnessed , that they found neither heresie nor blasphemie in any of them , or to the like purpose . john downame . william gough thus have you faithfully related , upon ground of proof undeniable , the carriage of the businesse between m r walker , and m r wotton , and the issue of the same . you have m r walker's charge and challenge , together with the evidence produced and given in by him to make his charge good : you have m r wotton's defence in way of answer thereunto : and you have the verdict and sentence of select parties appealed to by joynt consent , delivered upon diligent view and due hearing both of the one and the other ; who all say in effect , that m r wotton did sufficiently clear himself from those foul imputations of heresie and blasphemie , that m r walker then charged him with ; and that m r walker failed in making good that his charge then , which with so much vehemency and virulency he reneweth now against him , yoking him with peter abeilard , and with servetus and socinus , as agreeing with them in such damnable and detestable dotages as they held and maintained , and for which they were condemned as blasphemous hereticks . the iniquitie whereof , though it may sufficiently appear by what hath already been related ; yet that the reader may the better judge how equally these persons are here yoked together , it will not be amisse ( though the matter be but unsavoury ) to acquaint him with some generall and principall heads of those points , that abeilardus , servetus , and socinus stand charged with . peter abeilard , or balard ( for a of his name they agree not ) whom b some affirm to have been one of the first fathers of the school-men , and first founders of school-divinitie ( for c peter lombard , say they , took from him ) is by bernard d charged , to have savoured of arius in the doctrine of the trinitie ; of pelagius , in the doctrine of grace ; of nestorius concerning the person of christ : to have held e christ to be no true redeemer of us , nor to have reconciled us to god by his death : but to have been an exemplary saviour ; that is , such an one as by his life and death , pietie and charitie , obedience and patience , chalketh us out the way to heaven : and to have broached in his books f a number of sacrilegious errours concerning the soul of christ ; his descent into hell ; the power of binding and loosing ; g the sacraments of the church , and by name that of the altar ; of originall sinne ; of concupiscence ; of sinnes of delight , infirmitie , and ignorance ; of sinne in work and sinne in will. but he telleth us not what they were . now whether bernard charge him truly herein or no ( which for divers causes may be justly questioned ; and the rather for that abeilard in h his apologie flatly denieth , that he ever wrote taught or once thought the most of those points that bernard fasteneth upon him , and for that i bernard's reports concerning others of those times , some whereof were his scholars , are not unjustly suspected ) it is not much materiall to our purpose ; the rather for that the charge granted to be true , the more pestilent and blasphemous his errours are found to be , the greater inequalitie will appear in the collation , unlesse the parties collated can be proved to have maintained opinions as pestilent and as blasphemous as his . but for servetus and socinus , the other two , what they held , we have records of sufficient credit . for servetus , ( from whom m r walker borroweth onely one small snip , wherewith to piece up his parallel ) whether his works be extant or no , i wot not ; and the better it is , if they be not . but what he taught and maintained , we have taken out of his writings , from m r calvine's relation , together with an ample refutation of them adjoyned thereunto . his chief assertions , among a vast heap of other absurd , prodigious and blasphemous ones , are these : that a there is no such trinitie of persons in the deitie , as is commonly maintained ; where he brandeth the orthodox tenet and the abettours of it with most hideous terms raked up from hel it self , and too vile to be related , and fasteneth many uncouth and fantasticall conceits full of impietie and blasphemie upon the names given in scripture to the second and third persons . that b god in the beginning of the world produced the word and the spirit : and began then as a person to appear in three uncreated elements and communicated of his essence unto all that he then made . that c this word being the face and image of god , is said then to have been begotten , because god then began to breed it , but stayed for a woman to bear it , untill the virgin mary was ; that d then christ was conceived in her womb , of the seed of the word and the substance of the spirit : so that the word was then first turned into flesh , and then that flesh by the spirit wholly turned into the essence of the deitie ; e and that christ hath now a spirituall body , that filleth heaven and earth . that f the spirit is a kind of gentle breath , which at first proceeded from the word , consisting partly of the essence of god , and partly of a created power : which g having moved in the creation on the face of the waters , and there finding no rest , retired again to heaven , and there stayed , till at the baptisme of christ it came down again . that h man is said to be made after gods image , because the very essence of god is in every man from his originall , and that not in the soul onely but in the body ; and that though the devil have by a kind of carnall copulation got into , and possessed himself of the body , yet that the divine essence remaineth still in the soul : which notwithstanding it is by sinne become mortall , and is breathed out into the aire , yet in the regenerate by means of the spirit it becometh consubstantiall and coeternall with god. that i christ should have come to carie men to heaven , albeit adam had never fallen ; and that the tree of knowledge of good and evil was a figure of christ , whom adam over-hastily desiring to tast of threw himself and his posteritie into perdition . that k none are guilty of mortall sinne , till they be twenty yeare old ; because they have no knowledge of good or evil till then ; l nor are therefore till then to be catechised : m nor any to be baptized , till they be thirty years old ; because of that age the first adam was created , and at that age the second adam was baptized . that n before christs coming the angels onely , not god , were worshipped : o nor were any regenerate by the spirit : p nor did their faith regard any more then terrestriall good things ; save that some few by apropheticall spirit might aloof off have some smatch of spirituall things . that q from the beginning , as well gentiles as jews , that lived well according to natures guidance , were thereby justified ; and without faith of christ shall thereby at the last day attain to life eternall . that r the law was given onely for a time ; and ſ that men were then saved by the observation of it ; which was then observed , when men did what they could , who might therefore glorie then in their works , being justified wholly by them : but t that men are not now to be scared with it . that u faith is nothing else but to believe christ to be the sonne of god : and v to justifie , nothing , but to make a man righteous , who was sinfull before : and that x we are now justified , partly by faith , and partly by works . that z on gods part there is no promise required unto justification : nor doth faith depend upon any promise of god , or hath any respect thereunto : in regard whereof * he scoffeth at those that build their faith upon gods promises , or that mention them in their prayers . that a there is a perfect puritie in every holy action ; and such as may endure even the extreme rigour of gods justice . that b abraham was indeed justified by works : howbeit , that his believing is first said to be imputed to him for righteousnesse , and he said to be just for one act of faith ; ( the place by m r walker produced ) as if a prince out of his favour regarding his souldiers mind and good will , would be pleased to accept the good endeavour for the thing fully performed : and so abraham was therefore by god deemed just , because by his believing it appeared that he stood well affected to acquire a commendation of righteousnesse by his good works . which is all , saith calvine , that he ascribeth unto faith , either in us , or in him . c whose faith , also he saith , as of others before christ was no true faith but a figure of true faith , and the righteousnesse imputed to him no spirituall but a carnall righteousnesse , and insufficient ; not a truth , but a shadow ; and the imputation of it but a type of the great grace of christ to us . and thus much , if not too much , of servetus his blasphemous and prodigious dreams and dotages : for i have raked overlong in this filthy sinck , in this stincking puddle , which till upon this occasion i never pried or peered into before , nor , it may be , should ever have done but for it . socinus remaineth , whose positions what they were , may appear by his writings yet extant , and in the hands of too many ; by means whereof it is to be feared that they do the more hurt . the principall of his tenets , though not so prodigious as those of servetus , yet blasphemous and vile enough , are these : he denieth not d christs deity and eternity onely , with e arrius ; but f his existence at all also before he was conceived by the virgin mary , with g photinus ; and so maketh him h a mere man. he denieth christ to have been i a redeemer , or to have wrought any redemption , or to have paid any price or ransome unto god for us , truly and properly so termed ; or that k by his sufferings any satisfaction at all was made unto god for our sinnes ; or that l god is thereby reconciled unto us ; or that m thereby he merited ought from god either for himself or for us . that n he is therefore onely called a saviour , and is said to save , partly o because he teacheth us by his doctrine , and p sheweth us by his practice the way to life eternall , and q confirmeth the same to us by the miracles that he wrought , and r by his dying and rising again from the dead ; and partly , ſ because he hath power given him by god to make the same good unto all that believe in him : that t to believe in him is nothing else but to obey him , or to keep his precepts under hope of eternall life thereby to be obtained ; and that this is the very u form and essence of justifying faith ; and that x for so doing a man is justified and accepted to life eternall ; and that y it is therefore in our power by our good works to attain thereunto . this is the summe of his doctrine concerning mans justification and salvation ; wherein also i am the briefer , because much of it hath been laid down before . now whether m r wotton or m r godwin do conspire and concurre with peter abeilard , servetus and socinus in these their blasphemous dotages , and are therefore justly yoked with them by m r walker or no ( it concerneth not me ) let others try and determine . but for m r wotton his own defence of himself herein , and the censure of others by m r walker himself appealed to , a which he cannot therefore in equity go from , i have faithfully delivered ; being confirmed by the attestation of those whom he cannot except against , being men of his own choise , and of sufficient credit and good esteem otherwise . and as for m r godwin , to me a mere stranger in regard of any acquaintance , one whom i never heard or saw to my knowledge , save once of late occasionally at the funerall of a friend , nor know certainly what he holdeth or hath taught , i say no more , but as they sometime of their sonne , b aetatem habet , he is old enough , and ( for ought i know ) able enough to answer for himself : and he surviveth yet so to do if he see good . but whether peter abeilard ever moved this question which m r walker saith he was the first mover of , to wit , whether faith , or the righteousnesse of christ be imputed in the act of justification , is to me a great question . and m r walker's reading herein ( as , i confesse , it may well be ) is better then mine , if he can shew where either he did ever handle it , or is reported so to have done . nor do i find in all m r calvines large relation and refutation of servetus his blasphemies , where ever he propounded or maintained any question in such terms , as this by m r walker is here conceived in . for socinus , it is true , that in prosecution of his discourses , wherein he laboureth to prove christ to be such a saviour onely as was out of him before described , he is inforced to acknowledge , that faith , such as he meaneth , that is , obedience to christs commandments doth justifie , without relation to ought done or suffered by christ , any satisfaction made by him , or merit of his ; neither of which he acknowledgeth : and the like may be deduced from what servetus held , ( though his assertions , as calvine also well observeth , are found oft to enterfere , and to crosse one another ) and from that also that abeilard is by bernard charged to have held . but if m r walker will father this upon him concerning the deniall of the imputation of christs righteousnesse , because from his positions it may be deduced , he might have risen a great deal higher , and have fetched in simon magus , ebion , cerinthus , marcion , manes , and a whole rabble of old hereticks ( and out of the ancient stories of the church made a list as large almost as his book is long ) from whose pestilent positions the same might as well be deduced , as from those things that abeilardus and servetus maintained . again , neither is this sufficient to prove a point to be hereticall and blasphemous , because it may be deduced from assertions of that nature : for if we shall condemn as hereticall and blasphemous , whatsoever by necessary consequence may be extracted from those dotages that some blasphemous hereticks have held , the like censure may then , yea must then be passed upon many orthodox tenets , in the negative especially , maintained by us against the church of rome , since that they follow necessarily from those grounds that by such hereticks have been held . for example : that christs body is not really present in the sacrament , nor is sacrificed and offered up to god in the masse , doth necessarily follow from the opinion of c eutyches and others , who maintained the humane nature of christ to be swallowed up into his godhead ; from the dotages of d simon , e saturn , f basilides , and many more , who held that he never suffered at all ; of g apelles , who held that his body was dissolved into the foure elements ; of h seleucus , i manes , k and hermes , that held it fastened to the starres , or lodged in the sunne : that there is no purgatory , nor use of invocation of saints , or of singing masses for souls deceased , followeth necessarily from the opinion of l the sadduces that held no spirits , and from the m psychopannychites dream of the souls sleeping till the last day ; which in effect therefore , the sequestration of them at least from the divine presence till then , that chamaelion spalatensis n pretended the rather to maintain , because by it those popish errours would be easily and evidently overthrown . for who is so meanly versed in the art of reasoning as not to know , that o the clearest truths may be deduced from the grossest falshoods that may be . as , grant a stone to have life , and a man to be a stone , and it will thence follow , that a man hath life . and yet were it absurd from hence to conclude , that whosoever holdeth the latter must needs either concurre in judgement with those that should maintain the former ; or hold any falshood , much lesse any absurdity , though those positions that inferre it be both false and absurd . and let m r walker consider this calmly and seriously with himself : he hath put down this in his parallel for an hereticall and blasphemous assertion , that faith [ in christ ] ( for so he must needs mean ) is a condition appointed by god to be performed on our parts for the obtaining of justification . now should any man hereupon enter an action against m r walker , accusing him as guilty of judaisme , paganisme and mahumetanisme , would he not , think we , make grievous complaint , yea with open mouth cry out and exclaim of extreme injury done him ? yet is it as clear as the light at noon-day , that whosoever shall deny faith in christ to be a condition appointed by god to be performed on mans part for the obtaining of justification , shall have all jews , paganes , and mahumetanes concurring therein with him , as in a point naturally flowing and necessarily following from what they hold . to go yet a step further ; suppose a man do concurre with such hereticks as have been spoken of in some point , be it a truth or an errour that is held and maintained by them , will it thence follow that he consenteth to them and agreeth with them in all things , or in such blasphemous opinions as they otherwise hold ? and here m r walker's candour may well a little be questioned . to prove m r wotton to hold one and the same opinion with servetus in all points concerning the doctrine of justification , he produceth onely this one saying of servetus , for one act of faith was abraham righteous . whether he have proved m r wotton to have said the same or no , is not now materiall , and i leave it to be judged by what himself hath spoken for his own defence in way of answer thereunto . but should a man , putting in a crosse interrogatorie , demand of m r walker whether he hold that christ hath fulfilled the law for us or no ? i doubt not but he would answer in the affirmative , that he hath . and the very same thing in the very same words is found by calvin related out of servetus , a the carnall people , saith he , might glory in their deeds , but we may not but in the crosse of our lord jesus christ : b we may onely relate the facts of christ , who hath wrought all our works for us , by fulfilling the law for us when we could not do it our selves . yet i suppose m r walker would take it in very ill part , and well he might , if any should thence conclude , that m r walker therefore doth in all points hold one and the same opinion with servetus concerning the doctrine of justification . again for socinus ; he maintaineth , that c to justifie is a term of judicature ; that , d it signifieth not to make a man inherently righteous , or to infuse righteousnesse into him ; but e to deem him , repute him , pronounce him righteous ; that f they do amisse that confound justification and sanctification , the one with the other ; that g that faith whereby we are justified is not a bare belief or assent unto the truth of gods word ; that h neither faith , i nor works , believing in christ , or obeying him , are the meritorious causes of justification ; or k do or can , in regard of any worthin them , merit ought at gods hands : l nor doth faith it self justifie by any force of its own . and all these points do our writers generally maintain against the papists ; yet never , that i know , was any papist so shamelesse ( and yet shamelesse enough are they ) as to condemn them therefore for socinian hereticks , or to charge them to agree with socinus and his followers in all points concerning the doctrine of justification . again it is by socinus held and maintained , that m justification consists in remission of sinnes , which for my part i deem erroneous , and suppose that elsewhere i have evidently shewed it so to be ; howbeit n calvine , o beza , p olevian , q ursine , r zanchie , ſ piscator , t pareus , u musculus , x bullinger , y fox , and divers others of great note and name , yea z whole synods of ours are found so to say ; and yet were these men never yet , that i ever heard or read , for so saying condemned as hereticks , much lesse as blasphemous hereticks , but had in high esteem , as their worth , parts and works well deserved , by those that therein dissented from them . i will adde but one instance more , socinus in the very entrance into his treatise of christ the saviour affirmeth , that a god might if he had pleased , without breach of his justice , have pardoned mans sinne freely , without any satisfaction required : and the same he b after again presseth and prosecuteth in his ensuing discourses . whether this be an errour or no , i stand not now to discusse . c vorstius herein concurred with socinus ; and d is for the same reproved by tossanus ; grotius likewise for e affirming the same is f taxed by ravenspergerus ; g defended by vossius , who citeth divines not a few , both old and new , saying the same : and it is maintained , to passe by all others , by h calvine , i musculus , k zanchie , l grineus , faius , m casman , n tilenus , o franzius , p smiglesius , and our reverend d r q twisse ; yet i am perswaded that no wise or discreet man at least will hence conclude any of these to be therefore socinian hereticks . and m r walker might do well to be better advised before he charge his christian brethren and fellow-labourers in the work of gods ministerie , with these odious imputations of heresie and blasphemie , ( then which what can be more hainous , more hideous , being taints of the deepest die ? ) upon such weak and unjustifiable grounds as these are . to conclude , if any shall demand of me why i have undertaken this office ( which from some , i know , i shall have small thanks for ) and why i thrust my finger needlessely into the fire ? the answer is ready from what already hath been said ; i am the onely surviver for ought i know ( for whether m r hicks be still living or no , i am not certain ) of those that were on m r wotton's part entrusted and employed in this businesse , and i could not therefore do lesse for so worthy a servant of god , and mine ancient acquaintance ; whom i alwayes reverenced while he lived as a man deserving singular respect for his pietie and learning , and zeal for gods cause , which r his works left behind him do sufficiently manifest , and will testifie to ensuing posteritie , and both do and shall still honour deservedly the memorie of him now deceased ; and at rest , i doubt not , with the lord , enjoying the reward of his religious pains taken in his masters work ; then to testifie what i then heard and saw , was a party in , and subscribed to with others ; and to second the pious intents of his sonne , who treadeth carefully in his fathers commendable steps , desirous to publish what in his fathers papers he found for the vindicating of his postumous name and reputation , as dear unto him as his own , with this preface and postscript adjoyned thereunto . i say no more , but wish onely veritatem cum charitate , that truth may with charitie be pursued on all parts . so grant , good lord , for thy christs sake , now and ever . amen . finis . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a67122-e120 * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , homer . od. χ * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . plut. de serae numin . vindict . notes for div a67122-e290 the occasion . mr walkers charge his challenge . * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , mortuum etiam haud sustineo amicum prodere , eurip. apud dion . prus . orat . 37 * heb. 11.4 . notes for div a67122-e2750 charge . errour 1. answer . errour 2. answer . errour 3. answer . errour 4. answer . errour 5. answer . errour 6. answer . errour 7. answer . notes for div a67122-e4440 a fr. amboesius in praefat. apol . pro petr. ab. b beatus rhenan . ad tertull. calce admonit . ad lect. c joannes cornub. apud quercetan . in notis ad abeilard . d bern. ep . 192. e idem ep . 190. f idem ep. 188. g idem ep. 193. h abeilardus in apologia operibus praefixa : & epistolarum l. 2. ep . 20. et in apolog. altera apud berengarium ejusdem discipulum ep . 17. contra bern. p. 308. i legantur bernardi epist . 195 , 196 , 240. & in cant. serm . 55 , & 56. sed & illyric . catalog . test. verit. lib. 15. p. 1531. a calv. in relat . & refut . error . servet . artic . 1. p. 607. col . 2. b ibid. 657. col . 2. c ibid. d ibid. p. 658. c. 1. e ibid. p. 657. c. 1. f ibid. p. 658. c. 1. g ibid. p. 656. c. 2. h ibid. p. 609. c. 1. art . 29. & pag. 658. c. 1. i ibid. p. 657. c. 1. k pag. 609. c. 2. art . 37. & p. 547. c. 1. l pag. 650. c. 2. m pag. 649. c. 2. n pag. 658. c. 1. o pag. 657. c. 2. p pag. 658. c. 1. q pag. 658. c. 2. r pag. 652. c. 2. ſ pag. 655. c. 1. t pag. 652. c. 2. u pag. 658. c. 2. v pag. 656. c. 1. x pag. 658. c. 2. z pag. 653. c. 1. * pag. 654. c. 2. a pag. 651. c. 2. & 654. c. 1. b pag. 655. c. 2. c pag. 655. c. 2. & p. 658. c. 1. d socin . in evang. joan . c. 1. v. 1. p. 4 , 5. e epiphan . haer . 69. & aug. haer . 49. f socin . in joan. 1.1 . p. 7. & ad cuteni object . art . 8. g epiphan . haer . 71. & aug. haer . 44 h socin . in joan. 1.14 . p. 35 , 36. i socin . de christo servatore l. 2. c. 1. & 2. per totum . k ibid. l. 1. c. 1. p. 145 & l. 3. c. 2. p. 317 , & 321. l ibid. l. 1. c. 7. p. 76. & l. 2. c. 2. p. 120. & de offic. christ art . 38 , 39. m de christ . servat . l. 3. c. 5. & de justificat . synop . 1 p 4. n de christ. serv. l. 1. c. 1. initio . o de christ . serv. l. 1. c. 2. de offic. christ . art . 5. ad object cuteni , art . 9. p ad cuteni object . art . 14. q de christ . serv. l. 1. c. 3. de offic. christ . art . 35. r de offic. christ. art . 36 , 37. & de christ. serv. l. 1. c. 5. ſ de christ. serv. l. 1. c. 6. & de offic . christ art . 45. t de christ. serv. l. 4. c. 11. de offic. christ. art . 42. ad cuteni object . art . 17. u de fide & oper . ad q. ● p. 58. & ad q. 3. p. 60. ● in notis a● dial. n. n n. 16. x de christ . serv. l. 4. c. ● p. 462. c. 2. & p. 463. c. y de fide & oper . ad q. p. 62. a a sente●tia ex co● promisso aditi appelari non posse , saep● rescriptu● est . anto● imp. cod. l. tit . 55. leg . a sententi● arbitri pa●tium volu●tate electi non appellatur , jo. al. dicaeolog● l. 3. c. 55. n. 15. ab electis judicibus appell●re non putamus lic●re , b●rn . ap 180. b john 9. c aug. haer . ●2 . d aug. haer . e epiphan . haer . 23. f idem haer . 24. & aug haer . 4. g epiph. haer 44. & aug. haer . 23. h aug. haer . 59. i aug. ibid. k epiph. haer . 66. l act. 23.8 . m calv. ad● psychopann● n in concio●ne coram jacobo roge . o 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , arist . topi● l. 8. c. 4. ex falsis fa● sum , verúm que aliquando sequetur . ex veris poterit nil nisi vera sequi a carnali populo licuit in suis factis gloriari , nobis autem non licet nisi in cruce d. n. j. c. b solùm licet nobis christi facta narrare , qui omnia opera pro nobis operatus est , & legem implendo pro nobis , cùm non possemus id praestare , servet . l. 2. de leg. & evang . apud calv. p. 655. col . 1. c est verbum hoe justificationis juridicum , in quo jure nemo justus efficitur , sed pronunciatur , socin . de justif . fragm . sect . 1. p. 45. d in hac disputatione non significat justum facere , idem ibid. e justificari nihil aliud est , quàm pro justis haberi , de justif . synops . 1. p. 6. justificat , i. justos pronunciat , de justif . thes . 4. p. 9. certissimum est justificationem in sacris literis aliud nihil significare quàm justum pronunciare , & pro justo habere , idem in notis ad dial. n. n. n. 18. & n. 55. f autore dialogi saepius notat , quia justificationem cum vitae sanctimonia sive justitia & sanctitate , quâ quis praeditus est , confundit , num. 1. n. 18. & n. 31. & n. 46. & n. 55. & n. 59. g credere jesum revera esse christum dei filium , &c. non est revera ea fides , quae nos deo ad vitam aeternam gratos efficit , de fide & oper . quaest . 1. p. 55. neutrum horum , credere jesum esse messiam , et verbis ejus fidem adhibere , est fides illa quâ revera justificamur , ibid. q. 2. p. 57.58 . fides , quâ credimus dei promissa esse vera , non est revera ea fides quâ justificamur , in notis ad dial. n. 16. h fides , sive obedientia quam christo praestamus , nec efficiens nec meritoria causa est justificationis atque aeternae salutis , nec eam per se meretur . de justif . thes . 5. & ad cuteni object . art . 8. & de fide & oper . q. 4. p. 62. credere vera esse quae deus vel christus dixit , non est fides quâ justificamur . de christ. serv. 1.4 . c. 11. p. 554. c. 1. & p. 558. c. 2. i ex merito ipsorum operum nequaquam justificamur , de justif . thes . 5. non sunt meritoria , & suā vi hominem justificantia , de justif . fragm , sect . 7. p. 50. k nulla esse opera , quae tanti sint , ut propter ipsorum meritum justificari possimus , de justif . fragm . sect . 7. p. 48. l fides in christum non propriâ vi justificat , de christo servas . l. 4. c. 11. p. 560. c. 1. m formalis justificatio nostra coram deo fuit & semper erit remissio peccatorum nostrorum , socin . de fide & oper . q. 1. p. 56. justificatio nostra nihil aliud reipsâ est , quàm peccatorum deletio , ibid . q. 3. p. 60. n justitiam paulo nihil esse , quàm remissionē peccatorum calvin . in rom. 4.6 . o posira est omnis justificatio in in remissione peccatorum , beza de coena dom. p. 175. p justificatio consistit in gratuita remissione peocatorum , olev . in rom. 4.6 . q idem sunt justificatio & remissio peccatorum , ursin . explic . catech . q. 60. sect . 3. r idem sunt , remissionem peccatorum consequi , & justificari , zanch. miscel . l. 2. de remiss . pecc . thes . 10. p. 329. ſ justitia imputata nihil est aliud quàm remissio peccatorum , piscat . thes . vol. 1. loc . 15. thes . 14. t consistit in remissione , tectione , non-imputatione peccatorum : haec est ejus forma privativa & positiva , pareus in rom. 46. observ . 2. deus proprié justificat , cúm absolvit gratìs , remittens peccata propter meritum christi , ibid. ad v. 5. obs . 3. justificationis causa formalis est remissio peccatorum , idem cont . bellarm. de justif . l. 2. c. 1. p. 365. u justificatio nihil est aliud quàm remissio peccatorum parta per sanguinem christi , muscul . in joan. 3.18 . x quid aliud est justificatio quàm peccatorum remissio ? bullinger . in rom. 4.8 . y justificatio constat propriè peccatorum remissione , fox de christ . gratìs justif . l. 3. p. 383. z credimus totam nostram justitiam positam esse in peccatorum nostrorum remissione , confess . gallicanâ , art . 18. credimus peccatorum nostrorum remissione unicâ totam nostram justitiam coram deo contineri , confess . belgicâ , art . 23. a potest deus de suo jure , quantum velit , dimittere , socin . de christo serv. l. 1. c. 1. p. 4. c. 2. sicut potuisset homines , licèt peccantes , morti aeternae non mancipare , sic ex illius imperio eximere , & quidem jure , suâ solâ voluntate potest , ibid. pag. 5. c. 1. b potuit deus peccata nobis jure ignoscere , nullâ à quoquam pro ipsis verâ satisfactione acceptâ , ibid. lib. 3. cap. 1. pag. 306. cap. 1. & pag. 309. cap. 1. c in scripto poster . ad tossanum . d in rescript . ad vorstium . e de satisfactione christi adv . socin . c. 3. f in judicio de grotii libr. g. 2. p. 2. & g. 3. g in respons . ad judic . ravensp . cap. 28. h poterat nos deus verbo aut nutu redimere , nisi aliter nostrâ causâ visum est , calv. in joan . 15.13 . i si sic justus est deus , ut sine detrimento justitiae suae misericors esse nequeat ; si sic , inquam , justitiae suae obstrictus est , ut non liceat ipsi , quorum vult misereri & à peccatis absolvere teos , quod tamen permultos sibi principes & magistratus liberè permittere videmus , consequitur , non tantum illi potestatis esse in ipsius creaturas , quantum est homini in suos subditos , quâ re quid potest magìs impium cogitari ? muscul . in loc. commun . de justif . c. 3. k deus servare nos poterat solo suo imperio , peccata simpliciter ex sua misericordia condonando , zanch. de incarnat . christ . l. 2. c. 3. quest . 1. l though it be not lawfull for a man to justifie the wicked , yet god may do it , that is above all law : and the reason is , because god hath right and power to forgive sinnes , because they are committed chiefly against him . grineus and faius , willet on rom. 4.5 . quest . 14. n. 2. m concedimus justitiam punientem peccata , & misericordiam ea condonantem , utramque esse liberrimae dei voluntatis effectum , casman . anti-socin . part . 2. c. 1. n restituere five recreare hominem non minùs liberum deo fuit , quàm creare : peccatum . solo imperio tanquam nubem tollere poterat , tilen . disput . de incarn . fil . dei. o potuisset omnino deus primos parentes & omnes homines ex mortis imperio eximere & in gratiam recipere , solâ voluntate citra mediatoris satisfactionem ullam , nisi priùs & antè protulisset decretum suum comminatorium , franz . disp . de sacrif . 14. thes . 63. p utrumque deus potuit , & absque ulla satisfactione , & cum satisfactione peccata nobis remittere : de facto tamen eligit hoc posterius , smigles . de satisfact . christ. adv . smalcium cap. 11. q sine dubio potuit deus , si sic ei visum fuisset , adae peccatum , aut ipsi condonare , aut in ipso tantùm ulcisci , posterísque omnibus gratiam salutarem , eo neutiquam obstante , liberè gratificari , twiss . in vindiciis gratiae , potest . ac provid . dei. de praedest . lib. 1. part . 1. sect . 4. digress . 4. cap. 3. pag. 39. col . 2. r an answer to a popish pamphlet , or articles tending to prove the protestants religion to consist of palpable absurdities and notorious errours . a triall of the romish clergies title to the church against a. d. a defence of mr perkins his reformed catholick , against w b. runne from rome , of the necessitie of departure from the church of rome . sermons on part of the first chapter of s. johns gospel . de reconciliatione peccatoris libri 4. the leviathan heretical, or, the charge exhibited in parliament against m. hobbs justified by the refutation of a book of his entituled the historical narration of heresie and the punishments thereof by john dowel. dowell, john, ca. 1627-1690. 1683 approx. 102 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 86 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2008-09 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a36460 wing d2056 estc r27156 09677860 ocm 09677860 43969 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according 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(eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a36460) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 43969) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 1329:23) the leviathan heretical, or, the charge exhibited in parliament against m. hobbs justified by the refutation of a book of his entituled the historical narration of heresie and the punishments thereof by john dowel. dowell, john, ca. 1627-1690. [13], 150 p. printed by l. lichfield and are to be sold by a. stephens, oxon : 1683. reproduction of original in the trinity college library, cambridge university. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng hobbes, thomas, 1588-1679. -historical narration of heresie and the punishment thereof. heresies, christian. heretics, christian. 2006-10 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2006-10 aptara keyed and coded from proquest page images 2007-05 pip willcox sampled and proofread 2007-05 pip willcox text and markup reviewed and edited 2008-02 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion the leviathan heretical : or the charge exhibited in parliament against m. hobbs , justified by the refutation of a book of his , entituled the historical narration of heresie and the punishments thereof . by john dowel , vicar of melton-mowbray in leicester shire . oxon printed by l. lichfield , and are to be sold by a. stephens bookseller 1683. the preface . the author of this tract may thus be reproached are not the corps of dead men sacred ? to violate tombs and graves is sacrilegious , why doth the author intend to disturb the manes of this universal scholar ? will he not be permitted to sleep quietly in the grave ? how unworthy a thing is it to insult over a dead lyon , and write against him who rests in the dust ? the author hears these words with a quiet mind ; certainly if to answer the works of those who are dead be so criminal , how hainous offendors have so many writers in all ages been ? and how capital a delinquent is mr. hobs , who hath by writeing endeavoured to render the sentiments of the best and most learned men ridiculous . this treatise discourseth with his ghost ; he dyed in 1679 , and the treatise came out in 80. 't is his umbra , it carries his own lineaments , and speaks his own language . a reverend neighbour minister , a learned friend of the authors , acquainted him with the language of mr. hobs in private discourse , exactly agreeing with this tract , and we find the most of it cap 1 , and 2. de heresi app . ad leviath . ed. latina . i will acknowledge him a gentleman of great parts , of a wonderful vivacity to his old age ; that he had so fine a pen , that by the clearness , and propriety of his style , and exactness of his method , he gain'd more proselytes than by his principles : few exceed him in both languages , but these aggrandize his crimes ; he ought not to have abused such excellent qualifications , he hath so managed his pen , that many believe him unanswerable , yet let this tract be considered whether he be not fully refuted , as to the contents of his narrative . i will appeal to the learned world , whether mr. hobs hath not thrown dirt and ugly expressions upon the christian religion , the best of councils , the whole christian clergie , and hath abused the english laws . it may be again objected , this author durst not write whilst he was a live : whom did mr. hobs ever answer , but the clear pen of the arch-b . of armagh , and the great professor dr. wallis ? in the verses which he made of himself he vaunts a victory , the world is the judge , if what he saith be true , that there is an eternal fate and necessity : why can he commend himself and discommend others ; if in these lines the author does a thing ill , what reproof does he deserve , he is hurried to it by a fatal necessity . on this account his praising himself , and dispraising others is groundless , he is charged with contradictions from a great one , of which he endeavours to vindicate himself ; but 't is in vain , his artifices are fruitless . one of his moral and political principles is , that whatsoever is just or unjust , or to be received as true or false , is by the approbation or rejection of the supream power . he writes his ieviathan , in which this is asserted and defended , yet in the same eviathan he delivers those doctrines for true , which are judged heretical by the church of england , and laws of the kingdom : to evade this he useth all art and industry . in the first part of this answer some doctrines which he propagated in that book are proved heretical . in the latter part is proved , that these doctrines are criminal , and the persons that maintain'd them are liable to be punished by the civil majestrate . his book being an historical narrative , the author is forc'd to have recourse to books . mr. hobs gives us several histories , but quotes no authour ; whereupon the answerer is compelled to cite the place whence he has taken them . no memory , reading , vnderstanding or observation is infinite , therefore the authour sometime useth this or the like expression , so as to him it occurs ; he abstaines from all virulent language ; the hardest word , and that but once used , is notoriously false . mr. hobs gives occasion to dispute a great part of his leviathan , but the answerer prosecutes his design , to make good the contradiction ; as for instance , mr. hobs averrs that god hath parts ; here is a just occasion to dispute the nature of spirits , but the authour waves it , 't is sufficient to prove that the church of england has judged that proposition heretical , and thereupon has contradicted himself : he asserts , that they who embr●ce the liberty of the will are allyed to the manichees . this gives a fair opportunity to discourse of liberty and necessity : and he that seriously considers himself will find , the freedom of his will ariseth not from the flexibilty of the vnderstanding , flowing from various impressions upon that faculty , but from the dominion which the will has over it self , which the greeks excellently express by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , but the authour does not medle with that controversie , contenting himself with the demonstration of the absurdity of mr. hobs his imputation , and that it is contrariant to the doctrine of the church of england . the doctrine of the sacred trinity is religiously imbrac'd and entertain ▪ d by the church of england , as it was by the church of christ in all ages ; hence lucian in his philopatris jeer'd the primitive christians for believing such an incredible opinion , that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 should be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , ( i. e. ) tres unus , and unus tres , three persons and one god , which scoff shews sufficiently the faith of the primitive church . the authour does not therefore dispute the doctrine of the trinity , but wipes off all that varnish with which mr. hobs useth to bide the deformity of his sentiments , and makes him appear in his proper colours ; proves him heretical , in being an enemy to the faith , and doctrine of the church of england . the like may be said of other things which the author treats of , the charge being made good , that mr. hobs has notoriously contradicted himself : his book is answered , and his great postulatum demonstrated to be false , in that he is forc'd to acknowledge those things which are contrary to it . a discourse of heresie . a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is a greek word , and the derivations that are given of heresie from other words then 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , greek or latine , are fond and spurious . it was a word amongst the philosophers , greek and latine , us'd for any sect promiscuously , and so the acception is indifferent ; but 't is otherwise in sacred scripture , in ecclesiastical writers , fathers , and historians , amongst whom 't is alwaies us'd in an evil sense , the acts of the apostles being excepted , where 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is alwaies translated sect , only acts 24. 14. 't is probable 't is used in an ill sense . the reason may be this , the catholick church being one , what opinion was broached by any , contrary to the catholic church , receiv'd an ill stamp , and was called heresie . the several opinions of the philosophers were not branded with an ill name , they were not so fixed to one school , that it should be impious to be of another : but 't is otherwise in the church of christ ( which owneth the holy jesus to be her master , and founder , and glorying that she is the pillar and ground of truth ) whosoever sets up for himself , and divulgeth to the world an opinion contrary to the doctrine of the church , he himself was judged an heretick , and his opinion , an heresie : on this account in the church of christ , in all ages the word heresie was not a word of a middle , or indifferent sense , but of an evil , and reproachful acceptation . 't is granted , that the roman empire was full of philosophers when the gospel was preached , and that some , not many , were converted : but it is denied that most of the pastors of the church were chosen out of these philosophers : the primitive christians had a mighty jealousie of them , and the greatest philosophers which were christians , were not bishops : such were the professors and masters in the school of alexandria , as pantaenus , clemens alexandrinus , origen , &c. the heathens objected against the christians , that few of them were learned , which caused st. jerome to write his book de viris illustribus . 't is a gaeat attestation to the truth of christianity , that it appeared when philosophy so much flourished in the world . those great wits , which were so vastly furnished with oratory , learnning , and the tongues , if there had been any cheat acted by the christians they would easily have detected it : therefore when christ profest that by his works he might be known , he and his apostles wrought those miracles which gave a clear attestation to his doctrine . no doubt , but some of these philosophers were converted , but that ( by reason of their great skill in oratory and philosophy ) most of the primitive church were chosen out of the number of these philosophers ; 't is deny'd . in the primitive church for the three first centuries , there was not a philosopher made a bishop . when christians became numerous , they sent their children to be instructed in philosophy and the liberal sciences , who became brave persons . but i am ignorant if any philosopher converted was made a bishop . what hobbs averrs , that these pastors retaining their philosophical dogma's , interpreting scriptures according to their own sect , that thus at first heresie entered into the church , is not true ; for heresie was crept into the church in the apostles time , st. paul commands christians to beware of heresies , and st. peter saith there are those who shall privily bring in damnable heresies . i do ackowledge tertullian wrote smartly and truly , when he term'd philosophers the patriarchs of hereticks . de praescriptione . irenaeus lib. 2. cap. 19. gives us an account from what philosophers the valentinian and gnostick heresies borrow'd their absurd and monstrous opinions , but then we must say , that these hereticks were not pastors in the church . the first that broach't those prodigious opinions was simon magus , who was onely baptiz'd . in the first century , there was not one heretick , which was a pastor or bishop in the church of christ . the heresie of the nicholaitans took its rise from nicholas one of the seven deacons : he did not broach that heresie , but some who misinterpreted a passage of his , were the authors of it . nor any of the christian clergy was the author of any heresie in the second century . tatius was a great orator converted by justin martyr , and was the author of the heresie of the encratites , but he was not of the clerical order . in the third century . novatus a roman presbyter broach't his heresie ( i speak according to the best knowledge i have in the church history ) viz. concerning the not receiving the lapsi into communion , but he was not a philosopher , nor was his opinions any wise a kin to the dogma's of the heathen philosophers . nepos was an aegyptian bishop , not a profest philosopher ; a person of great excellency in many things , the author of the opinion of christs reigning a 1000 years upon earth , which opinion is founded , not upon any of the principles of philosophy , but upon some passages in the revelations . paulus samosatenus made bishop of antioch , was the broacher of many evil doctrines , but he was not a philosopher . the design of mr. hobbs easily appears , he every where casts severe reflections upon christianity , and its professors . the apostle condemns vain philosophy , col. 2. which in the sence of cl alexandrinus is the epicurean philosophy , from which hobs borrows his principles , moral , natural , and political . " upon the rising of a new opinion , the pastors of the church assemble themselves , if the author of that novelty persisted contrary to the determination of the church , he was laid aside , and considered as an heathen man ( i. e. ) they excommunicated him , other punishments they could inflict none . " this shall be easily granted , but what he subjoyns is utterly to be refused : that all the punishments the church could inflict , was only ignominy ; by this one stroke of his pen he hath cancel'd the new testament . to say , that excommunication , or casting a man out of the church , or esteeming him as an heathen man , was but infamy , 't is to deny christianity . one of the great offices of the church was ecclesiastical discipline and the divine censures , of which excommunication was the severest , and is still , if duely manag'd , the greatest puishment . to be thrown out of the church , to be depriv'd of the prayers of the church , to have no part in those offices of religion , by which the grace and favour of god is obtain'd , and to be delivered to satan , is this infamy onely ? to be outlaw'd , whereby a person is depriv'd of the benefit and liberty of the law ; he is deprived of the liberty of his countrey , he enjoys not a free air , house , nor harbor , and by reason a capital penalty is inflicted on those who afford him any reception or give him any relief , he is exposed to the utmost peril of ruine except the outlawry be reverst . is this only infamy ? the calamity that excommunication involves a person in , is far greater . for excommunication acording to the doctrine of the primitive church was reputed a sentence excluing the excommunicated persons from the kingdome of heaven : and hence by tertullian in his apology called futuri judicij praejudicium . is this only infamy ? he might have said , that christianity is nothing , the promises and threatnings contained in it are mere chimaera's : thence , tho they that embrace it , do entertain such a belief , t is but a fancy , therefore all the evil which attends by excommunicationis onely infamy . excommunication was not onely for heresies , but likewise for immoralities ; and excommunication did not brand a man for an heretick , but the person being rendred infamous for his heresie was ( if in the bosome of the church ) cast out . that heretick and catholick became not relatives by this excommunication , nor by this did heretick become a name , and a name of disgrace both together . a person by becoming an heretick was excommunicated , this name did preceed , not follow excommunication . it must be acknowledged , that the heresies concerning the trinity were very troublesome in the church , but not so vexatious during the ten persecutions , as in constantines time , and after ; but what is the cause , that when he proposes the troubles arising from the doctrine of the trinity , he would mix those doctrines which were wholly alienated from the doctrine of the trinity , as those of the manichees . " for , saith he , according to the usual curiosity of natural philosophy , they could not abstain from disputing the first principles of christianity , into which they were baptized in the name of the father , son , and holy-ghost . some there were who made them allegorical ; others would make one creator of good another of evil. this was the principal tenet of the manichees , who took their names from one manes . this monstrous opinion , that there were two eternal principles , light and darkness , these were two contrary gods , the one the author of good , the other of evil. what is this to the trinity ? " that which he adds is not to be endured , " from which doctrine they are not far distant that now make the first cause of sinful actions to be every man as to his own sin. " is this great truth manichism ? to say man by his free-will is the author of sin. in commendation of himself in his own life thus ? " i printed then two treatises that stung the bishop bramhal in his mother tongue . the question at the time was , and is still , whether at gods , or our own choice we will : " can we will evil at gods choice ? we therefore do affirm expressly contrariant to mr. hobs , that the causation of evil cannot be attributed to god without impiety . he mentioning our late fatal wars thus — such crimes and sufferings i will not impute unto the deity . i have no sence if this be not a repugnancy , in this tract he affirms that those who assert , that the causation of evil cannot be attributed to god are allyed to the manichees . and yet when in the verses , which respect his life , he recounts the english evils and calamities during the wars , he dares not impute them to the deity . truly how far this opinion is from manichaism , let the world judge . can any man have sence to believe , that if sin flows from god the first cause , but it must be attributed to him ? the manichees believe an eternal being the author of all evil. take their monstrous opinion from themselves . there was an epistle which they in st. austin called the fundamentum , and thus begins . manichaeus apostolus jesu christi , providentiâ dei patris , haec sunt salubria verba de vivo ac perenni fonte . manichaeus the apostle of jesus christ by the providence of god the father these are sound and wholsōe words flowing from a liveing and perpetual fountain . in this epistle , thus , in exordio fuêre duae substantiae a se divisae &c. in the beginning there were two substances divided from one another . god the father had the cōmand of light ; and then he proceeds to describe that kingdom , he then goes to the kingdome of darkness , which was at the side of light , giveing a wild description of that kingdome of darkness . he gives an account of the black king of it , that he with his hideous train assaulted god the father , the king of light ; who being affraid of him , sent some of his troops , who mixing with the black regiments , formed his world. that what is good must come from the king of light , what is bad from the king of darkness . these frenzies of him who was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 bewitched once that great man , who by the grace of god beeing inlightned fell from them to the catholic church . st. augustine a presbyter in hippo disputes fortunatus a manichaean presbyter of that city . both dispute about the original of the evil of sin , he assigns it to the black prince , & quitting the cause , affirmed , it could have no other original then from the evil nature of the prince of darkness . the like we find in his second dispute with felix the manichaean . saint austin assigns rightly this to the free will of man. it cannot enter into my head , why mr. hobs should give this assertion , my understanding is too shallow to fathom this depth . nothing farther to be reproved till we come to the 6 page , onely this passage may receive a little censure pag 6 " constantine the great was made by the valor and assistance of the christian soldiers sole emperor . " he not much regarding the peculiar providence of god , takes nonotice of that great miracle of y e cross appearing at noon , with this inscription 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . the whole army of constantine was inferior to magnentius his forces , a small number of his soldiers were christians , it was more the peculiar action of the arme of heaven , which dissipated the army of magnentius , and gave the eagles to constantine . " in the latter end of his time their arose a dispute between alexander the bishop , and arrius the presbyter of that city . " here the philosopher hath erred in his chronology , for for the quarrel between them began before the licinian persecution , in the tenth of constantin's ; who commanded the empire 37 years . would this was the worst error ! " this controversy between the inhabitants and souldiers , presently became a quarrel , and was the cause of much bloodshed in and about the city . this so far concerned the emperors civil government , that he thought it necessary to call a general council of all the bishops and other eminent divines throwout the roman empire , to meet at the city of nice . " indeed i read in the time of constantius , the aarrians prosecuted the catholicks with the greatest fury imaginable . the lamentable tragedy of which is given us by an alexandrian synod , in their letters to julius bishop of rome . but that any murders were committed during the reign of constantine , i do not observe ; but to lessen the honor of christian religion , he assigns the calling of that council to the peace of the empire . the prime reason was the establishing the peace of the church , and the uniformity in doctrine , which will be manifested , he said to the fathers in his exhortation to them , " that they would fall in hand w th the articles of faith , and whatsoever they should decree therein , he would cause to be observed : " on which he thus animadverts , " this may perhaps seem a great indifferency , then would in these days be approved off . " i know not the sence of this reflection , for what could be more desired by a council of the emperor , then to assure them that he would ratify those canons which they decreed , cencerning the things they were called for . the main of the discourse is concerning his animadversions on this article , begotten , not made , being of one substance with the father . thus he : " in this they condemn the doctrine of armus , for this word , of one substance , in latine consubstantialis in greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was put as a touch-stone to discern an arrian from a catholick , and much ado their was about it . " thus far t is true , but the verity of he subsequent discourse must be considered . " constantine himself at the passing of it took it for an hard word , but yet approved it : " the account is given by eusebius in his epistle to his flock , in caesarea . theod. lib. 1. cap. 12. he acquaints them what a form of sound words he presented to the synod at nice , w ch the emperor and synod allowed and approved : but the synod was not satisfyed except this one word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was inserted ; whereupon the synod entered into a long debate , and it past 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 &c. we did not admit without enquiry , which was after this manner . that word , of one substance was not to be understood according to any corporeal passion ; that it was not a subsistence by any division or abscission from the father . for an immaterial , intellectual , and incorporeal nature can't be the subject of corporeal passions , it behov'd that such things ought to be express'd in divine and arcane words . thus our most wise and religious emperour did philosophise . and theoderet , cap. 13. saith that word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was not invented by the fathers , but received from former ages , and devolved from fathers to children . " constantine calling that word divine not because it was in the divine scripture , " for it was not there , this is acknowledged . " but because it was to him an arcanum not sufficiently undeistood , " mr. hobs takes all the occasion to cast a contempt upon the council ; t is fit their should be suitable words , for tho the mystery cannot be rightly understood , yet the sence of the word may very well be understood . this word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 may well enough be known , yet how the son of god should be of the same substance with the father , is not so intelligible , his reflection upon the emperor is unworthy a gentleman . " and in this appeared the indifferency of the emperor , and that he had for his end in calling the synod , not so much the truth as the uniformity of the doctrine , and the peace of his people yet depended on it . " this is a most notorious scandal ; what! the famous constantine , who put a period to persecution , restored peace to christians , and made christianity to florish , what this constantine to play the hypocrite ? constantine did desire the uniformity in doctrine , but not in an evil doctrine , and the peace of his people , but he would not build this upon the foundation of sin and and heresy . before that celebrated emperor convened the council , he was convinced of the true faith , which appeared by his discourse with arrius , and his large letter to the churches in romania . they who read the letters of constantine concerning arrius before the council was call'd constantines edict , for the convening of the fathers , and his pious and sweet orations to the council , will find , that constantine's designe was , that so great an assembly of the best divines should settle the church upon the foundation of truth and peace . further , " the cause of the obscurity of this word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 proceeded clearly from the difference of the greek and roman dialect in the phylosophy of the peripateticks , " , what should cast mr. hobs into this sentiment i cannot understand ; all his subsequent discourse is of essence or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . as to this i know no difference in the greek and latine dialect . both greek and latine in the sence of ●hat agreed . the arrians and catholicks were harmonious . as to the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , why mr. hobs should make their difference to consist in that which they did agree , is to me unintelligible . the difference lay in the adjective ; there is one letter ( 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ) that makes it ; all schools agree in this , that like is not the same ; the arrians would allow the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , of a substance like to the father , but not this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the same substance with the father . it manifestly appears to be a wild excursion of mr. hobs to discourse and quible upon the sence of this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 essence , and substance , when the dispute did not lye in that ; yet if there be a connexion in his discourse , in that , according to him , it did consist : but we will follow him in the chace . " the first principle of all religion in all nations is , god is . this is a truth . that is to say , that god really is something , and not a meere fancy . " this is not well sayd , it is with a diminution , for when we understand the notion of a god , then we must have a conception of a being which is infinitely wise , good , powerful , eternal . &c. " but that which is really something is considerable alone by it self , as being somewhere , so the earth , the air are all of them things real ; whatsoever is in any place hath dimēsion , that is to say magnitude , and this which hath magnitude whether it be visible or invisible is called by all the learned a body , if it be finite , & body or corporeal , if it be infinite , it followeth , that all real things in that they are somewhere , are corporeal , " which paragraph gives occasion of these 2 considerable things . 1. whether there be any real being but that which is a body , and hath magnitude ? 2. wherein the nature of infinity consists ? as to the first we will grant , that all learn'd men say whatsoever hath magnitude is a body ; yet it must be affirmed , that the most and best of the literati affirme , that there are real beings , which are not bodys , and have no magnitude , the chief of which we say is god , and t is impossible to have any conception of a god , but he must remove from him the conception of a body ; a body must of necessity be divisible and have such parts w ch can't be competent to a deity , so that great attribute of god's immutability is lost , he being a thing that may be changed ; nor can this consist with gods omnipotency ; how can we think matter can be omnipotent , if we seriously cast our eyes upon this world to contemplate its beauty , order and greatness ; is 't possible to conceive , that it is the product of matter ? no , the notion of a god must include in its self the notion of infinity . an infinite cannot consist of finite parts ; several finites cannot amount to one infinite , therefore god cannot have parts , wherefore it must be acknowledged , that there is a being which is not corporeal , and farther t is most certain that hobs contradicts his own great principle , that the supream power is the sole judge of good and evil , truth and falsehood . he is a subject to the king of england by whose law the nicene council was ratified , which decreed that god is an immaterial and incorporeal substance , and by his own law hath declared that god hath no parts . 2. as to the nature of a thing infinite , there can be but two just acceptions of it . it signifies a being which includes in it self all perfections , and so it connotes the great god , the eternal majesty , and this infers , there cannot be two infinites , for there must not be two of all perfections . 2. or a being that is boundless , or hath no terme . the name infinite may be given to other things , as an infinite sea because it cannot be exhausted , take what water out of it you please , the sea remaines as full as before ; infinite words , infinite numbers , yet there are bounds to them , the sea may be fathomed , words have their numbers , none can imagine a line drawn to such a length but it may be drawn longer , fancy any number , there may be an addition , these are not properly infinites , as a little stick we see bounded , yet divided it may be into infinite parts ( i. e. ) it will be still capable of division , for nothing is material , but each part will be material . 't is clear that nothing can be esteemed infinite but space , in my apprehension . space simply conceived is nothing , 't is a mere imagination , so it appears , that nothing corporeal is infinite . that which he subjoyns concerning essence , and deity shall be considered , what he says of whiteness and blackness will be granted but what he intends by it , shall , be presently examined . " these real things , are called by the latine philosophers entia , subjecta , substantiae , and by the greek philosophers : 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the other which are incorporeal , are called by the greek philosophers , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but most of the latine philosophers use to convert 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 into substantia , and so confound real and corporeal things with incorporeal which is not well . for essence and substance signifie divers things . " to which 't is thus returned ; why doth mr. hobs call any thing incorporeal , when he asserts there 's nothing but what is a body ? 2. what philosophers say substantiae are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , other things are so called which are not substantiae ; and who saith that white and black are substantia and subjecta , seeing white and black have their substrata , which are different from them , and they are separable , for that substratum which is now white , may anon be black . 3. by the greek philosophers incorporeal things are not called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , for these are accidentia ; nor 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , for the spectra are subjects of the eye , and what is the object of sense is material , but they are by them called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . the latine authors doe well in translating 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sometimes substantia , sometimes essentia , essence and substande do differ , but the greek is copious ▪ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies essence and substance , expresly arist lib. 4. cap. 9. gives these two significations of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , that it signifies both essence and substance . the latines take their measures from the greeks . they confound not essence and substance , who give the just translation according to the true sense , it having divers acceptations , and therefore this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is truely rendred one of the same substance . ' and this mistake is receiv'd , and continues still in these parts , in all disputes both of philosophy and divinity ; for in truth essentia signified no more than if we should talk ridiculously of the isness of the thing , that is , ( by whom all things were made ) this is prov'd out of st. john , cap. 1. verse 1 , 2 , 3. and heb. cap. 1. ver. 3. and that again out of gen. 1. ' to make those expressions which philosophers us'd ridiculous he thus form'd this word isness st. jerome upon these words of the wise man , there 's no new thing under the sun , quotes his master donatus , reading upon terence , nil dictum , quod non priùs dictum , despereant qui nostra ante nos dixerunt . that great rhetorician , and gramarian might be the inver● or of some new words , or new explanation of the same thing but not else mr. hobbs is the sole inventor of the word isness , but his leviathan principles were prepared to his hands by fanciful and not thinking men , words mightily prevail . the reverend mr. calvin against the anabaptists , and other wild persons , us'd the word phanatick . the great monk in his southern journey which he manag'd with as curious and fine stratagems as ever a general did , to expose his adversaries ( the army abounding with such sort of creatures ) he call'd them phanaticks , which was of great efficacy ; perhaps 't is mr. hobbs his imagination by this odd word isness to render essentia , us'd by the philosophers , contemptible ere long ( it may be ) on the stage . and this isness amongst drolls may serve to make a conceit more pleasant : if he would have recollected what he said of speech . cap. 40. leviathan ; that words signifie as they are usually understood , then if isness had been used in a common vogue to denote the same with essence who would have reprov'd it . he quarrels with the father● and divines of note for confounding the concrete with the abstract , deus with deitas , ens with essentia , sapiens with sapientia , aeternu● with aeternitas : in my apprehension , the philosophers do not confound themselves , for they suppose a distinction , which to me thus appears : essentia the nature , ens the thing it self . i may have apprehensions of a thing , and the nature of a thing ; the philosophers make no confusion , none of them say that sapiens is sapientia ; if they did so , they might truly say , that covetousness is a covetous man , and holyness is a holy man &c. as he by this would render them contemptible : by a concrete they understand a thing compounded of substance ▪ and forms , by an abstract they conceive a form without the subject ; as wisdome , not considering the man that is wise . i may at the same time have a conception of wisdom , and not have the conception of a wise man. no philosopher doth say that wisdom , and a wise man are the same , nor covetousness , and a covetous man are the same . the schools and philosophers in speaking of the deity do fear to speak of god with any irreverence , & therefore upon just ground admit not any composition in god amongst them . deitas and deus are the same , and by reason that there is nothing eternal , but god , in him aeternus & aeternitas are the same : for when we concieve a distinction in the mind of man , it is concerning created beings ; but we have none such in god. essence and existence of created beings afford two different modes of concieving , but the contrary is of god. there is but one conception of the essence and existence of a god , and of them there is no sort of distinction : the abstract and concrete , and concrete and abstract are the same , therefore it must be ill said of him : for if deitas abstracted be deus , we make two gods of one . must then no such word as essence be used ? only body 〈◊〉 surely the word nature may be used ? what is this corporeal ? by that means i may use the word essential his aim is higher , that is , as the trinity , from that mystery of faith he takes all his grandeur . thus mr. hobs , the attributes therefore of god in the abstract , when they are put for god , are put metonymically , which is a common thing in scripture ; as for example . prov. 8. 25. before the mountains were setled , before the hills brought forth was i. the wisdom there spoken of being the wisdom of god , signifies the same with the wise god. in the sacred scripture by the wisedom of god , is sometimes meant the son of god , the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , the eternal word , and this is not denyed by the arrians themselves . they acknowledging that wisdom mentioned by solomon is christ the son of god , do endeavour to prove him not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , because he is said to be according to the greek fundata sum , and as cited by fulgentius contra object . arrianorum obj . creavit me initium viarum suarum . a creature is not of the same substance , tho the arrians falsly applyed those words , yet t is certain that by the wisdome of god mentioned in that chapter , was not as mr. hobs saith metonimically by them taken for the wise god , but a being subsistent by it self ; what he thinks of the other part of the creed is not amiss , but to say that it was never questioned amongst christians ( except by the arrians ) that christ was god eternal is an huge mistake . before arrius appear'd , several hereticks denied it , and arrius according to this word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , as appears by his letters and confession would not scruple to call christ the eternal god. he adds , that no man can be made an heretick by consequence this shall not create any dispute but what means he when he saith because that form was not put into the body of the creed , but directed onely to the bishops , there was no reason to punish any lay-person that should speak to the contrary ; i cant find his meaning : for the form 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was in the creed , and by the authority of that council every person who did not receive it was anathematiz'd . perhaps he means this , that god hath no parts is not in the form of the creed . this is acknowledged , that the council did not put that into the forme of the creed , yet it was determined by the council . the letters which eusebius wrote were synodical . by the super scriptions it appears , that the contents of those epistles did not concerne onely the bishop , but all the people . socrates , lib. 1. cap. 5. gives a full account of this ; he wrote an epistle of the decrees and acts of which eusebius sent by order of the council . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , and this same epistle saith socrates eusebius sent 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , to the church of alexandria , to those of lybia , egypt and pentapolis . what the synod by a common suffrage past , when the conciliary decrees were sent to all the churches : mr. hobs would make the world believe that they being directed by the bishops were onely obligatory of them ▪ the contrary in theodoret. lib. 1. cap. 5. cap. 12. the synodical epistles of the nicene fathers were directed not to the bishops , for the bishops were present in council but to the church of alexandria , and to all our beloved brethren in aegypt , libia and pentapolis . these being thus directed there was a reason to punish any lay-person which should speak to the contrary . ' but what was the meaning of this doctrine , that god hath no parts ? was it made heresy to say that god who is a real substance , cannot be considered or spoken of as here or there , or any where which are parts of places ? or that there is any real thing without length every way , that is to say which hath no magnitude at all finite or infinite ? or is there any whole substance , whose two halves or three thirds are not the same with that whole ? or did they mean to condemn the argument of tertullian , by which he confuted apelles and other hereticks of his time , namely whatsoever was not corporeal , was nothing but phantasm , and not corporeal for heretical ? ' no certainly , no divines say that , what is the meaning of this , that god hath no parts ? to explain this he adds several questions , whether god considered or spoken of , as here and there , or that there is any real thing without length every way i. e. hath magnitude at all finite or infinite : 't is returned to those questions . god is an infinite substance without magnitude ▪ nor can it be said , that a magnitude is infinite , 't is impossible to think that to be infinite , to which there can be an addition . his third captious question is frivolous ; 't is true if that substance be material , but it is not true in an immaterial substance . to the fourth let any divine be produced who saith that what is not corporeal is a phantasme . this is the question , whether all beings which have areal substance be corporeal , the epicureans affirme it , other philosophers and christians wholly deny it , indeed it must be affirmed , that sometimes by corpus or a body is meant any real being , or whatever hath any real being ; and this it is by some conceived to be the sence of tertullian ; thus st. augustine vindicates tertullian de genesi ad literam lib. 10. cap. ult . tertull. de animâ cap. 7 omne corporale est passibile . upon that st. augustine , debuit ergò mutare sententiam . he ought therefore to change his opinion ; which he mentions in another place , god is a body , ad , vernis praxeam . i cannot believe that he was so childish as to believe the nature of god is passible ; but that by this argument , whatsoever was not corporeal was nothing , should be the argument whereby he confuted apelles , and other hereticks in his times is a conclusion above the reach of my understanding . he disputes against hermogenes who asserted an eternal matter coexistent with god , who out of that created this vniverse what argument can be used against hermogines taken from proposition , omne quod est corpus est . there is nothing but body . in cap. 35. tertullian explains himself ; he takes an argument from hermogines his contradicting himself , primâ facie materia videtur esse incorporalis ; at the first sight matter seems to be incorporeal : but having seriously pondered what he saith , matter will be found neither corporeal , nor incorporeal . that i grant , some substance is onely incorporeal , for the substance it self is the body of every thing when corporeal and incorporeal are mentioned ; nothing else will be admitted . thus he explaining his sence of corpus that it is substantia , he confutes hermogines not from the recited proposition , but his own contrarietys ; the same may be applyed to what he disputes against marchiaean apelles and praxeas . therefore against mr. hobs i may be confident to averr that tertullian never attempts the refuting apelles , or any other heretick in his time , from this topick , whatsoever was not corporeal was a phantasme . t is true the nicene fathers went to establish one individual god in trinity , to abolish the diversity of species in god : and t is not true , that they did not intend to destroy the distinction of here and there , for the council in explaining the word did say , that it could not be understood of god , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , for the essence of god was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , the discourse is not concerning the intent of the council . since the council judged the nature of god to be immaterial and incorporeal , they did conclude that an incorporeal substance was not a contradiction ; therefore the holy fathers must needs have thought that god had no extended parts ; nor any sort of parts ; and therefore not be considered as here and there . what a force is don by him to the apostles question ; st. paul asks the corinthians , is christ divided ? which he thus interprets . ' he did not think , they thought him impossible to be considered as having hands and feet , but that they might think him ( alluding to the manner of the gentiles ) one of the sons of god , but not the only begotten . thus expounded in athanasius his creed , not confounding the persons , nor dividing the substance , i. e. god is not divided into 3 persons peter , james and john , nor are the 3 persons one and the same person . ' t is granted , that the fathers intended the last , but it is denied that they had any such intent , by not dividing the substance , to have a respect unto various individuals , for in that division , the persons & substances are divided , the substances are different and not the same ; but in the persons of the individual trinity , the substance is the same . and in created beings the persona of every individual is really distinct , not onely from the essence and person of another individual , but from the substance in which it doth subsist ; which appears in the incarnation of our lord jesus christ , who assumed not the person but nature of man : but the mistery being great above all the understanding and apprehension of man ; it is rather the object of faith , than reason . my main undertaking against mr. hobs in this tract is not to illustrate or prove the meaning , but to manifest that he has not cleared himself of the contradiction , and that in his attempts he throws himself into new absurdities , one of which is this paragraph . ' but aristotle , and from him all the greek fathers , and other learned men , when they distinguish the general latitude of a word , they call it division , as when they divide the animal into man and beast , they call these 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , species , and when they again divide the species man into peter and john , they call these 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 partes individuae . and by this confounding the division of the substance with the distinction of words , divers men have been led into error of attributing to god a name , which is not the name of any substance at all , viz. incorporeal ' 't is true that the philosophers , when they divide animae or the genus into men or beasts , they call these 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 species , but when they again divide the species man , into peter and john , they never call these 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 partes individuae , for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are partes dividuae , therefore individua are called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ; but what sence there is in his deduction , i 'le give , when i understand it . there is a substance , which is incorporeal ; the philosophers were led into that truth by observing the operations of some beings which are not corporeal , where it must needs follow , that these essences are incorporeal ; and by some other arguments : but that they should be led into this , which he calls an error by confounding the division of substance with the distinction of words , is a thing far from truth , and any conception of mine . ' many heresies which were antecedent to the first general council were condemned , as that of manes ( he might have added marcion ) by the first article i believe in one god. ' this was not directed onely against them , but also against the polutheisme of the heathens , ' tho to me it seems still to remain in the doctrine of the church of rome , which so attributes a liberty of the will to men , as that their will and purpose to commit sin uot should proceed from the cause of all things god , but originally from themselves or from the devil . ' indeed marcion and manes attributed sin to an evill god , but the church of rome , the church of england , and all other churches look upon that opinion as heretical : why this doctrine of the liberty of the will is to remain in the church of rome , this is to palliate . this doctrine continues in the church of england , and in all the churches of christ . the devil does vehemently tempt to sin , but he is not the cause of sin ; hence that good axom is received by all knowing men , no body is injured but by himself , that which is properly an evil is the evil of sin , which our selves only can inflict upon us ; but how comes it to pass that this doctrine of the liberty of the will should be opposed by this article , i believe in one god ? they who maintain that doctrine firmly believe this article , they say that the one true god is infinitely glorious in all perfections , amongst which is the liberty of his will , he created all things , amongst which he created rational beings which he endowed with the liberty of will , whereby they are made capable of being vertuous , and so to be rewarded , or vitious , and so to be punished ; where is there by this sentiment a setting up another god ? by god he means one first cause which necessarily moved from all eternity , from which necessary cause there flows an infinite concatenation of necessary causes , whence if any say , that there is a liberty of the will , he must assigne another first cause , and from thence oppose this article i believe in one god ; we say there is but one first cause , and that a free agent , whence springs the liberty of rational beings . by the account which mr. hobs gives of god , and by several of his opinions it must be concluded , that he believes there is no god. one of his sayings is , he that saith there is no mind in the world , hath no mind . this is a gingling quibble , besides many gross absurdites with w ch his opinion is charged , this is no mean one ; god is the author of sin ; to which he replys leviath . cap. 46. by this distinction god is not the author of sin , but he is the cause . the author is he who commands , the cause by whose power a thing is done . this with many other distinctions he frames , which are more subtle , perplext , and remote from sence , then any of the school-mens , for which he so much condemns them , certainly every cause is the author of a thing . he that commands , is by that a moral cause . but he that is a cause by enabling to do , is a physical cause of sin , god can't be such a cause ; but it may be queried whether god , according to mr. hobs , ever gave any laws to man-kind , for unquestionably if the rule of justice , & injustice good and bad , true and false be the will of the supream power ; god never gave laws to man kind , ' perhaps ( saith he ) the anthropomorphites were then condemned , but this cānot be for they appeared not untill the time of valens . ' this is no great matter , it is certain that the council did condemn all those who ascribed any parts to god , which the anthropomorphites did , yet if epiphanius be credited , heret , 70. audianus a mesopotanican the author of this heresy of the anthropomorphites florished in the time of arrius , when the nicene council was convened . ' no other punishment was ordained by constantine than deprivation and banishment ; and that not onely of bishops and pastors who refused to subscribe to the faith ; thus did heresie ( which at first was the name of a private opinion , and no crime , was by vertue of a law of the emperor , made onely for the peace of the church ) become a crime in a pastor and punishable . ' how many errata's in this paraptaph ? heresy in the church of christ was always a crime , and never the name of an opinion . this i prov'd before ; let it be granted , that every sin is not a crime , and that every crime is that w ch is punishable ; 't is a trisle to be lirigious in words , every sin is certainly punishable ; some sins are greater than others , so there is a difference in crimes , there are crimes which are onely discernable by almighty god , and so punishable at his tribunal ; but that heresy should be a crime onely because the civil power inflicts a corporal punishment , cannot be understood by any , but such a person , who bids a defyance not only to the christian religion , but to all other religions which assert a future retribution , or concludes that the great god doth punish evil men in this life by some extraordinary methods . but that heresy after this decree of the council became onely a crime punishable in the bishops and pastors , whether it be true or not , is not much material . in the pastors the people were always punished , for they followed their pastors in banishment . basil with a curious pen delineating the miserys and calamitys under which the orthodox bishops and pastors groan'd , likewise gives us the description of those dreadful sufferings , with which the people were oppprest . eusebius giveing us an account of an edict of constantine against hereticks , in that not onely bishops and pastors , but all sorts of hereticks were involved . de vità constant . lib. 3 cap. 62. and having proved before that arianisme was decreed an heresy not for the peace of the church , but likewise that there might be an agreement in the same faith , which was necessary to salvation , we may justly say that every line of that paragraph is notoriously untrue . to lessen the esteem of the nicene and the 4 general councils , says he , ' there arose new heresies about the interpretation of the creed , and partly about the holy ghost , of which the nicene council had not determined , and afterwards concerning the holy ghost . nestorius bishop of constantinople & some others denied the divinity thereof . ' the pneumatomachi appearing after the council of nice had pretended for themselves the silence of the nicene fathers ; to which basil , nazianzen , theoderet , epiphanius answer , there being no question moved concerning it , the council acquiesed in the opinion , and right faith of the universal church , concerning the divinity of the holy-ghost . why should the fathers confirme that truth which was not questioned , but taken for granted , or condemne that for heresy which was not preached , yet if not in a set forme of words decreed , yet in truth and by good consequence , the sence of the fathers as to that article was given . for st. basil epist . 78. hieronom . epist . 65. epip . haeresi 74 take off , and answer that objection ; epiphanius and athanasius prove it thus , that the same glory which is given to the father , and to the son , is likewise given to the holy ghost ; for the symbol is , i believe in god the father , and in god the son ; and i believe in the holy ghost . this divine faith , fixed upon the father , son , and holy ghost , as one and the same god , gives the true sence of the council . the great mistake concerning nestorius must only be attributed to mr. hobs his animadversion : for it was not nestorious , but macedonius who denied the divinity of the holy ghost . nestorius was a great adversary to the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , therefore in socrates lib. 7. cap 31 , we find that nestorius was so great an enemy to the macedonians that when he was bishop of constantinople he drove the macedonians out of all their churches in that city , and in the hellespont . ' concerning the parts established there arose disputes about the nature of christ , and the word hypostasis . ( i. e. ) substance , for of persons there was yet no mention made , their creed being written in greek , in which language there is no word that answereth to the latine word persona ; and the union , as the fathers called it , of the humane and divine nature in christ hypostolical caused eutyches , and after him dioscurus to affirme there was but one nature in christ , thinking that whensoever two things are united , they are one . ' t is true the latine word persona is used in the latine church , which church embraced likewise the word hypostasis , and all differences concerning those words were within a while composed , and all orthodox christians in that church who know the greek language do receive the word hypostasis in the same sense which the latines use persona . the famous nicene councils having decreed , that there were two natures in christ , and one hypostasis which signifies subsistence , this exactly answers to the latine persona . nestorius bishop of constantine broch'd this heresy that in christ there were two distinct persons , and so mary the mother of christ was not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the mother of god : against him eutyches excellently disputed in the fourth action , in the council of constantinople ; eutyches declining the one , fell into another heresy , asserting that there was but one nature in christ , yet the humane nature was swallowed up by the divine , and was not of the flesh of the virgin , but descended from god. a great promoter of this impiety was dioscurus bishop of alexandria , a wicked and lewd person , a monster rather than a bishop . these were condemned in the chalcedonian council . i will grant that the disciples of eutyches did say , if two natures there would be two hypostases , i will say it was an heretical illation , and affirme , that the latine word persona answers to the greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , according to the sence of the churches both east and west . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is not substance but subsistence , to which persona directly answers . but ( saith he ) in the nicene creed there 's no mention of hypostasis or hypostatical union , nor of corporeal , nor incorporeal , nor of parts ; but this was acknowledged by the fathers in that council , there was the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which necessarily infers it : after a dispute concerning the sense of these words , they all agreed in the same faith , and that hypostasis is as well as persona , entertained by the universal church ; not signifying substantiam as usally ; but subsistentiam ; from the nicene decree must of n●cessity flow the hypostatical vnion . tho the word incorporeal was not used in the nicene creed , yet it is used in eusebius his synodical episties , who styles god 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , immaterial and incorporeal , as before asserted : but invidiously to throw dirt upon the fathers ; ' such points ( saith he ) were not necessary to salvation , but set a broach for ostentation of learning , or else to dazle men with designe to lead them towards some ends of their own . ' by which he charges the most humble persons with pride , the most sincere with hypocrisie , and the most unbiass'd with secular aims . t is true that it was not judged necessary to salvation , that vulgar persons should know what hypostasis and persona intended , as appears by that council held at alexandria by athanasius bishop of that see ; eusebius of vercelles , and lucifer of calaris , two western bishops , who after they had contended about these words , were united in this nicene article , that christ was the eternal son of god , and really god , and that it was an article of the christian faith , & necessary to salvation . what he says concerning st. cyprian is nothing to my design , nor shall i make any remarks upon his discourse of the usurpation of the bishop of rome , or take cognizance of what he says of the punishment ordained against hereticks in the reign of k. rich. the 2. and succeding princes , for this is nothing to my purpose ; my whole designe is to make good the contradiction with which he is charged . i must therefore have no regard to any penal statures in causes ecclesiastical , until the reign of queen elisabeth . i charge him with these heretical propositions , contrary to the doctrine of the church of england , to whom he is obliged by the laws of the king to be subject . 1. that god hath parts . 2. that christ is not of the same substance with the father . 3. that the persons in the sacred trinity are temporall ; all which are declared heretical by the lawes , and church of england . but mr. hobs would evade the two last heretical propositions , by saying he believes the doctrine of the trinity as the church hath explained it in the catechisme . when the minister asks the catecumene , what dost thou chiefly lear in these articles of thy belief . he answers , i learn first to believe in god the father , who created me and all the world. 2. i god the son who hath redeemed me and all mankind . 3. i god the holy-ghost who hath sanctified me and all the elec● people of god. what is then intended but this , tha● god in his own person-did create all things , in the person of his son did redeem mankind , in the person o● the holy ghost did sanctifi● the church : what clearlie concerning the divine persons , or more consentaneous to the faith can be said ? appendix ad leviath . cap. 1. on the contrary i will pronounce that nothing is more obscure nor distentaneous to the faith : tully said properly , ego tres sustineo personas , mei judicis adversarij ; yet it must be granted , that the same word may have divers significations , peculiarly in various sciences , else the great and famous northern constellations may note the greatest bear in the muscovian snowes . the latine fathers , and after them the schools , and divines , take not the word persona in the same sence that orators and philosophers do ; i believe that bellarmine did know the meaning of the latine word persona as well as mr. hobs. let common sence be appealed , can the mystery of the trinity be explained according to cicero's use of the word persona for according to the church of england in the athanasian creed , which is part of the liturgy established by law , and ratified in the 8 article , in which are these words , the three creeds , the nicene creed , the athanasian creed , and that commonly called the apostles creed , ought to be throughly received and believed . in the athanasian , the eternity is not onely of the essence , but of the persons , not as the father eternal , the son eternal , and the holy ghost eternal , but according to mr. hobs the persons were temporal ( i. e. ) god became a father , when he created the world , a son when he redeemed mankind , and the holy ghost when he sanctifies ; which is absolutely contrary to the faith : for upon the impious account of mr. hobs the persons were not eternal , by reason the actions of god in creating the world , by which there was the parsonality of the father , and of the son in redeeming the world , and of the holy ghost in sanctifying the elect people of god , were temporal . let this be queried , what sence is this ? god redeemed mankind in the person of his son , persona mei is tully himself , but persona judicis is tully reprensenting a judge ; did god represent another in the redeeming of the world ? this leads to the making good this heresy concerning the incarnation of the son of god , for he utterly denies the eternal filiation , and saith that christ being the son of god was an eternal god , but as being begotten extraordinarily in time he acknowledgeth that expressly and frequently in the scriptures christ is said to be begotten ; that he was god born of the father before the world ; when christ is said to be begotten , t is meant , that he was begotten of god himself , the father of the matter of the virgin , mat. 1. vers . 20. that which was begotten of the virgin mary was of the holy ghost , and should be called the son of god , ' but some perhaps will say that the eternal generation differs from that which was made in the womb of the virgin. ' to which he thus answers , where doth the holy scripture or synod thus distinguish ? this question is a certain demonstration that he denys the eternal generation and that he by a strange passion resolves to deny those things which for certain he knows to be true , if a stou denyal serves his designe ▪ the sacred scripture in several places is express for the eternal generation , makeing it distant from the temporal . the scriptures were wrested and false glosses put upon them ; arrius did not deny the praeexistence of the son of god , who was incarnate , the difference was not concerning the eternal generation , but the consubstantiality . having thus proved , that his leviathan contains certain haeretical propositions ; it remains , that i prove these heresies criminal , and thus i state the question and pursue it . 't is one of mr. hob's great artifices to avoid those absurdities into which his own sentiments casts him . mr. hobs percieving that he is justly charg'd with this imputation , writes the book call'd the historical narrative of heresie . the parliament complain'd , that in it were contain'd several heretical opinions , ( i. e. ) opinions declared heresie by the church and laws of england : he being a subject to the king , is obliged to obedience to the laws of his soveraign . by this therefore he doth manifestly contradict himself , and opposeth these his great moral and political postulata's . ' nothing is just or unjust , but what is made so by law , and that nothing is criminal , but what a penal law prohibits . ' from this his most just charge he would free his leviathan ; to shew that his attemts are frivolous , it must be prov'd , that his leviathan doth contain heretical opinions . to which he returns , that there is no opinion that opposeth a penal statute ; or that no person can be justly by the civil magistrate punish'd for any opinion contain'd in the leviathan . for ( saith he ) ' all the penal laws against hereticks were repeal'd in the reign of q. elizabeth . to remedy the inconvenience which might arise by novel dogma's , she apointed a court ▪ called the high commission , to declare what was heresie . but that high commission never declared what was heresie , or if they did , it was to no purpose , for they were not impower'd to inflict any punishment upon an heretick . withal the parliament abolishing that court ▪ nothing could be accounted heresie : besides the leviathan was printed in 1651. when it was lawful to write or preach any thing in matters of religion . ' to which i suppose that some , nay many things contained in the leviathan are heretical , and so judged by the church , and punishable by the civil majestrate . not to mention many , i will assign these two. the nature of god , and the mystery of the individual trinity are by him heretically and impiously explicated . he blasphemously avers god hath parts , and makes the persons of the holy trinity to be temporal , not eternal ; both which are declared heretical by the first article , ) and by the three creeds . the athanasian creed is imbodyed into the common law , and that his opinion concerning the trinity is heretical is indubitable , waveing the contests he strives violently to maintain , that nothing in matters of faith is declared criminal by the law , or punishable by the civil magestrate . for faith he ' the lady elizabeth in her first year repealed all the laws ecclesiastical of queen mary , and all other laws concerning the punishing of hereticks , nor did she enact any other punishment in their place . ' these lines he could not deliver without that same arrogance by which he explodes the universityes , and accounts most of the learned men in the world , fools . for the writs de heretico comburendo and de excommunicato capiendo were in force , he adds in the 2 place , it was enacted ' that the queen by her letters patents should give a commission to the bishops with several other persons in her majesties name to execute his power ecclesiastical , this is granted , ( he proceeds ) in which commission the commissioners were forbidden to adjudge any thing to be heresy which was not declared to be heresy by some of the four first general concils , nor was there any thing in that commission concerning how hereticks ought to be punished . but it was granted to them to declare , or not declare to be heresy or not heresy as they pleased , any of those doctrines which had been condemned in the four first general councils for heresie . ' to refute this , and what he subjoyns , t is requisite that i give the words of the statute . ' they shall not ( meaning the high commissioners ) have authority or power to order determine or adjudge any matter or cause to be heresy , but only such as heretofore have been determined , ordered or adjudged to be heresy by the authority of the canonical scriptures , or by the first four general councils , or any of them , or by any other general council , wherein the same was declared heresy by the express and plain words of the said canonical scriptures , or such as hereafter shall be ordered , determined or adjudged to be heresy by the high court of parliament of this realme , with the assent of the clergy in their convocation . ' by this it appears what a lame and false account he gives of the statute , for the queen , and her parliament did not leave it indifferent to the high commission to determine what was or what was not heresy , but limits them ( to declare what was heresy or not heresy ) not only to the four first general councils ( as he seems falsely to insinuate ) but likewise to the express words of scripture , and to the parliament ) which he seems to exclude , for he omits the mentioning of them ; ' nor was there ( he adds ) in that commission any thing concerning how hereticks ought to be punished . ' the high commission could not inflict capital punishment . i hope mr hobs will not say there is no crime , but t was capitall . that the high commission had power to punish persons in case of heresy is evident both by the law of england , and practice of that court. by the law of england expressly by the act elizab . that court was invested w th all ecclesiastical power before the cancelling of the high-commission , the bishops had a power to imprison persons , and the writ de excommunicato capiendo still continues . the words of the act are that ' the queen , or any of her successors should nominate one or more persons to use , exercise , and occupy , all manner of jurisdictions , priviledges or preeminences in any wise touching , or concerning any spiritual or ecclesiastical jurisdiction , and to visi● reforme , redress , order , correct and amend all such errors , heresies , schismes & c. ' it was perfect nonsence for a parliament to enable the english soveraign to erect a court to punish and amend errors and heresies , if the law of england had not declared what was an heresy , and likewise not to invest them with power to accomplish such ends , which they had not , if they could not inflict punishments , he returned , ' the jurisdiction was onely spiritual : ' but to that was annexed a civil punishment . upon excommunication there lay a writ de excommunicato capiendo ; that a person excommunicated for heresy or errors in doctrine , by that writ might be imprisoned , is clear as the day . certainly imprisonment is a civil punishment . this writ lay against those who were obstinate offenders in causes ecclesiastical is evident by 5 eliz. cap. 23 ▪ with the significavit to be added to the writ , and in that significavit 'tis joyn'd that the excommunication doth proceed upon some cause of some original matter of heresy , or error in religion or doctrine , now received and allowed in the said church of england , whereby it appears that persons for heresy might be imprisoned , and so heresy to become criminal . for it was to be punished by the civil magistrate with corporal mulcts ; and farther lay a writ de heretico comburendo ; if nothing was declared heresy , why did their lye such a writ . that such a writ was in force , is clear by the annulling of it , when this fetal plot was detected , then the parliament made an act to cancel it , either it was in force , or not ; if in force , the parliament was prudent in making it void , if not it casts a reproach upon the two houses to annul that which was exploded . that these writs were in force is declared , and that the writ de excommunicato capiendo retains its vigor , is evinc'd by the usage of the kingdome of england . as for the writ de heretico comburendo , it was put in execution in king james his time . legat & wightman were burnt , the one in smith-field , and the other in litchfield , for the arrian heresy . he saith , that they which approve such executions may peradventure know better grounds for them then i do . but grounds are very well worthy to be enquired after : but he might very well know the just grounds for them . he that affirms the law to be the sole rule of just and unjust could not be ignorant that by the common law of england , the writ de heretico comburendo was valid , and thereupon an heretick might legally be burnt . my lord cook part 3. cap. 5. affirms that by the books of the common law the king issuing our his vvrit de heretico comburendo , an heretick ought to be burnt . that heresy might be punished by corporeal and pecumiary mulcts , is clear by the queens letters patents , authorized by the 1. statute of her reign . she did give to the arch bishop of cant. the bishop of london , and divers others , any three or more of them , full power and authority to reforme , redress , order , correct , and amend &c. and to have full power and authority to order and award , to every such offendor by fine , imprisonment , censure of the church , or otherways , or all or any of the said ways . cawdrys case . and in that same case it is resolved by the judges , that the statute of the first of queen elizabeth did not introduce any new law , but declared an ancient one . the title of the statute being an act restoring to the crown the ancient jurisdiction over the state ecclesiastical and spiritual . the sovereign , being the supream head of the church , without whose authority no person can or ought to exercise any ecclesiastical jurisdiction , or proceed to any censure ; it demonstrates that by the royal power an heretick might be punished with a civil and corporeal mulct . farther the star-chamber was an ancient court grounded upon the common law of england , and confirmed by act of parliament . which court took cognizance not onely of civil crimes but also of ecclesiastical , and did punish hereticks by imprisoning , fineing and stigmatizeing , as appears by the records of that court ; and that famous instance of thrask , who in the 16. year of king james for spreading of judaical heresies , he was cited into the court and being obstinate was sentenced to be set in the pillory , whipt to the fleet , fined and imprisoned , all which was executed : by which it appears what truth there is in this assertion of mr. hobs ▪ during the time the high commission was in being , there was no statute by which an heretick might be punished otherwise than by the ordinary censure of the church , for 't is proved that by the common law of england and the statute law during the time of the high commission , hereticks might suffer in their bodies and purses : hence it follows that heresy was criminal , and he hath not vindicated himself from that contradiction with which he stands charged . he farther proceeds . ' that no doctrine could be accounted heresy , unless commissioners had actually declared and published , that what was made heresy by the four first general councils should be heresie : ' but i never heard yet there was any such declaration made either by proclamation , by recording in churches , or by printing , as is requisite in penal laws . we have before proved that the high commission was not the sole judges of heresy . that which the church and law of england condemns for heresy , is as fully divulged as can be expected . the 39. articles are sufficiently known , and those doctrines which the four first general councils received as orthodox , or condemned as heretical , are ratifi'd by the law and church of england , and sufficiently promulged : the nicene creed which was completed by the fourth general council is read in every church on sundaies and holy daies : the athanasian creed is to be read at peculiar festivals , both which creeds , as also the apostles , are part of the liturgy of the church , which is imbodyed into the laws of the land , and that the opinions which are contrary , are made heretical appears by these clauses of the athanasian creed , he therefore that will be saved must thus think of the trinity . furthermore it is necessary to everlasting salvation that he also believe rightly the incarnation of our lord jesus christ : and this clause ends the creed , this is the catholick faith which except a man believe faithfully he cannot be saved . the doctrines therefore declared to be heretical are sufficiently , by printing and recording in churches , divulged . to alleviate his crime , or at least to vindicare himself from heresie , he reflects upon our late sad distractions , w ch to me administers matter of horror . ' before arms were taken up , saith he , the king abolished the high commission , but the parliament pursued the rebellion , and put down both episopacy and monarchy , erecting a power , by them called a common wealth , by others the rump , which men obeyed not out of duty but fear , ' those actions were dreadfull , and are the fontinels of all those fears which now afflict us . the just principles by which government is formed and established , and reasonable laws are enacted , deservedly reprove and condemn those actions , perpetrated in our late confusions , which gave a scandall to our religion and nation : but how can he cast an odium upon those actions his sentiments justifie . saith he , ' there were no humane laws left in force to restrain any man from preaching , or writing any doctrine concerning religion that he pleased . and in this time it was , that a book called the leviathan was writ in defence of the kings power spiritual or temporal , without any word against episcopacy , or against bishop , or against the publick doctrine of the church . ' to which t is thus replyed , ' the leviathan was impressed 1651 , and come out in latine upon his majesties returne . in 48 england was totally subdued to the power of the rump , ireland in 49. scotland in 51. was almost reduct by the rump , and his majesties army totally routed at worcester , in this year the leviathan was published , was this book in defence of the kings power , spiritual and temporal , when his majestie was in banishment ? ' his majestie was then devested of all his lawfull power and authority , and forc't into exile ; this leviathan , if the principles were admited , justfied the actions of his enemies ; he casts this imputation on the rump , that they were obeyed onely for fear ; in the same book he endeavours to prove that man is not by nature a lover of society , but at his original is in a state of war ; the dread of the evils which are incident to that condition , makes him to enter into a society with others ; and let it be considered , whether , if fear be the great inducement to government , they according to his principles are to be condemned who out of the same fear obeyed the rump , and that the fundamental law of nature is self preservation , and for fear that end should not be attained , pacts are entred into , but if after those pacts that design cannot beaccomplished , then pacts are void : and therefore if people have a suspicion that the prince will destroy them , they may take up arms. and if the prince be devested of his government , the people are no longer obliged to obey him , and upon this account of self-preservation , they are to submit to those who can protect them . upon this reason the taking the engagement was lawful , and it was his honour to present to the english nation those principles w ch induced many to take the engagement . oliver gaining the protectorship , was so pleased with him on those accounts , that the great place of being secretary was profered him . if these things be true , ( as unquestionably they are ) let it then be considered , whether any sober man can believe that the book called the leviathan was writ in defence of the kings power , temporal and ecclesiastical ; since it manifestly asserts the cause of usurpers . it must be granted that mr. hobs doth give to the soveraign all illimited power in things just and sacred . but this he gives to all sorts of government , to aristocracy and democracy as well as monarchy . a book to be penned and published by him , when all the kings dominions were in the power of those who took up arms against him ▪ which containes these docttines . pag. 112. ' but in case a great many men have already resisted the soveraign power unjustly , or committed some capital crime , for which every one of them expects death , whether have they not the libertie then to joyn together , and assist , and defend one another ? certainly they have : for they but defend their lives , which the guilty man may as well do , as the innocent . there was indeed injustice in the first breach of their duty ; their bearing of arms subsequent to it , tho it be to maintain what they have done , is no new unjust act ; and if it be only to defend their persons it is not unjust at all . pag. 114. the obligation of subjects to the soveraign is understood to last as long and no longer than the power lasteth , by which he is able to protect them . for the right men have by nature to protect themselves , when none else can protect them , can by no covenant be relinquished ; the soveraignty is he soul of the common-wealth , which once departed from the body , the members do no more receive their motion from it . pag. 174. when in a war ( forraine or intestine ) the enemies get a final victory , so as the forces of the common wealth keeping the field no longer ) there is no ther protection of subjects in their loyalty ; then is the common-wealth dissolved , and every man at liberty to protect himself by such causes as his own discretion shall suggest unto him . for the soveraign is the publick soul , giveing life and motion to the common-wealth , which expiring , the members are governed by it no more , than the carcass of a man by his departed ( tho immortal ) soul. for tho the right of a soveraign monarch cannot be extinguished by the act of another , yet the obligation of the members may . for he that wants protection may seek it any where , and when he hath it , is obliged ( without fraudulous pretence of having submitted himself out of fear ) to protect his protector as long as he is able . ' it was so far from defending his majesties authority , that without command they plainly justifie the actions of his usurping enemies . no person that hath suckt in hobs his principles , can be a loyal subject , and hence likewise it appears , that he did not ingeniously with his majesty , when he averts in his apology for his leviathan , in an epistle dedicated to the king , before problemata phisica , nec vitio vertant quod contra hostes pugnans &c. let none account me a criminal , that fighting against your enemies i took what arms i could , and brandished a two edged sword ; certainly those propositions fought against his majesty , and defended the cause of of his enemies ; that in the same book he did write against bishops and the doctrine of the church of england is manifestly proved before . in the common-prayer book are contained several doctrines of the church of england , to oppose or deny which ( as mr. hobs doth in the aforesaid book ) is made criminal , that is to be punished by the civil magistrate , by the first of queen eliza. cap. 2. the title of which is , that there be uniformity of prayer and administration of the sacraments , in which there are these words . ' be it enacted , that every per son or persons whatsoeverthat shall in any interludes plays , songs , rhymes , or by any other open words declare or speak any thing depraving or despiseing the same book , or any part thereof , or any thing therein contained , then the party convicted shall forfeit to the queen for the first offence an hundred marks . ' he concludes this tract with casting an odious and false scandal upon the whole christian clergy ; down from the whole council of nice to this present time , in these words ; ' so fierce are men for the most part in dispute , where either their learning or power is debated , that they never think of the laws , but as soon as they are offended they cry out crucify , forgetting what paul saith , even in case of obstinate holding of an error . 2. tim. 24. 25. the servant of the lord must not strive , but be gentle unto all men , apt to teach , patient , in meekness instructing those that oppose , if god peradventure may give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth . ' t is true both the bishops and the presbyterians did accuse that book ( in the parliament ) of heresy : why could they be fierce , their learning and their power being not disputed , when he professes in that book he medled not with them , their power , or learning . those things make not the clergy fierce ; t is the person , the religion , the faith of the holy jesus for which the clergy have been and are still so zealously contending ; they are , and were piously fierce in opposing prophane heresies , and blasphemous impieties ; the zeal of the lord of hosts hath eaten up those holy divines ; their zelous defence of the doctrine of their master hath not violated the apostles direction given to the pastors of the church 2. tim. that reaches only those who erred through infirmity , not obstinacy . contumacious hereticks they are bound to oppose withall holy zeal and indignation . did not he blush to averr that they cryed crucifie , when they knew not the law. could they be ignorant of that law which they themselves put in execution : their ignorance of the law did not make them cry crufie , but knowing the law and gospel became profest enemies to those who by their antichristian opinions crucifie again the lord of glory . what reproach casts he upon religion when he loads the christian divines with such imputations . those that are verst in ecclesiastical history , and have read the fathers , cannot but conclude that the basil's , the gregory's &c. were men as great for learning and goodness as the world ever produced ; their fervent opposition of hereticks was not contrariant to that apostoliocal precept . the holy christian divines ( obeying the apostolical commands titus 3. 10. an heretick after the first and second admonition reject , 2 pet. 2. 1. if any one bring another doctrine , receive him not into your house , nor bid him good speed . ) down from the apostles time to this day have and will be till christ come to judgement , zealous and pious opposers , of those who privately bring in damnable heresies denying the lord that bought them . finis . a discourse concerning the abstrusenesse of divine mysteries together with our knowledge of them may 1. 1627. another touching church-schismes but the unanimity of orthodox professors feb. 17. 1628. by i.d. mr of arts and fellow of merton colledge in oxford. doughty, john, 1598-1672. 1628 approx. 98 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 29 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2009-10 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a20674 stc 7072 estc s110101 99845717 99845717 10637 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a20674) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 10637) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1475-1640 ; 955:09) a discourse concerning the abstrusenesse of divine mysteries together with our knowledge of them may 1. 1627. another touching church-schismes but the unanimity of orthodox professors feb. 17. 1628. by i.d. mr of arts and fellow of merton colledge in oxford. doughty, john, 1598-1672. [4], 26, 26 p. printed by iohn lichfield printer to the famous vniversity, and are to be sold by edward forrest, oxford : anno dom. 1628. i.d. = john doughty. reproduction of the original in the henry e. huntington library and art gallery. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 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clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng god -knowableness -early works to 1800. heresies, christian -modern period, 1500-early works to 1800. 2006-10 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2006-10 aptara keyed and coded from proquest page images 2009-01 john latta sampled and proofread 2009-01 john latta text and markup reviewed and edited 2009-02 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion a discovrse concerning the abstrvsenesse of divine mysteries , together with our knowledge of them may 1. 1627. another chvrch-schismes but the vnanimity of orthodox professours feb . 17. 1628. by i. d. mr of arts and fellow of merton colledge in oxford . oxford , printed by iohn lichfield printer to the famous vniversity , and are to be sold by edward forrest anno dom. 1628. to the right worshipfvll dr brent , dr of the civill lawes , the worthie warden of merton colledge . sir , i haue done that here , which intruth i never thought to haue done ; namely put my selfe vpon the publique censure for a sermon : for i knowe , and well consider the superabundancy of this kinde of writing , wherewith the world may seeme not more instructed , then opprest . but the maine reason that draue me on this determination , was a fitnesse here of the argument with the times ; in which case alone ( to speake my minde ) i haue ever thought such discourses , at leastwise excusable , if divulged ; especially when as too the argument thus taken in hand happens a little besides the vsuall roade : not trauers'd and debated in every treatise . vpon this ground , or howsoever i was perswaded , hauing perchance resolu'd of a publication . i knewe not to whom i could more iustly entitle this schedule , then to your selfe . first for the particular respect i owe you , and then by reason of my collegiate duty in which i stand bound . please you then sir , but to accept of these my first fruits : it may bee hereafter i shall bee able to vndertake some one thing or other , which may better deserue your name and patronage . meane while i remaine , as ever , yours in all due obseruance , iohn dovghty . concerning divine mysteries . rom . 12. ver . 16. be not wise in your owne conceipts . not to trouble you with any tedious preface : the romanes here in this chapter may seeme vpon their new enlightning by the gospell , not rightly to haue vsed those spirituall endowments which they did therewith receiue . for otherwise not long since they were a people of all most reprobate ; so farre from the light of grace , that they became even void of common sense : what the satyrist speaketh concerning eunuchs in that they are dismembred , quaerit se natura , nec invenit — might be affirmed of them in a more proper phrase , they had by custome of sinne lost the very principles of reason : doing those things ( saith the apostle ) which are against nature . rom. 1. 26. but now at length through an especiall calling by god's grace , they were well rid of that wretched estate in which they lay ; being insteed thereof indued with many rare gifts both of the will & vnderstanding ; like men therefore newly recouered from out the dungeon into a comfortable sunshine , they doe not moderately enioy this so vnwonted a light , but with too much exultancie : they wax proud and high minded : before they sinned in not knowing god or what was right , & now they take an occasion of transgressing from the abundance of their knowledge ; as the apostle speakes of leaven 1. cor. 5. that a little of it leaueneth the whole lumpe : so here chiefly by a little selfe-conceipt of knowledge , all their other graces are in danger to be corrupted . saint paul therefore to coole and allay this heat of ambition is very diligent : first he adviseth them in the 6. v. aboue to measure themselues by their proper endowments : whither ( saith he ) you haue receaued the gift of prophecie , vse prophecie , or of ministring , waite vpon your ministery : in the beginning of this 16th v. he biddeth them not to minde high things : not things which might serue rather to increase their tumour , then build them vp in the spirit . and lastly he presseth them with the words of my text. be not wise , &c. where may you be pleased to obserue two maine parts : first a wisdome forbidden : and then what wisdome it is : the wisdome here inhibited may bee vnderstood , either in regard of the obiect , as be not wise , that is , be not overcurious to prye into secrets vnrevealed : in which sense i will handle ; first , the profoundnesse of divine mysteries : 2ly , the danger if any shall presse too farre into them ; or you may vnderstand it in respect of the subiect , as be not wise , that is be not conceiptedly lift vp in minde . wherevpon i shall consider the weaknesse of humane knowledge ; & how at leastwise it is not our owne , but from god : out of the second generall , whereas it is denied that we should bee wise in our owne conceipts , a rule or square may be thence supposed , according to which we may be wise , and that i define to bee either scripture or revelation . of these in their order , and first of the profoundnesse of divine mysteries . so deepe are most points of this art , that in truth they are aboue the lawfulnesse of mans search . the apostle in the precedent chap : at the 33 v. tearmes them not incomprehensible , but rather 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , things not to be inquired into : such as must bee reverenced and admired in silence ; quod non potest comprehendi ( saith lactantius ) nec quaeri debet : if mysteries cannot be sounded by vs , neither ought they at all to be discussed ; it is true that whatsoeuer may conduce to our happinesse , the lord hath revealed most gratiously ; he hath giuen vs his word to bee our guid and comfort ; for as the israelites were in the vast wildernesse , so are we beset with sinnes and errours in this world : as they then iournied towards the earthly canaan through conduct of those two pillars exod. 13. v. 21. so may we walke safely on towards the heauenly by the guidance of his double testament ; nothing there is that may help to further vs , but it is either in both , or in one of them imparted : but as for high and sublime mysteries the lord hath greatly concealed them ; hee hath as it were close lockt them vp : for suppose he did communicate and lay them open , they would not so much instruct our faithes , as amaze our iudgements . flashes and strictures of lightning doe indeed enlighten the eye , but by reason of too subtile a nature they doe also hurt it : euen so mysteries too abstract are apt to dazle the weaknesse of reason , if they were presented vnto vs. there are i confesse degrees of knowledge : the spirituall man vnderstands a great deale more then the carnall : his eyes be newly vnscaled by grace , as once s. pauls were : but it is touching matters of saluation or faith : as for these hidden and abstruse points he is still dim-sighted . in the 5th of the apoc. v. 2. t is said , who is able to open the booke ? who but the lyon of the tribe of iuda ? it is meant of the booke in which such secrets lie coucht , and infolded ; where you may note , that wee , nay the best of god's saints , are so vnfit to expound the contents , that wee may not so much as vntie the claspes . now the reason of this may be , both mans dulnes , and the abstractnesse of these points ; as for man , he is of an vnderstanding much darkned : what it was before the fall , whither as of a viator , or a comprehensor , or mixt as aquinas sum : p. 1ª , q. 104. resolueth , it matters not : but certainely he did not then apprehend supernaturall things more fully , then since hee doth searcely and with dimnesse ; as the earth is , so are the earthly , of a dull and heauy capacitie , reason here hardly raising it selfe aboue the sense ; david acknowledgeth in this regard that he was ignorant , nay foolish , and as a beast , psal . 73. now on the otherside divine mysteries , whither they concerne god in his nature , or in his attributes , they are very sublime . first god in his essence he is so pure , that he is purity and abstractnesse it selfe : as the eie be it neuer so cleere cannot see the thinnesse of the ayre : so neither can the eie of the minde truely imbrace the purenesse of the dietie , because wanting as 't were a solid substance wherevpon to fix ; and therefore you may obserue how alwaies it falls downe streight vpon conceipts more grosse and earthly ; cum accesseris ( saith one ) longius abit , god the neerer wee labour to approach him , the farther wee shall finde him remoued beyond our search ; the poet some where brings in aeneas catching earnestly at creusa's ghost , but that flying and escaping betweene his embraces : wee may puzle much about the diuine essence ; but euen then when wee thinke to haue laid hold on it , it proues incomprehensible ; say i am that i am is my name , was once the instruction of god vnto moses , exod. 3. v. 14. and let him be still what he is : it is impossible that hee should be measured by mans weake braine . much lesse may that sacred diuision of the trinity be perceiued ; how three persons are as it were grafted vpon one and the same essence : what the schoolmen vrge by way of similitude from the vnderstanding , memory , and will , doth but badly illustrate the cause ; for if the father begot the sonne as the power of the vnderstanding produceth its act , them must the sonne beget another sonne as being with the same power indued : likewise as the spirit is produced by loue , so shall it produce againe a spirit by loue ; wherefore this instance fals short of a due resemblance : yet is it i confesse the best helpe and shadowe for expression that either here wee haue or may expect : whilst moses kept vnvailed , the israelites could not indure to look vpon his face it was so bright ; neither may wee behold this mystery vnlesse it bee through such shadowes and that but weakly ; so then that which tertullian hath here defined , is most remarkably true : deum aestimari facit dum aestimari non capit : wee doe best apprehend god either in his essence , or in the trinity , if we confesse that we cannot . come now to those attributes of his power , his will , and such like ; what man is able possibly to reach them ? who doth not streight acknowledge his dulnesse ? so long as the vnderstanding meets with obiects equall and befitting it's strength , it doth well enough ; but the hand you knowe cannot graspe a thing bigger then it selfe : neither can a finite apprehension throughly conceaue those properties , as being infinite : it doth well conceaue that they are infinite but not the infinitenesse ; hee is as high as heauen what can'st thou doe ? deeper then hell what canst thou knowe ? iob. 11. v. 8. by the power indeed of the almighty was this round world framed ; his arme and strength laid the foundation of it , no man doubts : but cleerely to apprehend the manner of its production , requires more then a finite capacity ; our vnderstanding is not able to passe ouer so vast a distance , as lyeth betweene an vtter nothing , and the newnesse of a being . saint paul makes it an act of faith to perceiue this , through faith wee vnderstand that the worlds were framed , heb. 11. 3. yet especially are those mysteries of his will and decree most abstruse ; for they be not only abstract in their owne nature , but also concealed by god of purpose , no man knoweth the things of a man saue the spirit of man which is in him , 1. cor. 2. and a prudent man ( saith solomon ) concealeth his knowledge , prov. 12. v. 23. now god is all wisdome , and for this must be as secret in his determinations , as he is iust and vpright ; whither he reprobates men absolutely , or vpon a presupposed fall , seemes a question of a perplext difficulty : againe , whither he allowes sufficiency of grace to all or not , 't is easier to argue , then finde out wherevpon to pitch a setled assent . the aegyptians to declare the abstrusenesse of their rites did place vpon the forefront of their temples the picture of a sphynx : how much more iustly may wee doe so ? so many scruples doe occurre in the bulke of diuinity , which if they be searched vnto the bottome , they far surmount humane reach . i let passe here that great mystery ( as saint paule calls it ) of christ's being incarnate ; that of the last restoring of our bodies , both which for their seeming impossibility , were points in times past which ancienter professors of the christian faith did most hardly digest ; humane reason proued so incapable to entertaine them , that they became vnto it a rock of offence : neither stand i to inlarge those disputes of the worlds consummation , of antichrist , with others , not so rightly to bee tearm'd doubts as riddles ; not the angels themselues perchance do comprehend them , as being of that rancke into which they doe but peepe as before they did into that of the redemption of man kinde . mirandula in his apologie much extolleth certaine cabalisticall volumes which he had , as if in them all such mysterious doctrines had beene darkly comprized ; for ( saith he ) besides the holy writ , god did so provide that whatsoeuer is to be known , might out of these be collected by the more wise and painefull iewes : which his opinion he groundeth vpon esdras . esdr , 2. 14. this is but a meere fancy , yet so farre it agreeth to right , that by it is intimated the abstrusenesse of diuine truthes ; out of whose womb commeth the yce ( saith the lord ) iob. 38. or , hast thou entred into the treasures of snowe ? if not into those naturall storehouses of yce & hayle , much lesse can we ascend into those spirituall ones of which i speak : doubtlesse they are more remoued , and being heauenly they as farre exceed the compasse of mans wit , as the heauen is diuided from the earth . neither bee these alone of chiefest moment so involued , but lesser also and those which we perhaps do iudge our selues to vnderstand compleatly ; but that of gods prouidence & the administration of the world , may seeme to haue stagger'd the kingly prophet : how the wicked should still flourish , and the righteous bee daily afflicted : the manner of the soules beginning , whither propagated or infused , did much trouble austin and hierom ; caliginosissima quaestio ( saith * one of them ) it is a question too intricate ; not to heape vp many : * arnobius in the controuersie , why god permits sinne , sith he hates it , yeeldeth himselfe in a manner blanckt . if any shall aske why divine truthes are so obscur'd , it may bee they are reserued to augment our future blisse , which shall consist as well in the enlargement of our knowledge , as the refining of our wills : when the vaile of ignorance is to be taken away , and wee shall knowe even as we are knowne , 1. cor. 13. or perhaps it is to encrease the state and respect of them ; for men doe vsually esteeme that with greater reverence , with which they bee not so throughly acquainted . vpon this ground the heathen also did , ( as macrobius obserues ) couch their religion vnder darke types ; thence so many fables and seeming toyes : with reverence to this policy , some heretiques likewise had their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , according to that of the apocal. 2. 24 howsoever , as long as wee remaine clothed with this corruptible flesh , we be in such mysterious points but weakly grounded ; we haue onely assensum fidei an easie beleife , not assensum scientiae , a peircing knowledge ; religion is not as other sciences , it supposeth and takes vpon trust very much : which gaue occasion long since to the blasphemous pagans to deride it as a groundlesse fabricke of the braine : it beleeues much and knoweth little , yea knowledge it selfe here is but a kinde of practicke beleife : if any man will doe ( gods ) will , hee shall knowe of his doctrine , iohn 17. v. 17. take but saint paul for an instance , a man of rare excellency ; one who had beene wrapt vp aboue the heauens and himselfe : yet ( as himselfe doth imply ) he heard those things in his rapture , which afterwards he did not well conceaue ; nay in the argument of the iewes reiection , and calling of the gentiles , when he hath driuen it to a head as neere as hee can , he meets with a sea vnfordable ; hee is faine to sit downe as it were vpon the banke , and cry out , o the depth of the wisdome and knowledge of god. i will conclude this point with the words of the historian ; that which he speaks of state misteries , may of these be more fitly pronounced , non aliter ratio constat , quàm si vni reddatur : it is the priuiledge of divine mysteries , that they be vnderstood of god alone . as for others , a bold enquiry here , is not more irreverent , then full of danger and hazard , which is my second point . when men walke vpon prerupt and steepe places , they are subiect to fall ; and so here by medling with these high points , an errour or heresie is quickly incurred ; yet such is the intemperate desire of knowledge , that men cannot bee bounded in the search thereof ; even our first parents in paradise were not free from this itch ; where when all the trees besides were granted them for vse , they must needs tast the excepted fruit , which ( as nicetas chomates imagineth ) was nothing but an allegory or figure of knowledge . hence in their posterity such lusting after nouelties : such an vnsatiate curiosity . in truth to asswage this humour in part , the lord hath wholly exposed all the creatures to mans disquiry ; as it is said of the leviathan , psalm . 104. that god hath made the wide sea for him to play in , that is to expatiate and take his swinge ; so hath he as it were made this lower world for mans delight and contemplation ; he may roue as he list , and not only rest in the outside of things , but also lawfully diue into the inmost essence . but for divine mysteries , if we presse too farre , we become obnoxious to errors & slips ; for from whence sprang heresies of old in the christian world , but from this fountaine ? whilst men in the search of truth were directed rather by too much ambition , then an aduised modesty ; whilst they would needs be tampering beyond their skill in points of the chiefest moment . hence is it that wee finde more heresies to haue arisen concerning those two greatest mysteries of the trinitie and incarnation , then about all the rest : arians , nestorians , yea most sects did stumble at these blocks : the stomacke when it meeteth with meats hard and not well to bee digested , it sends vp noxious vapours into the braine : euen so these men lighting vpon points which were too knotty for them , and not being guided by discretion , insteed of doctrines broached their wild conceipts : for this cause wee finde the fathers euermore cautelous and very retir'd . read but st hilary in his 2. l. see before the entrance of his dispute concerning the trinity , how he puts on , and then falls backe , venters againe and recoyleth as fast : mihi ( saith he ) in sensu labes , in intelligentiâ stupor est : both my sense and reason are astonisht . the good father may seeme rather to haue feared a surreptitious curiosity , then if he should bluntly haue betrai'd the cause . at the synod of nice where the same point was debated , the bishops there expresly reiected the words , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 : vndertake they would to proue the mysterie , but for the manner they durst not . such was their religious diffidence in these matters : and such others also ; to whom i could wish that the schoolemen were not vnlike . but contrariwise what arrogancy doth wholy possesse them ? how respectlessely doe they thrust into the most hidden secrets ? it was a time when the lord gaue command , exod. 19. v. 12. that none , neither man nor beast should touch the mount where himselfe was . and surely there is great reason why the same edict should bee proclaim'd againe : this boldnes of some wits calling too nicely into dispute , those mysteries , which are more iustly to be adored ; euer and anon they discusse the absolutenesse of their makers power : what may be effected by it , and what not : sometimes they argue his freedome and will , and happily limit it with some vaine distinction : nay so audacious are many , that except they sport themselues in these mysteries they be not contented ; witnesse for instance sake those queries , whither god be materia prima , and , whither christs divinitie might not suppositate a fly : which & such like doe not informe the minde , but truly wrong the maiestie of god : so that here i could almost applaud that sharp censure of iudicious calvin , though in another case : scholae in deterius semper aberrant , the schoolmen do alwaies incline to the worse hand . neither in this are the arminians lesse to bee condemned : who hath been his counsellour ? saith the prophet concerning god , isa . 40. 13. whom among the sonnes of men did he choose for his assistant ? but they as confidently state those his acts of election and reprobation , as if they had themselues decreed them : they soare vp on high euen into the bosome of the almighty : men oftimes of greater reach in controversies , then of wisdome or discreetnesse . our saviour once tooke vp peter , ioh. 21. 21. but for that frivolous question : what shall this man doe ? hee is offended with the disciples for inquiring too narrowly after the restauration of the iewish estate , act. 1. 6. how much more is it to be feared that hee will sharply rebuke those forenamed intruders , if they learne not betimes to curb their knowledge ; austin in one of his epistles , hath a pretty allusion of a certaine passenger falne perchance into a pit : obsecro ( saith hee there so falne to one comming to his rescue ) quomodò hinc me liberes , non quomodò huc ceciderim quaeras : stand not to expostulate with me how i slipt in , but rather kindly helpe me out : we are all falne through adam into a wide gulfe of vnhappinesse ; let vs endeauour to recouer our selues : let vs examine rather by our course of life our hopes of blisse or not , then curiously looke it in the first decree . our sinnes and miseries require the goodnesse of a mediatour : as for a sophister to dispute the occasion we need not ; especially since , as arminius himselfe concludeth , these points be not requisite neither to be knowne or beleeued : it is in his declaratione sententiae , before the states . yet are they still so fraught with subtilties , that the very pervsall may seeme of greater danger , then it can be of profit . how often see wee many here to suffer shipwrack , whilst they couet to goe farther then their ability or strength will permit them ? the prophet david psal . 36. compareth the iudgements of god to a depth , or an abysse . now in a depth as long as we can finde footing , we be well and safe : but if that faile , a feare streight seizeth on vs of being plunged : thus in abstruser mysteries , as long as we can haue the help of reason too , wee may wade the more securely on : but when that once is swallowed vp , a mazelesse confusion must needs followe . you knowe what poets faine of pentheus ; he was torne but for viewing too neerely the rites of bacchus : vpon which one of them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ; such wisdome is madnesse outright ; you may remember how the lord long since gaue vp the ancient philosophers to vanish in their owne deuises , because they vsed the talent of their wits to idle disquiries , and not to the donours praise ; let vs take heed least we deserue alike sentence , by trespassing too far vpon grace , as they did vpon the light of nature . neither doe i by this approue the lazie dulnesse of any : not of such who thinke it acutenesse sufficient to cry downe more acute disputes . men may deseruingly canvase these poinrs , if they shall in their discourses , be guided by reason , and not by fancy or boldnesse . it is here as it was in ovid his medea ; a matchlesse poem ( saith the rhetoritian ) si ingenio suo temperare maluisset , quàm indulgere , if he had not beene too lauishly witty . we be placed by nature in a mid distance betweene beasts and angels : thus also ought our knowledge to bee , lesse then that of angels , as more then what beasts haue : wee must bee content to forgoe many difficulties , if wee can percance vnderstand any . but so it is , that those who meddle here , do for the most part exceed their limits ; as it happeneth in ambition of state , they neuer deeme themselues high enough , till they touch vpon danger . god in many places of scripture is said to be a fire , as deut. 4. v. 24. ezek. 8. 2. if to a fire wee approach not too nigh , it comforteth , but otherwise it burnes and scorcheth : so here concerning diuine matters , a temperate knowledge instructeth vs ; but a superfluous or presumptuous search confounds the iudgement . i will close vp this point with that of salvian . genus quasi sacrilegae temeritatis est , vt plus scire cupias , quam sinaris : it is not so much curiosity , as a kinde of sacriledge , to prie into the forbidden secrets of gods owne closet : it argues a foule presumption in vs of our strength , when as ( god knoweth ) our knowledge is but small and weake , which is my third point . knowledge indeed is the very light of the soule , a iewell inestimable : yet so apt are men to bee misled by arrogancy , that they inuert that to their harme , which the lord hath bestowed on them for their greate vse ; i told you before of the danger of an encroaching wisdome : of drawing too nigh vnto the flaming bush , to which notwithstanding moses might not . now of this there is no greater an incentiue cause , then this of pride ; when men doe fauour more their own wit , then the iustnesse of the argument they haue in hand ; for this reason you may note how errours in times past brake forth most rife in the eastern churches ; there that of the novatians , eunomians , first tooke root , and indeed what not ? whereas there of the west , as being placed vnder a duller clime , so were they for heresies lesse disposed . the valentinians ( saith iraeneus ) were men qui semetipsos perfectos , & vniversorum agnitionem habere dicebant : they deem'd themselues as it were composed of wit and knowledge ; neither is it a rare sight to see men now adaies to slip from pride to errour : whilst not being seasoned with charity , they swell with selfe conceipt . hence the apostle layeth it for a principall and main ground of perverse doctrines , 1. tim. 6. but alas , what is the highest pitch of mans science ? or wherein doth he so excell , but in that he may bee said best to know , if he confesse his ignorance ; can he sound the true depth of the least point in nature ? is he able to satisfie himselfe in any triuiall obiect ? looke but vpon the loadstone , and thou shalt find as many amazing wonders , as there be properties . consider the remora so called : shew mee how so small a creature doth check the tallest ship in its full course : view the curious frame of mans body : ponder the encrease of the buried seed , vbique ( saith scaliger ) clamandum est nos nihilscire : one neuerthelesse , who did ( i beleeue ) iudge as charitably of himselfe , as another man. reason and sense be the only or chiefe promoters of our knowledge in this world ; now these for the most part , are as subiect to errour , as weak in their helpes ; whereby it hapneth that those things which we doe vnderstand , we know but in the rine & slightly : like aesop's fox , who did licke the outside of the glasse , when he could not come at the substance . as for tumor then and height of conceipt , it argueth nothing here , but want of an experienced insight : the very claime to much knowledge proues this , that the title is neither good nor right ; saint paul makes it a principle , that such pretenders , at least wise concerning the christian doctrine , were but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 meere nouices 1. tim. 3. in the 6th ch. he couples them together , proud and knowing nothing v. 4. vpon the same ground perhaps also the word infrunitus of the ancient latines , doth as well imply an insolent man , as one that is void of sence ; when the limbs swell and wax ouerbig , it is no signe of health in the body , but rather of a dropsie , or some disease : so truly this arrogancy proceedeth most commonly from an vnsoundnes of the braine , as not comprehending yet but what the vastnesse of knowledge is . hence , those bitings and censures against others : such malignant vndervalewing , whereby wee lessen our brothers name that wee may encrease our owne ; livor ( saith petrarch ) semper lippus est : this humor alwaies is ill sighted : it discerneth not of worth abroad , but of that only which is nigh at hand , nay in the possessour : although so ill a custome doth nothing augment their repute who practise it . the moone may darken and eclips the sunne , but withall it looseth its owne light : and they by deprauing anothers worth , make their owne to be suspected . but now on the other side , men of growth and good proceedings in knowledge bee nothing so ; moses it is recorded , was a man skilled in all the learning of the aegyptians : yet afterwards wee finde , that he was not more learned then meeke & modest , the meekest man vpon earth numb . 12. v. 3. in truth such doe well conceiue the length and breadth of sciences , as not to be waded thorough ; they are so far from nourishing a great opinion within themselues , that they labour also to beate it downe elswhere ; non placet cùm à charissimis , &c. it is not pleasing to mee ( saith st austin ) that my friends doe so ouerprize my worth : it is vnderstood by them , how the knowledge of this point doth but lead vs into the ignorance of another ; how the infinitnesse of learning groweth vpon vs in the very getting of it . if men walke abroad the heauens seem at euery small distance to close with the earth : but whē they approach thether , as large a space opens forthwith as they haue left behinde ; thus in the course of learning ; vpon any purchase of some little insight we hope anon to rest accomplisht ; but when we ariue there farther difficulties arise before vs ; still there remaineth something behinde vnscand ; for as yet we know but in part 1. cor. 13. vpon which some haue made this obseruation , that in this life wee obtaine a greater likenesse with god through the improuement of our wils , then by that of the reasonable faculty ; holy wee may bee in a bigger measure , then we can be wise and learned . but suppose thou hast attained to the highest top of all science : that thou vnderstandest as much as angels doe , what hast thou , that thou didst not receiue , and if thou didst receiue it , why dost thou glory as if thou hadst not receiued it ? men doe not vsually boast of those things which doe outwardly accrew vnto them ; thence he in the tragedian scoffingly , qui genus iactat suum aliena laudat . it must be something of their owne industry and atchieuement that pufs them vp : now knowledge , it is chiefly a gift of gods benevolence : hee giueth to one the power of tongues : to another the vnderstanding of artes ; and to all as best him pleaseth . i speake not of an infused science ; not of the ability which the prophets and apostles had : but that likewise of the common straine may seeme in a peculiar manner to proceed from god ; neither yet know i , how far forth here he affordeth his influence , by what concurse : onely i am perswaded that he doth concur vnto this by a more speciall aide , then to other vertues of the like ranke ; euen the philosophers conceiuing this , had there deities ( as capella also alludeth ) to whom seuerally they did attribute each art ; who , if hee doth consider those prime fathers of the church : how powerfully they withstood troopes of heresies out of the copiousnesse of their knowledge : who can imagine but that they were thus helpt ? yet not by inspiration , but by a particular and vnknowne assistance ; euery good gift , & euery perfect gift is from aboue . ia. 1. 17. and for this the philosopher in his ethicks maketh his felicity or chiefe good 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a gift of god ; now there is no endowment of the minde more excellent then this of knowledge ; it is the eye and guide of the rest , if wee doe not abuse it through selfe-conceipt : if , as venemous beasts wont to doe by nutriture , we turne not that to poyson and our hurt , which of it selfe is good . i will end this point with the words of the apostle : if any man thinke that hee knoweth any thing , hee knoweth nothing yet as he ought to know : he knoweth not according to sobriety : not according to the rule of holy writ and reuealed grace , which is my last point . since mans speculations and fancies of themselues are so extrauagant , god hath wisely prouided lawes to binde them withall . now lawes ( saith the emperor ) bee either 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 writs & promulged , or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 namely forcible customes , but no where inrowled : and so is the rule wherewith god guideth our knowledge in divine mysteries , partly described in his word , and sometimes reuealed besides the holy writ . as for the word it is a treasury full of most rare knowledge . there are who hold no art or science to be extant , which is not at least wise implicitly contained in it : for , say they , some clauses doe here appeare of each faculty : some prints and footsteps . on this manner haue criticks likewise thought all philosophy to ly hid in homer , and iudge him as various an artist , as an excellent poet. either opinion i let passe , though not as vnprobable , yet as remote from my purpose ; certaine it is that whatsoe're may ordinarily beget , or encrease a divine knowledge , the lord hath amply set downe in his word ; for he hath not giuen it alone to conforme our wils , but also to enrich the tables of our vnderstanding ; to make vs wise 2 tim. 3. it is confest to be a kinde of science , as farre surpassing the rest in worth , as divinity doth exceed fraile nature . dauid though a prophet protesteth that hee grew thereby more wise , then were his teachers : how often doth he pray and entreat to bee fully instructed in it . so then , that conceipt of the cardinall l. 4. de verbo dei , is but a meere figment ; as if things of common need , were comprized therein , and not matters of peculiar & secret vse . it is said to be as a light that shineth in a darke place 2. pet. 1. a candle put on a candlestick mat. 5. 15. now a light so placed , doth not lighten only the open rooome , but every nooke and corner thereof . nay i will adde , it is an armory furnishing the zealous disputer with proofes against so blasphemous tenents ; a garden out of which the holy dispenser may decke vp his discourse into a prophets phrase ; what things are of necessary and a sauing vse be there most plainly disclosed ; others indeed but dimly ; whereas the word growes obscure , so should our search bee more cautelous and circumspect ; wee must not vent our coniectures for oracles at all , least whilst we annex such glosses , we corrupt the text . the good samaritan in the 10th of luke deliuered two pence to the host for the wounded traueller : two pence ( saith optatus ) that is christ hath bequeathed vnto vs for our soules health both lawes , the old and the new ; he promiseth there that what should be laid out more , if not lauishly perchance , or idely , he would see it discharged : so may wee for our sober disputes , either vpon or besides the word expect a recompence ; but if they appeare superfluous or repugnant , they be no longer descants , but sinfull devises . humane inuentions then come short of a diuine authority : they may serue vs for illustrations , but not for a ground and rule : vpon the word as touching that efficacy which they haue , must they be builded also ; either expresse , as there apparent , or at least , elicitiuè , as being thence fairely and handsomly deduced . if wee containe within this compasse wee shall bee as wise as safe : but if wee fly out and follow our fancies , it remaineth that we straight vanish in them . for euen thus did that lewd rable of the gnostici : they set the scriptures aside ( saith iraeneus ) betaking themselues to their proper coniectures : the psalmist oft'time likneth the word of god vnto a path or way : nay it is via regia , as one styleth it : the high way to blisse : now most commonly vpon each side of such waies there bee ditches and miery bogs : so here on either hand the word ly heresies and numberles errours , dangerous to bee slipt iuto ; it is best then to keepe the beaten and trodded way , the word , but againe ; sometimes the lord speaketh as well by vrim and thummim , as hee doth in the written word : for he hath not tied himselfe so strictly vnto the word , but that hee can , if he please , vary the manner of his communication with his beloued saints . our fathers in the first nonage of the church , well vnderstood the benefit of this ; a dreame or vision to them did as easily cleere each doubt , as either their owne weaknesse , or the occurrency of businesse could suggest it . but to auouch the truth , now in these later dayes , such extraordinary meanes of grace bee well nigh out of late ; prophecy , & reuelation , & tongues , with other gifts , we finde conioyn'd 1 cor. 12. since as there appeareth no miracle of tongues or prophecy , neither is it to be beleeued that revelations are very frequent ; hauing moses and the scriptures , wee may not expect new messages from the dead , nor yet from aboue ; calvin is confident to vpbraid such pretended enthusiasts with downeright madnesse : minus errore agitantur , quam rabie ; they be not ( saith hee ) so much mistaken as quite distracted , when as therefore i make reuelation a rule of our wisdome , it is indeed in it felfe , but not so vsually if we respect the present age ; it is if it were , but this no way causeth it to be : our best enthusiasmes now must bee our prayers and diligence in the sacred word . trie then at least wee must the spirits as st iohn warneth vs , least a dreame or idle conceipt delude vs with the esteeme of a classicke reuelation ; least as nathan did once in counselling dauid , such prophets speake without the ephod ; for what draue tertullian more effectually vpon montanisme ? and if you pervse the good father saint cyprian , as for visions hee may seeme to credit them ouermuch ; so apt are men to rely on the slights of fancy , raising miracles out of the braine , when those of the hands be ceased ; yea in former times this liberty of imagination grew so far , as into a sect of hereticks , termed the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ; who could as they thought by helpe of diuine illumination , expound the scriptures vpon first sight . as samuel then being called by god himselfe , once or twice mistooke the sound for old elies voice sam. 1. 3. so must we be carefull that contrariwise we entertaine not some crotchet of mans braine for a diuine enthusiasme . notwithstanding all this , if hauing examined such inspirations by the touch of sacred writ , wee finde them accordingly ; a rule they may be ; yet here againe you must note , what reuelations i meane ; not new & vnheard of respectu doctrinae reuelatae , as the papists would , lessening thereby the sufficiency of the word : but new respectu actus reuelandi : such onely as informe vs in matters of fact , not encrease the canon of our faith : such alone may be the guide of the wisdome here discussed . the summe of all that hath beene spoken hitherto is this . it is to be wished that we had no occasion to deale vpon such deepe mysteries at all ; since our life is fraile , and our ayme eternall blisse , it were expedient that we endeauoured more to become pious , then subtill and acute ; epictetus the stoicke could once complaine of his time ; whereas ( saith he ) there be two parts of philosophy : the first and more especiall 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a practise of wholsome precepts well digested : the second 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ; a speculatiue and curious disquiry ; 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , we haue quite inuerted the course . how many now a daies frame their diuiner studies after this method ? how doe they chiefly intend sublimer , though fruitlesse controversies ; yea and moreouer , which is as bad , oft times those here vndertake these points , whose shoulders for such a burden be most vnfit . fight ye not with small or great saue onely with the king af israel , was the charge of the syrian king to the captaines of his host , 2. chron. 18. even so there be who as soone as they can but spell in diuinity , fasten alone vpon the greatest difficulties ; whereby it commeth to passe , that they cleere not the doubts which they take in hand , but rather betray their owne weaknesse . or secondly , since by reason of our insulting adversaries on either side , some must needs looke into these points , it is meete that wee dispose our selues with a graue consideration of this afore hand ; daniel before he receaued those strange visions , fasted three whole weekes , dan. 10. 3. and iamblychus the pythagorean relateth how the aegyptian priests went to prepare themselues for their supposed enthusiasmes with musicke and abstinence ; i vrge not this for example sake , but only to shew with what reuerence we should addresse our selues to so diuine a taske : not rudely setting vpon it , but with mature aduice : besides in the enterprize it selfe , let vs vse great sobriety , avoiding that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , 2. tim. 2. or nice acutenesse : a fault vnseemly each where , as well in religion , as in other arts : for which minerva is feigned to hate the spider , because she spinneth too curious a web . in a word let vs evermore submit fancie to reason , & reason to faith , both to gods word , or his especiall revelation . these two be that helping glasse of our knowledge here , or double spectacle , of which saint paule speaketh . now wee see through a glasse darkely , but then face to face . and thus i haue , though weakly , made vp a discourse concerning divine mysteries , and our knowledge of them . a text in my indgement , as befitting this auditory , as my selfe , for this my first assay . wee sit all here by the well-spring of wisdome and science , & most of vs may hereafter serue at the altar in gods owne house . it is not amisse that we know our limits , as also consider our strengths . vnder the old law the levite might goe farther into the temple , then the lay , and a priest then the levite : so in these points concerning the mysticall temple , apoc. 21. 22. one may wade farther then another : but as there none could enter into the chiefest sanctuary , saue onely the high priest : so neither here hath any full accesse , into the secrets of these mysteries , but only our high priest and saviour christ : in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdome and knowledge , colos . 2. 3. as for vs as long as we abide in this life , we must be satisfied with a meaner knowledge of such things : with certaine glympses at most : like benighted travailers , who if the moone hap to be ouerclouded , are content with star-light . now to the only wise god , who is able to doe aboue that which we can either speake or imagine , be ascribed all glory , power , praise , and dominion this day and foreuer . amen . finis . tovching chvrch-schismes . rom . 16. ver . 17. brethren marke them which cause divisions and offences , contrary to the doctrine which yee haue learned and avoid them . scarcely had our apostle here laid the grounds of christian religion , but it presently meetes on each side with strong opposers . the diuell was straight wayes ready to excite erroneous and factious spirits against the truth . what poets faigne of hate and contentions beside their iupiter's palace , is really true of the house of god. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . eager debates closely still as 't were environ the church . alwaies there bee who like the dragon , apoc. 12. 4. are ready to devoure it euen in its birth . neither yet doth this so inbred enmity betwixt the patrons of truth and errour , happen without god's especiall allowance . for , first hereby hee sifts and winnowes all alike . as many as settle firmely together he takes for solid graine : but those who are carried away with each blast of new doctrine , for fruitlesse chaffe . they neuer were sincerely orthodox , but either temporizing formalists , or at most coldly devoted . againe by this he keepes his elect from rust and an over secure ease : out of loue hee permits them not to slumber in such a tranquility as might at length produce some hurtfull effect . calamitas ( saith he in minutius ) virtutum disciplina est : crosses and all kinds of opposition , doe not so much afflict gods saints , as truely exercise them . thus doth the lord effect the good of his chosen by the hands of malignant schismaticks . but notwithstanding though he deale so in prouidence , yet their offence and guilt is nothing thereby abated . for in the third to the philipp . the apostle plainely affirmeth such to be evill workers , very dogges . v. 3. in the 18th v. he termes them enimies of the crosse of christ , whose end is destruction , v. 19. and here in my text , he iudgeth them vnworthy euen of the solace and benefit of humane commerce . brethren marke them which &c. my text , like to those shafts of the holy candlesticke , vpon euery word beares knops of flowers : please you then to take notice of : first , the thing here spoken against , namely divisions and offences in the church . secondly , their more especiall property which is to be contrary to some doctrine afore learned . thirdly the persons or those , who cause them . fourthly , the manner how such disturbers must be delt with : first marke , then avoid them . lastly , on the other side , the entire and mutuall agreement among true professors , or as it is here their brotherhood . of these orderly in that method i haue proposed , and first concerning divisions and offences themselues . there is nothing which doth more preserue the world in being then vnity and agreement . it is the stay and bond of every thing ; by how much the neerer they participate of this , by so much the more they enioy a certaine existence . zoroaster as implying god that first and chiefest vnity termes it , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 : the matrix or fountaine within which all things be originally concluded ; except in nature the heauens did embrace this globe below : vnlesse here the elements did combine thus louingly as they doe , so stately a fabricke could not long subsist ; it must needs loose its being , because it should loose its harmony . in matter of policy consent of minds legally disposed makes a state : without this it remaines no longer a state , but a rude and vngoverned desart . to speake in the phrase of moderne philosophy , mutuall concord is , forma totalis ; that which wholy giues a body politicke both life and beauty ; but aboue all in the house or church of god seemes this vnitie of greatest value . one lord , one faith , one baptisme , wee finde commended , ephes . 4. 5. as in the structure of the old tabernacle , by loopes & taches were the curtaines aptly conioyned : so in the antitype , namely the church , doth this spirit of vnity diffusing it selfe throughout the parts , knit them vp into an entire frame . this being so ; sithence each where a concord is so requisite , but most in the church , how fowly doe they trespasse that breake this bond ? with what sharpnesse deserue they to be handled who breed diuisions ? the fathers amidst their writings doe presse no one point more frequently or eagerly then this ; every where they take occasion , after st pauls manner , as well to condemne all rents and schismes , as extoll a christian like accord . optatus in a word makes such diuisions summum malorum , a crime so heinous , as that none can match it . and indeed if you rightly weigh the examples of gods wrath and punishments , you will not much mislike his iudgment . in the 4th of gen. when cain had slaine his brother , god onely markes him and lets him goe : nay hee is iealous least any might kill cain , v. 15. to that great and sacrilegious city of ninive what doth he ? only ionas is sent to teach and warne them . insteed of ruine comes a gentle embassage . but for corath and his complices , those mutiners in the tribe of levi , behold a suddaine destruction : the earth openeth and entombes them aliue ; whence it followes not without some shew of probability , that church-schismes more displease the lord , then either murther or sacrilege . austin yet goes farther ; for in his 50th ep. discoursing about the obstinacy of the factious donatists , he chargeth them with no lesse a sinne , then with that of the holy ghost . but the heinousnesse of divisions will better appeare , if we examine them , first in their obiect . it is no slight or vulgar argument ; perchance in the disquiry of such points , dissent may afford greater profit , namely by exercising the wit , then a present accord . but it is religion , that prop of mans conscience , and path to blisse . vpon this narrow way doe men lye daily striuing and iustly in opinions , not without much hindrance in their intended iourney . religion indeed of it selfe is rather a ground of common agreement : religio thinke some a religando from binding the hearts of the professors , as well in a mutuall affection , as in obedience to god : yet if happily it bee made the subiect of strifes and debates , they no where burne more fiercely , nullae infestae hominibus bestiae , ( could ammian : marcellinus an heathen say ) vt sunt sibi ferales plerique christiani . no beasts are so violent , as christians be , when once they iarre in points of doctrine . the reason may bee ; men for the most part hug their peculiar tenents with a too ouerprizing loue . and as they doe thus in all other arts , so especially in matters of christianity & faith . having then fancied some opinion here as greatly appertaining to the soules health , they must necessarily abhorre those who so ere oppose it . next in a second place consider the vsuall and hurtfull diffusion of schismes . saint paul compares them to a canker : now a canker resteth not , but eats forward till the member bee consumed : on this manner doe false and erroneous doctrines : being once broached they creepe from man to man , vntill they haue corrupted the church throughout . of this our forenamed apostle had a feeling experiment : for as one forsaken , 2. tim. 1. hee complaineth that all in asia were turn'd aside . so naturally apt are men to admit of a fancy nere so vnprobable , if once on foot . neither so only : falshood too alwaies is more fertile then truth : it straightway multiplies into seuerall and diverse streames beyond the head . those manifold blasphemies wherewith the primitiue church was pestered , what were they saue so many branches of simon magus his doctrine that first hereticke . arrius indeed ( saith ruffinus ) vented one single heresie touching the natiuity of our saviour : but ere long this one becomes a triple monster . as then , lev. 13. v. 8. if the plague in a mans flesh spread , not otherwise , the priest pronounced him leaprous and vncleane : so here , there is no plea against schismes more aggrauating their foulnesse , then because thus strangely they both spread and multiply . lastly consider their irksome and long continuance : how they persist not for a day or yeare , but commonly for length of ages . it were some happinesse if as easily as they burst forth and ouerflow , they could as quickly bee stopped . those tares , mat. 13. v. 24. sprang vp on a sudden : but as for the extirpation and rooting them vp , wee finde it deferred till the great haruest . errors in truth are by nature 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , very obstinate ; what once is vented falsely , is here maintain'd , if but for credits sake . as much as wants in strength and cleerenesse of argument , they supply with a colour of perseuerance ; giue them leaue to take but root , they will flourish of themselues , without either watring or attendance : so that as sulla spake of warres , sumi facile , caeterum acerrimè de sinere ; the same is true of refractory schismes . any man neuer so meane , may sow a fond opinion : but to represse and curbe it seemes a taske of the highest skill . you haue heard briefly concerning diuisions in grosse ; how execrable they bee whether you attend their obiect or boundlesse diffusion ; but chiefly for their long and obstinat continuance : cleauing almost as lastingly to the church , as the leprosie did to the house of gehazai ; this is there condition , this their nature : it followeth methodically in my 2d point , that i handle their especiall property , which is to be contrary to some doctrine afore learned . euery art and faculty hath some maine ground to rely vpon : some chiefe axiomes by which it is guided in its inferiour positions no otherwise then by a card or polestar . these axiomes ought alwaies to be sure and firmely establisht ; for if they also bee exposed to doubtfull enquiries , the whole science straight begins to shake . in this respect as the grammarian prettily descants , the alphabet in all languages stands indeclinable , because it 's the foundation of that first art . christian religion although no perfect science , yet likewise it supposeth certaine principles : a few grounds and rules vpon which the minde may rest . now as wee speake in philosophy of a double measure ; there is mensura actiua , that which is so primarily and in it selfe ; againe , there is mensura passiua ; such a one as being measured before , measures something else : so in case of religion , you may discerne of a twofold rule ; one principall , namely the holy writ : another with reference vnto this , to wit the constitutions and cannons of the church . against these two doe the authors of heresies and schismes , particularly aime their forces . first the heretique , as subornde with a bolder malice , is wont more directly to oppose the very text . in former times we finde them so impudent as that they durst change and mangle it as seemde them best ; witnesse the cerinthians , marcionists , with the rest of that franticke crew ; not enduring so pure a light should shine vpon their monstrous blasphemies , they either wrongfully concealed it vnder a bushell , or quite renounc't it ; indeed the papists now a more refined ofspring , deale with greater caution ; yet in effect they performe as much , whilst they groundlesly enlarge the sacred canon , or else countenance against it their idle traditions ; for by adding superfluously vnto the old , what doe they lesse then create a new word ; thus doe heretiques some way still infringe the text : but now for schismaticks they meddle in those points which fall more properly within the churches verge ; and here they vary and swarue from the right on either hand ; vpon one stand such as conspiring with vs in doctrinall grounds , differ onely touching the outward surface : as children who otherwise mutually well disposed , yet wrangle about their nuts & toyes . concerning these externall rites what tumults haue beene raised ? how frowardly doe men still stand forth against the church in termes point blanke ? fasting almost with the manichees of old vpon such daies , as that keepes feast ; not a bare diuision hath serued here , vnlesse a locall secession were made ; except at lestwise by some peculiar notes of sanctity , they as yet remaine distinguisht : like to those seeming philosophers among the heathen , who had their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , some odd habit or other , to exempt them from the rout ; but i leaue this soare as too too hardned for a plaister . a rent so great in our israel , that well nigh ten tribes , i feare me , be this way fallen off . those more neerely concerne my drift , who impugne some reall points of doctrine . now some doe this expresly and without a glosse . before arminius let loose his tenents , he first questions openly the belgicke catechisme : consentaneum rationi , &c. it is meet ( saith he ) and very expedient that such constitutions be newly reuewed . as long as they stood fast and plausible , well he knew his acuter doctrine could hardly gaine entrance ; but as the lord commands touching land-markes deut. 10. v. 24. not to remoue them , because they haue there beene anciently erected : so in church affaires 't is best that old and authenticke decisions doe still prevaile ; are wee wiser then our fathers ? or is our vnderstanding beyond the ancients ? if in a common weale as the philosopher noteth , former lawes should not hastily giue place to new ; 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 : least by often changing their respect be somewhat impaired ; much lesse in positions of a christian beliese . it causeth the mindes of men to wauer much : it begets scruples and offences , which our apolstle also here condemneth . others at least in shew approue the receiued cannons , but no otherwise then for their own advantage ; vnder pretext of those generall rules they vent some priuate and moderne conceipts . it was a diuise ( saith seneca ) concerning his times of many lewd and riotous liuers , to cloake their luxury by pretending to the epicurean sect . thus they shrowd their wrong and false opinions in the churches bosome ; not deriving a meaning from thence , but fastning there one vpon it ; how much better were it , if they left the cannons free and still vnbounded . for by thus drawing them downe into a more particular sense , they haue troubled the church with needlesse disquiries ; constantine the geeat speaking vnto the nieene counsell , is bold to call those disputes betweene arius and alexander , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 : a vaine and fruitlesse debate : rather then the catholique peace should suffer disturbance , hee disliketh an exact discussion euen in a point of faith . i dare not prescribe vniuersally an implicit beliefe , not such an one as seales vp the vnderstanding , whilst it kindles a blinde zeale : yet happily in doubts which grow besides the foundation , it may well suffice . the woman diseased of a bloody flux mark. 5. v. 25. couets onely to touch christs garment : shee stands not vpon circumstances how or whence an healing vertue should flow : neither need wee perchance to dig so particularly into those positions , which our forefathers haue left vndetermined . at once it costs more anxiety , then it can afford either content or gaine . well then : let both principles of church tenents & scripture stand in force ; as aarons rod eat vp those wherewith the aegyptians contended , they will discountenance and consume any vpstart issue of falshood ; for by the way you may note : errors and truth doe not spring vp alike ; this leasurely and with a lingring encrease : that hastily like the sunne in his westerne course , which cuts most nimbly about the line : but as there the sunne proceeds but slowly in degrees farther distant : so here doe errors after their first bruit and flourish : if the ancient grounds be still vpheld : if we retaine this defence to withstand their onset . i haue shewed you the maine property of schismes ; a dangerous quality , you see , in a christian estate ; for as sampson did to ouerwhelme the philistins iud. 18. 29. it puls away both pillars wherevpon the church is founded . now afterwards you haue thus had their property , it remaines that in my third point i decypher their subiect , to wit the persons or those which cause them . it is true that as the lord hath planted a vineyard ; so hath he hedged and fenct it rouud . but what can possibly keepe out malitious schismaticks ? euer and anon they breake through this fence , dispoyling miserably so precious a ground plot . and this they doe , either from an inward corruption of nature , or else induced by some externall motiues : concerning their nature , you may note them to haue beene men commonly of a fierce & abrupt temper ; st paul i am sure describes them so 2 tim. 3. of this humour as tertullian witnesseth , was hermogenes of old , naturâ turbulentus , a fit materiall to frame an hereticke ; not vnlike vnto him wee finde novatus in cyprian ; one who more esteemed his owne will and fancy , then the quiet of the church : such men goe on in a violent course : whereso ere they appeare , raising some storme or tempest : they carry indeed fire in their censors , yet not to sacrifice , but to kindle publicke debates . farre better doth s. iames instruct such with patience and and meeknesse of wisdom . iam. 3. 13. neither yet as i said want they outward fewell to encrease , this inbred aptnesse . first here occurs an hope of honour & advancement ; this as one speakes of beauty hath 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 : it distorts and drawes the sight besides the truth ; when alcimus 1 mac. 7. affected the high-priesthood , hee calls in the syrians to backe his suite , not without extreame hazard of the iewish estate : no otherwise doe they : rather then misse of dignities , they 'le endanger the church with forren tenents ; any way shall helpe , before they will sit vntitled . we reade of arrius as otherwise of a good & honest man ; his fault was somewhat too aspiring a minde . it is so with most : they square not their drifts by religion , but religion by their drifts of eminency or profit . secondly by this , as they conceaue , they much enhance their fame . to bee the author or revivour of some nicer doctrine must needs seeme a master peice of no vsuall knowledge ; indeed the apostle himselfe rom. 15. 29. forbares to build the gospell vpon grounds forelaid . this hee did to avoide emergent scandals , but they for by respects : least they bee thought a meere accession of anothers wit or credit . yet here obserue their grosse mistake ; truth saith the philosopher as likewise vertue is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 : a thing of small and narrow extent ; but as for errors , they ly in multitudes and troupes round about ; if then in so vast a number of fashoods , they pitch vpon one what glory is it ? if missing the center they pricke each part of the circle else ? to bolt an errour then is no hard exploit ; and as its beginnning is thus prompt and easy , so also is the maintaining of it once begun ; insooth falshhood in point of religion commonly someway toucheth vpon the deepest mysteries ; it will be sure of a cause pregnāt enough wherein to deale : pelagianisme how doth it in close those large queries concerning gods power and hidden decree ? as therefore marriners wont for to say , giue them winde and sea roome they feare no shipwracke : so in such open and boundlesse disputes , it may argue a shallow braine that is quickly graueled ; if nere so prest he finde not still scope as well to decline the aduersary , as to reinforce his tenents . a last incentiue here may bee an itching desire in men of seeming actiue ; rather then rest vnbusied , they will doe some vnnecessary mischiefe . it pleaseth them greatly in their pride of wit to behold those combustions which themselues haue caused . the associates of catiline in his conspiracy against rome were the more forward , saith the historian , vt quiet a mouerent : that at least they might vnsettle a state so well composed ; many endeauour a disturbance of the christian peace for no serious intendment : they raise debates that they may bee said to haue raised them ; like hote furious spirits abroad , who delight soly in fights and vproares ; 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , meere louers of strife . vpon these motiues fore cited doe schismaticks chiefly vndermine the churches vnity ; men otherwise oftimes of no meane esteeme and worth . but as it was said of curio the tribune , that he was facundus sed malo publico : euen so they in truth seeme able and sufficiently learned , but it is to the churches annoyance : whilst they imploy those gifts perversly , with which they might haue aduanced the common good . yet also giue me leaue , if a little i misdoubt such : if i iudge them not throughly sound at heart ; in 13. nehem. v. 33. where the israelitish parents mix with the women of ashdod , the children speake an vncertaine idiome : halfe the ammonitish language ; and halfe the iewish ; examine their tracts and discourses aright , they may seeme the issue of a mixt faith . religion if once ambiguous cannot choose but betray it selfe ; some sparkles will here breake forth , though neuer so carefully supprest ; wherefore as iosuah asked the angell ios . 5. v. 13. art thou for vs or for our aduersaries ? let me likewise demand ; whose part take they ? for now by walking so doubtfully and in a mist , they merit applause from neither side ; more reason there is that they bee refused of both ; saint hierome somewhere speaking touching such neutrals the hebionites , dum volunt ( saith he ) & iudaei & christiani esse , nec sunt iudaei nec christiani : whilst they hang betweene two sects , they deserue to bee ranked no where : meere batts in religion are they ; as nature hath placed these as t were in no certaine degree either of beastes or foules : thus they for there ambiguous profession , may hardly be numbred among christians in any ranck . you haue seene the subiect of divisions briefly displai'd ; persons very contagious in the church , and as miriam , long since a schismaticke too , leprous throughout . it is not vnseasonable , if therefore in my fourth point i prescribe the apostles caution , which is , first marke , then avoid them . what our saviour forespake touching false teachers , math. 7. 15. seemes not more true in regard of their demeanour , then of their preaching & doctrine . they come indeed clothed with sheepes clothing : cover'd ouer with a pretended shew both of truth and zeale . hard it is in so neere a likelyhood , to discerne where they conforme to the truth , and where they breake off . st ignatius for this termes them sometimes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , creatures hauing though no more , yet a christian outside ; elsewhere 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , exact and able counterfeits . came they drest in their proper shape , we might the more easily keepe safe : it were no difficult taske to eschew their infectious tenents . a wound if open and apparant , may be quickly cured ; that especially is dangerous , where the soare lies hid , or the passage proues inuolu'd . well doe schismaticks conceaue the weaknesse of their cause : should they attempt to obtrude their falshoods vpō the church , in their naked deformity , it were a vaine designe . errours be naturally displeasing to the vnderstanding : whereas truth is no lesse outwardly pleasing , then admirable in it selfe . therefore they colour & varnish ouer their absurdities with ounning deceipt . first , they refute one bad opinion that they may set vp a worse ; eutiches , you knowe , would needs maintaine a confusion of natures in christ ; now this he vndertooke ( saith flavianus ) vnder pretence of confuting nestorius , who held oppositely as much amisse ; are there none now which cry downe puritanisme whereby to establish papisme ? is there no such new stratagem ? yea farther , are there not those who deale with religion in a sense inverted , as david did with king achish , 1. sam. 27. vnder shew of fighting against the philistins our adversaries , they fall vpon their countries faith . another way they haue of intermingling truth with errour ; amidst their discourses they craftily mix some drams of verity to commend the rest ; nay so they doe more hurt and d●●plier infect . poyson if given in wine or hony pierceth the veines with greater violence ; even thus falshood sweetned with a relish of truth , eats most dangerously into the bowels of the church . a third devise is by faigning of some good intent ; whilst they labour a breach in christianity , to make shew of a desired vnity and peace . arminius euen then when hee was forging those opinions vpon which such endlesse troubles haue ensuech , compos'de a treatise touching a generall reconcilement ; like ioab to amasa , 2. sam. 20. at once hee offers embraces to the church and stabs it . more shifts besides they skill of to obscure their malitious drifts . there want not infinite tractlesse mazes , wherein they can lurke vndiscerned ; so as what a petty historian speakes of the ligurians inhabiting bogs and bushy places . maior aliquanto labor erat invenire quàm vincere , may be here applied . it is easier to convince their errours , then perfectly trace it out . not in vaine then are we bid to marke : obserue we ought their subtle passages , mudding still the streame wheresoer'e they goe ; neither yet is this enough ; after we haue thus descried their falshoods , we must also avoid and shun them ; what communion hath light with darknesse ( saith the apostle ) 2. cor. 6. in the 1. of gen. v. 4. no sooner had god created light , but in the same v. he diuides them straight : wee are though not light , yet the children of light , and therefore must be carefull , least by mixing with the sonnes of errour , our light be dim'd and weakned . how seriously diligent were the primitiue fathers in declining such ? how watchfull to represse them ? should i here recount their various edicts and provisoes framed therevpon , i might happily make more vse of reading , then of moderation and iudgement ; only for a tast ; you may from the course of ecclesiasticall stories gather a treble censure thus disposed . first they inflicted vpon them abstension , or ( as i may say ) incommunication with the church : next a positiue eiection , else deposition from their clericall degree ; at length if both these reclaim'd them not , the vtter anathema ; adde here to those seuerer cautions of the apostolicke synode ; that men rightly orthodox might not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 : not ioyne in prayer with such , can. 44. of the laodicean , not to deale with them or vse commerce , can. 57. so carefull were those ancient sages , least a contagious schismaticke , if let alone , might perchance infect the whole christian flocke . it may be in former times there appeared greater danger . about the first plantation of the gospell , we finde in truth heresies more rife and frequent ; satan was then most busie , that he might choak vp the word before it tooke sure root . thus mat. 13. 25. the envious one presently sowes his cockle , as soone as the owner had ended . notwithstanding although such church diseases be now lesse pregnant , yet are they poysonous still alike . a mixing of things vnwholsome with pure , corrupts as much as ere it did . neither doe i ( mistake me not ) prescribe so extreame a course as the ancients vsed . it is a point both aboue my skill and place : only i wish that alwaies disturbers , of what kinde soeuer , if not in person , yet in doctrine be shunned ; that we take heed least by a seeming furtherance of the faith , they hinder its growth . at the fourth of ezra when the people of the land desired to helpe the israelites in rebuilding the temple , they would not , yee haue nothing to doe with vs to build an house , v. 3. happily they guessed that for laying one stone , they might maliciously plucke downe two . you knowe the fable of the home-bred wolfe : vnder colour of keeping the sheepe , hee made more hauock in the fold then the wolfes abroad . a doubtfull zeale is most dangerous when thus it gets a handsome disguise . it is to bee feared , that such may doe more mischeife , then the adversary from without . i haue laid before you at length a full view of schismes : their nature and property : their subiect and how they must bee avoided ; now because one opposite shines more cleerely in anothers presence , it is not amisse that contrariwise in my last point i handle the mutuall agreement of true professours , or as it is here their brotherhood . we read concerning the divisions of reuben , iudg. 5. 15. of much dissention betwixt the saduces and the pharises , act. 23. 7. evill and erroneous men are both alike giuen to strife ; whereas christians rightly seasoned , be no lesse vnanimous then abundant in al truth and goodnesse ; in the 15th of gen. abraham is commanded to take an heifer , a ramme , and a goat : besides a pigeon with a turtle : as for the former he divides them v. 10th : the turtle and the pigeon hee divideth not . those three ( saith prosper ) fore-shew'd the condition of schismaticks , but these the doue-like and vndiuided agreement of professours truly orthodoxe . now as the higher faculties of mans soule are two , will and the vnderstanding , this agreement here consists in a meete consonancy of both . first , for the vnderstanding , hauing receaued one spirit , they must needs conspire in one meaning and sense : they differ not , as being by the same teacher instructed . indeed no marvaile if schismaticks doe iarr , whom their own affections or satan diversly instructs : but the disciples of verity , though many , yet bee they as organs tuned by an individuall spirit . neither is there a more constant euidence of the truth professed , then such consent ; iudicious interpreters of the sacred writ thence especially inferre , that the prophets wrot inspir'de ; each where they doe so miraculously concurre , and fully accord : on the other side dissent of tenents , hath euer beene the signe of falshood . the fathers to confute the pagan philosophers in many principles of faith had no greater proofe : like to a common weale ill composed , they ouerthrew them through their own discord . secondly , neither yet are orthodox professours thus onely 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but likewise 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 : not alone sympathizing in iudgement , but also in heart ; loue and vnamity were euer a most christian-like note . looke but into the course of former ages , and you will easily grant as much . concerning the apostles time , what ardency of good will finde we there ? with what affection did they mutually imbrace ? lands and goods lay then in common : the whole church may seeme no other then one great family . as in the building of solomons temple not any hammer or iron toole was vsed that made a noise ; 1. reg. 6. thus they labour'd iointly in founding the gospell , wihtout all malice or clamorous strife . afterwards wee finde this holy zeale no whit abated ; still in succeeding times , as persecutions waxt hotter , the christians loue grew more enflamed . to manifest which , least it might languish if conceal'd , how many signes of expression had they ? witnesse there 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or feasts of loue : there osculum pacis after their sacred meetings : yea osculum baptismi at their admittance into the church : lastly their panem vnanimitatis , as paulinus to austin intimateth ; a token commonly annext and sent with their letters to expresse their ioint consolidation into the same body of christ ; as for hatred and malice , such vngodly motions , they may seeme as free , as we their of-spring now stand guilty . yet what wonder is it if thus reciprocally they maintained charity ? for first ( you know ) among all virtues this takes place : without it martyrdome it selfe availeth not , 1. cor. 13. lumbard so farre extols it , as to make it touching the exercise an immediate act of the spirit : whereas other divine graces acknowledge their proper habits . how truely he doth this i meane not to examine ; only you see what a glorious conceit he had of this vertue aboue the rest . againe , such loue greatly strengthens each where the christian zeale : it conserues as it were religion warme and frolick . ignatius in his epistle to the ephesians discoursing to this purpose , tells them that it would keepe them more secure euen from satans assaults ; 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , &c. all assronts ( saith he ) of those spirituall enimyes be this way lessened : ioine they but hearts , sinne it selfe would finde an harder inlet . once more , no marvaile if orthodox christians affect this concord , since our saviour himselfe so much commends it ; whenas hee who is the author of peace appeares so vrgent a teacher thereof . in the 13. of io. he makes it the very marke and badge of his : by this shall all men knowe that you are my disciples , & . v. 35 in the 14. c. being now to suffer , he bequeaths it them for their only legacy , my peace i leaue you , v. 27. with great earnestnesse he enioines that , which long since was commended to the church vnder a type ; noahs doue hauing circled the waters too and fro , returnes not empty ; yet brings shee for a token of the floods decrease , no other testimony into the arke , the figure of the church , then an oliue leafe ; a leafe which is the vsuall signe of loue and concord ; hence the apostle more expresly , rom. 10. 15. deciphers the church vnder name of the oliue . you perceiue by this a little better the fowlnesse of schismes : how vgly they be apart , yet more if opposed to vnity : giue mee now leaue but to set downe some few rules , as well for the aduancing of the one , as the repressing of the other , and i will end . first then , it were well if men did meddle lesse in needlesse points besides the faith : were they not ouer-busie there , where they may shew more wit , then promote the gospell . the orthodox religion stands now betwixt papistry and semi-pelagianisme , as the platonicke sect did once betweene the epicureans and the stoicks ; cum his non de sinibus sed de tota fere possessione contentio est ; with these , saith the oratour , the platonicks hold an vtter distance ; but from them they differ vpon tearmes of lighter moment . papistrie thwarts and cuts the very life-strings of a sauing beleefe . semi-pelagianisme no so ; whence then the greatest danger appeares , there to bee most actiue were a prudent course . or 2ly , if some must needs be dealing else-where , would they could but keepe their opinions conceal'd ; not presse vpon the church for currant whatsoeuer themselues haue fancied ; paracelsus hauing grounded himselfe strongly in naturall magicke , afterward in all his conclusions ascribes ouer much to that ; with him adam & methuselah liued so long not without some helpe of chymicall extracts ; vpon like grounds agrippa among others his foppish notions , perswades vs , that the crosse if of force at all , it is by vertue of the meer figure . mē for the most part relish long of those principles with which they haue beene at first invred . the vnderstainding is so farre from embracing the opposite truth , that it rests and scarcely admits of a farther search . moreouer , and what they haue once conceipted priuately , they straight way labour to make good a broad ; hold they cannot , but they will obtrude their peculiar fancies , for a publike trueth ; our sauiour math. 16. speaking of such doctrine among the pharisees , calls it leauen v. 6. euen as leauen it heaues & workes in the braine till it can get a vent ; much discreeter was the course of saint cyprian ; the deuout father being vnhappily tainted in that point concerning anabaptisme , yet would he by no meanes commemd it for a classicke tenent ; nemini prescribimus , &c. let others ( saith hee ) abound in a contrary sence : for my part i aduise none : which his modesty if diuerse now adaies did follow , from how many vnnecessary tumults might they secure the church . but suppose a schisme be once on foote , the speediest way for redresse may seeme ; first a serious yet ciuill debatement : when men shall enter the lists as willing to yeeld , if pechance convinc't , as to refuse the assaylant ; hot and furious disputes doe seldome good ; amidst the noise of such conuiciating iarres , the the truth is scarcely heard . the discussion of doubtfull points resembles much the smiting of a flint ; a gentle and well poys'de stroke procures some sparkes ; whereas a boisterous collision , gets no fire , but breakes the stone ; iust so in point of controversie : a civill hadling brings it to an issue straight ; contrariwise an impetuous wrangling inflicts happily some staine on either party , yet nothing cleeres the argument . vnwisely then deale they who fly out into such a distempered vehemency ; insteed of a sober and vsefull debatement they raise a personall brawle ; they ttauerse not at length the truth , but their owne cause . it was the noted fault of marcellus a rhetoritian that lighting on a figure , hee would pursue it so farre , till he had forgot the matter in hand : likewise doe these if once they fall into a calumniating & iarring vaine ; nay farther , oft times , they strangely misinterpret the aduersary ; either to extend their discourse , or else of malice they impose a meaning farre wide from the authors drift . thus as zebul told gaal , thou seest the shadowes of mountaines as if they were men , iudg. 9. 36. they bestow much fruitlesse paines in confuting such notions as themselues haue fram'de amisse . but a way with such misprision : such rouing encounters ; it is a more probable course , if , as i said , they neither shall ouer roughly dispute the cause , nor yet suspitiously make it worse . a second helpe here may bee the vse of synodicall conuents : conuents which are no lesse apt to represse falshood , then establish a receiued truth in the mindes of people . the romans of old when any more fatall danger approached , did wontedly maintaine their standing senate ; how much rather in a christian state appeares some like proiect needfull : where sinne and error make a daily inrode . our forefathers therefore of the primitiue church , may seeme indeede in such meetings very frequent ; euery yeare twice , about lent and antumne they ordained councels provincially to be held . hereby they weeded as it were and cut vp errour in its first appearance : no sooner could it sprout forth , before it procured strength , some decree or other straight waies cropt it ; satan you know that old serpent is the father of schismes : nay he was by a voluntary discession from god simply the prime schismaticke ; a snake or serpent if he can get but his head into a crany , scrues & wreaths in his whole body after with no hard paine : on this manner error ; by reason of its serpentine nature , vnlesse at first repelled , threatens a dangerous progresse ; councels then in this case be greatly available ; of soueraine helpe , if thus seasonably applied ; such a meeting of reuerent sages must needs if not refell , at least discountenance a crept in falshood . the last remedy shall bee a serious aduise ; that men would duely consider how by schismes they would afresh the body of christ ; how they make the wonted fold a coate of raueuing wolues . hermes somewhere termes malitiousnesse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 : the foode or worlds repast ; let not , oh let not the same be said concerning the church it selfe ; weigh likewise hereto the vnknowne and doubtfull euent of such debates , the collator in prosper begins fairely and as a moderate pelagian , but ere three pages are past leauing pelagianisme , he becomes flat atheist . vnnecessary disputes neuer remaine in that state of moderation , in which they were at first raised ; like floods they gaine encrease from their continued and lasting course ; especially if there happen ( though i hope not ) such as dispense them secretly & of purpose to some farther end : when hannibal mainely intended rome he tooke in saguntum ( saith the historian ) onely by the way ; for occasion-sake in truth of a desired warre ; god grant there be none who beginne at these lower points , that they may fight at length not against rome , but for it . i haue done with my text ; a subiect i confesse somewhat to high for me , and deseruing a more graue aud learned pen ; such an one wherein they should chiefly labour , who are as able for skill , as effectuall in power and place . truth is then most persuasiue , when thus abetted : but as elihu tooke courage to aduise iob , though after his elders : to shew his opinion also ; iob. 22. v. 10. euen so haue i done . wisdome is of god , and oft times hee worketh no lesse through weake meanes , then by strong and potent . howsoeuer i thought it not besides the duety of the meanest leuite , if now he stretcht forth his hand to vpholde the arke : if for my part likewise i endeauourde the churches vnity , my only drift . and now o lord doe thou build vp those breaches in the wals of our ierusalem , which by schismes haue long since beene made ; giue vs externall peace , that so the better wee may procure that inward of minde , and in fine enioy eternall with thee . to god the father , &c. finis . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a20674-e260 petronius . division . iustin . in comment . p. 1. anon. e : de cardinal : christ . ope● exod. 34. apolog. psal . 23. * austin . * lib. 2. in somn . s● l. 1. durando . tacitus . 2. de orthodox , religione . l. 4. gelasius cucycenu● instit . l. 3. et de orpheo etiam hygin poet. & astro . nom . l. 2. euripid. quintil. l. 3. 3. l. 2. exercit. festus de v●… borum sign●…catione ; lu●…lius & nae●… in fragmen●… ep. ad marcellin . vid. ad initia . 7. l. de artibus . insti● . l. 6. et ambrosius in exhortatione advirgines . l. l. 2. c. 46. 47. &c. 2. sam. 10. vincentius contra hereses c. 24. & rhenanus in annotationibus . l. de . mysterijs aegyptiorum . notes for div a20674-e3710 hesiode . division . p. 1. l. 2. 2. 2. tim. 2. l. 2. 2 leo. austin : è contra de luxu arrianorum sabbatario sidon appolinaris l. 1. iulian ep. lucian 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , 8 pol. 2. gelasius . 3 varro . salust . 4 ep. ad leonē papam . orat. de componendo religionis dissidio inter christianos . 5 de promissionibus & praedictionibus . p. ima. vid. b. vigilium adversus eutychem l. 2. iust . martyr . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 — acodemicatū quaestionum . l. 2. de occulta philos . l. 4 sucton . liuie . the primitive practise for preserving truth. or an historicall narration, shewing what course the primitive church anciently, and the best reformed churches since have taken to suppresse heresie and schisme. and occasionally also by way of opposition discovering the papall and prelaticall courses to destroy and roote out the same truth; and the judgements of god which have ensued upon persecuting princes and prelates. / by sir simonds d'ewes. d'ewes, simonds, sir, 1602-1650. this text is an enriched version of the tcp digital transcription a67894 of text r200135 in the english short title catalog (wing d1251). textual changes and metadata enrichments aim at making the text more computationally tractable, easier to read, and suitable for network-based collaborative curation by amateur and professional end users from many walks of life. the text has been tokenized and linguistically annotated with morphadorner. the annotation includes standard spellings that support the display of a text in a standardized format that preserves archaic forms ('loveth', 'seekest'). textual changes aim at restoring the text the author or stationer meant to publish. this text has not been fully proofread approx. 173 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 36 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. earlyprint project evanston,il, notre dame, in, st. louis, mo 2017 a67894 wing d1251 estc r200135 99860940 99860940 50931 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a67894) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 50931) images scanned from microfilm: (thomason tracts ; 48:e290[9]) the primitive practise for preserving truth. or an historicall narration, shewing what course the primitive church anciently, and the best reformed churches since have taken to suppresse heresie and schisme. and occasionally also by way of opposition discovering the papall and prelaticall courses to destroy and roote out the same truth; and the judgements of god which have ensued upon persecuting princes and prelates. / by sir simonds d'ewes. d'ewes, simonds, sir, 1602-1650. [6], 65, [1] p. printed by m.s. for henry overton, and are to be sold at his shop in popes-head alley., london, : 1645. annotation on thomason copy: "june 28". reproduction of the original in the british library. eng heresies, christian -early works to 1800. christian sects -early works to 1800. great britain -church history -17th century -early works to 1800. a67894 r200135 (wing d1251). civilwar no the primitive practise for preserving truth. or an historicall narration, shewing what course the primitive church anciently, and the best r d'ewes, simonds, sir 1645 30473 13 0 0 0 0 0 4 b the rate of 4 defects per 10,000 words puts this text in the b category of texts with fewer than 10 defects per 10,000 words. 2000-00 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2002-01 apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images 2002-03 tcp staff (michigan) sampled and proofread 2002-03 john latta text and markup reviewed and edited 2002-04 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion having with as much delight as diligence , read over this excellent discourse , entituled , the primitive practise for preserving truth ; and finding it richly furnished with variety of learned and select story , eminently usefull for common information against persecution meerly for conscience sake ; i conceive it very worthy of the presse . john bachiler the primitive practise for preserving truth . or an historicall narration , shewing what course the primitive church anciently , and the best reformed churches since have taken to suppresse heresie and schisme . and occasionally also by way of opposition discovering the papall and prelaticall courses to destroy and roote out the same truth ; and the judgements of god which have ensued upon persecuting princes and prelates . by sir simonds d' ewes . the second impression , more exact then the former . london , printed by m. s. for henry overton , and are to be sold at his shop in popes-head alley . to the reader . judicious reader , this ensuing discourse being penned by mee about eight yeeres since , not only for recreation amidst my severer studies , but as a preparative also , by which i desired to fit my self , either for a voluntary exitement , or a necessary suffering ; i intended it only for a private use : for i then residing in the county of suffolke , which had newly groaned under the prelaticall tyranny of bishop wren , as did all other parts of his diocesse ; did know that the presse was then onely open to matters of a contrary subject . but now upon the perusall thereof , conceiving that it might be of some use , in respect of the many distractions amongst us at this present , when a blessed reformation is so neere the birth , and yet the church seems to want strength to bring it forth , i was content to yeeld to the publishing thereof . i did at first , purposely omit the citations of those many and select authorities , out of which this ensuing discourse was drawn , lest the margin thereby should have swoln to a greater proportion then the discourse it self , some whole sections or paragraphs being almost entirely extracted out of the records of this kingdome : and i have through the whole tractat chiefly laid down the matter of fact out of story , not only extant in print , but yet remaining also in m. s. and have lest the debate of the dogmaticall part of it , to those , whose calling and leisure is more proper for it . my many present imployments , both publike and private , did scarce permit mee to supervise it , and to amend it in some few places , which puts mee almost out of all hope ever to transmit to posterity any one of those severall great and more necessary works i had in part collected and prepared ( for the good and benefit of this church and kingdome ) in the time of my leisure and freedome . s. d. the primitive practise for preserving truth . section i. it is the undoubted mark or brand of the church antichristian and malignant , to persecute ; of the church christian orthodox and truly catholike , to be persecuted : for the truth , if it have but equall countenance and safety , will not only prosper and flourish amongst the professors thereof , but will also in due time , sometimes by a sudden power , profligate and trample upon heresie , as it did upon pelagianisme , among the ancient protestant britains in wales , about the yeer of our lord , 466. and sometimes by insensible degrees waste and wear out falshood , as it did the contagion of the arrians amongst the eastern christians ; but falshood , heresie , mens inventions , burthensome superstitions intermixed with gods worship , and idolatry , or any divine creature-adoration , consisting in mens bowing to , or towards images , crosses , altars , communion-tables , reliques , or the like , can never be generally and publikely established , without sharp and cruell persecution be exercised and practised upon the goods , estates , liberties and lives of the godly . the pope and the turk have both upheld and propagated their abominations by the sword , although no indifferent and impartiall judgement can deny , but that the romish antichrist , in this one particular , exceeds the ottomanish muphti , in that he makes it a part of the tridentine faith , and so a tenet of his religion , to persecute , destroy and root out all the euangelicall party , under the false and personated names of heretiques : whereas the turk acknowledgeth this truth , that the conscience neither can , nor ought to be compelled ; and therefore they permit the free exercise , not only of the protestant religion in all their dominions , but of the popish also , in many places of the same , whom yet they justly abhor , as the jewes do also ( led by the morality of the second commandement ) for setting up images in the places of their publike assemblies , and committing idolatry by adoring them . sect. ii. a protestant church , if it desire to intermix any superstitious ceremonies or idolatrous actions , with the power and purity of the gospel , must likewise be enforced to borrow some part of the other characters also from the church malignant , by enforcing the observation of such additions with the persecution of gods children in their estates , goods , and liberties , equalling in many respects the shedding of their bloods ; and reckoned up together by the author of the epistle to the hebrewes , for so many kindes or species of martyrdome . there are in all parts of the world , amongst the very christians themselves , the greater number ignorant , prophane and vicious , who neither regard to know the truth , nor desire to suffer for it , but will alwayes run with the multitude , and be carried with the stream : they will of protestants become papists to morrow , rather then lose either goods , life or liberty ; of papists the next day anabaptists with sebastian castellio , and james arminius ; of anabaptists the third day ( if by that means they may escape danger , and rise to preserment ) become turks or abisens : for , doubtlesse , in running from truth to falshood , as in turning from the medium to an extreme , there is no essentiall , but only a graduall difference . as constantine filled the empire with christians , so julian with atheists and persecutors . the greater number with holy king edward in england , even harding and boner , among others for company , embraced the protestant truth ; and as soone as hee died , all again generally licked up the old vomit under queen mary , whose bloody fires were scarce quenched by her death , and the royall scepter throughly grasped by her blessed sister , but all again , for the most part , ( as if religion had been but a fashion , which commonly deriveth its frenzie into the countrey by the court ) changed with the new prince , and especially the church-men , among whom , through the whole realm , not twenty in a thousand did stick to their infallible head , the romish antichrist . sect. iii. when learned and pious luther lay on his death-bed , he * acknowledged his errors , which coming but newly out of darknesse , had been embraced by him amongst his many truths , and obtruded from him upon the church of god , especially those two monsters of consubstantiation and ubiquity ; yet ( taking counsell rather of men then of gods word ) for feare , lest if hee retracted them , the people would suspect the rest , and so fall back again by an absolute recidivation to popery , hee counted it more safe to declare his judgement in private , and to leave the rooting out of those weeds by insensible degrees to his disciples . to effect which , the french and helvetian churches did readily afterwards afford the germanes divers publike conferences : but doctor andreas , john brentius , and other pseudo-lutherans , having suckt in the poyson of the anabaptists ( the devils master-engine in this latter age , with the jesuites , to restore pelagianisme to the world ) and having added those old blasphemies that concern the advancement of mans free-will above gods grace , to luthers new masse , as the papists then , and still in a bitter scoffe or sarcasme call it , grew into so extreme an hatred against the maintainers of gods truth , both within and without germany , as they became more bitter in their invectives against them , then against the papists themselves , and did even then by their false and preposterous courses , threaten a ruine to themselves , and the whole euangelicall party , which they have since most miserably effected and brought to passe in a great part of the christian world ; which drew the king of great britain , in the yeer 1611. to remonstrate to the united states of the lower germany upon the death of james arminius the anabaptist , or pseudo-lutheran , whom hee calls the enemy of god , and their electing of vorstius into his chaire , whom hee calls a blasphemer ; that if they did not in time prevent the growing of that pestilentiall sect , it would in the issue prove the utter ruine of their flourishing common-wealth . sect. iv. the electorall house of saxonic , upon the devesting of that brave and pious prince john frederick the true heire by charles the fifth , and the investing of the younger house , to usurp that honour , hath ever since proved a greater friend to the popish party , then to the purer churches of christendome , of the french and helvetick confession . miurice that usurped that dutchie and electorate upon the incaptivating of the said duke john frederick his cousin , first ruined the princes of the smalcaldick union , to which himself had subscribed , and then casting an ambitious eye upon the empire it self , broke his faith with the emperor that had raised him ; and having patched up that defection by the means of eerdinand of austria , king of bohemia , afterwards setled in the imperiall throne , he lastly perished by a violent death in a pitcht battell , sought against his fellow-protestants , and left his brother augustus to succeed him . this new electorall family aided the leaguers in france , against that victorious prince , henry the great : they ruined and took prisoner their cousin , the duke of saxon weymar , ( the principall branch of their house ) in the castle of goth , in the time of maximilian the emperor , they put in their far-fetcht pretentions to the dutchie of cleeve and juliers in our dayes , and joyned their armes with the archduke leopold , against the marquesse of brandenburg , and the duke of newburg , the indubitate heires thereof , whose right also was asserted by the whole protestant party besides of christendome . these were the fruits of their miserable errors in doctrine brought in and established by james andreas osiander , and their fellow pseudo-lutherans , retaining still their images and altars in the places of their publique worship , although they confesse them to minister matter of offence to many of the better learned , and matter of superstition to most of the ignorant multitude . nay , hence in the yeer 1580. did the pseudo-lutherans proceed to inforce the ministers of saxonie to subscribe , amongst other articles , to that monstrous error of the ubiquity of christs body , exploded with just derision by bellarmine , and all learned papists : and from enforced subscription ( which is ever for the most part the fore-runner of persecution ) they fell in the yeare 1591. upon the death of duke christian , the best of all the electors of the aforesaid augustus line and race , to shed the innocent bloud of that brave gentleman and faithfull servant of the state , paulus krelius , chancellor of that dutchy , for no other delict , but because he was a known friend to the purest doctrine , & a stout protector of those whom they stiled calvinists . after which followed the suspension and imprisonment of urbanus pierius , professor of wittenberg , and of divers other learned and godly ministers ; yea , within a yeare or two after , such was the furious virulencie of the inhabitants of the town of leipsich , led by the scholars of the universitie there , ( who have since , in these later germane wars , fully tasted of the divine indignation ) as they fell upon the houses and movables of such as embraced the helvetick confession , despoiled them of their goods , and committed divers other outrages upon them . but most fatall have been the effects of this last duke of saxonie's hovering neutrality in matter of religion , when at first he refused to be comprised in the protestant union , entred into by the germane princes in the yeare 1617. for their necessary safety , when secondly he sided the yeare following , with the emperor matthias , against the protestant bohemians . and thirdly , when in the yeare 1620. he joyned his armies with those of the emperour ferdinand the second , ( that but a few yeares before lay hid in obscurity , in his slender patrimony at gratz . ) and so proved one of the chief causes of the utter subversion ( for ought we yet see ) of the religion and liberties of germany . for had not frederick the fifth , prince elector palatine , rather aimed at the upholding of true religion in bohemia , then at any ambitious ends of his own , he had never hazarded the peace , plenty , and quiet he enjoyed at heidelberg , to have accepted that controversall crown at prague , and to have entred that kingdome in a hostile manner , which for above the space of twelve moneths before had been filled with warre and misery . sect. v. i doe not finde that any higher or greater punishment was inflicted upon hereticks themselves in the primitive times , though they remained obstinate after all other meanes used for convincing them of their errours , then exile or banishment . st. austin writing to proculianus the donatist , acknowledgeth such as erre from the truth , must be drawn home by milde instruction , and not by cruell enforcement . and when bishop itacius , in the yeare 383. being a man of a turbulent spirit , and fierce nature , had caused priscillian the heretique , and divers of his followers to be put to death ; he was first condemned for that bloudy act by thcognistus : and st. ambrose afterwards meeting with some bishops at triers , that had partaken with itacius in that cruell execution , would not so much as entertain any communion with them . theodosius the emperour , in the synod of constantinople , in stead of bloud and irons , caused a publick dispute to be afforded the arrians themselves , although they had been before condemned by the councell of nice : the like mercifull provision did charles the great , and lewes the good in france , ordaine for such as were counted sectaries in their times . neither did those three hundred and eighteen fathers in the first nicene councell , those six hundred and thirty in that of chalcedon , or those hundred and fifty in that of constantinople use any other weapons against the same arrians , nestorians , and macedonians , then the word of god ; nor stirred they up , or permitted the christian magistrate in their dayes to punish them by death . paulus aquiliensis , and cedrenus , doe also both of them report , that when the emperour justinus used clemency towards the very arrian heretiques , theodoricus the king of italy being infected with the same poyson , did notwithstanding , led by that example , suffer the orthodox christians to have the free exercise of their religion in all his dominions . wee shall need no further examples to prove this truth , when it is confessed by one of the most learned and best romanists of our age , that there is no approved example in all the monuments of antiquity , of any execution done upon the sectaries of those times ; but that the church of god did alwayes abhorre the shedding of bloud in matters that meerly concern religion , jac. aug. thuanus prooem. in histor. p. 5. sect. vi . it is likewise contrary to the practice of the best princes , and the wisest states of this latter age of the world , to make matter of heresie it selfe a capitall crime . francis the first of that name , king of france , having decreed a persecution against the poore protestants of merindoll , and cabrieres , and being informed by william bellay , lord langay , governour of the province , that they were harmless men , very laborious in their callings , just in their dealings , loyall to their prince , charitable to the poore , and very frequent in their prayers to god , & their innocency being likewise cleared in a great measure by cardinall sadolet himselfe , he caused them to be freed from further persecution , till being falsly informed by one minerius , a turbulent fellow , that there were fifteen thousand of them up in armes in rebellion , he rashly gave them over to the fury of their enemies , yet not as heŕetiques , which he alwayes accounted them , but as traytors , as he was then mis-informed of them . in germany , ferdinand the first , taught by the error of charles the fifth his elder brother , found no such meanes to make his government happy , and his empire flourishing , as to decree the liberty of religion . which course the good emperour maximilian his sonne following , dyed as happy as he lived victorious . the venetian state indure no inquisitors in matters of religion , nor if any of their subjects be accused of heresie , doe they suffer it to be questioned before any of the clergy alone , who are thirsty after bloud , but before them joyntly together , with their civill judges . the first monarch in england that made matter of religion , a capitall crime , by a publick act or statute , was the usurper henry the fourth , who having by the perswasion and assistance of thomas arundell , that traytor , archbishop of canterbury , and his fellow-prelates , deposed and murdered his lawfull soveraigne , richard the second , to curry favour with those bloudy canniballs , was forced to yeeld to the murdering of gods saints : since whose time the bloud of the martyrs in england , have proved the seed of the church , although by the short raigne of that kingdomes unfortunate mary , their number comes far short of those in france , and the seventeene provinces ; in which two dominions , within the space of little more then five yeares , the curious searcher may finde by diligent inquisition , that gods truth was sealed under charles the ninth of france , and philip the second of spaine , with the bloud of near upon two hundred thousand martyrs , amongst whom were slaughtered divers great and eminent personages of both sexes : a cruelty that very mahumetans doe abhorre ; as it appeared by that which the ambassadours sent from abas-meriza the persian sultan , to the emperour rodolph , in the yeare 1604. did alledge to justifie the mercifull government of that empire , to wit , that all christians had free liberty of conscience in all their soveraignes dominions , and therefore they exhorted his imperiall majesty to joyn in a firme league with him against their common enemy the turke . sect. vii . as it is against the practice of the primitive church , the course held by the christian emperours , and the observation of the wisest princes and states of the latter age , though otherwise pontifician , to make matter of heresie a capitall crime , to inforce the conscience , and to put to death , for the cause of religion meerly , so it is against the rules of charitie and reason . first , it is against the rules of charity , if we had no other light to guide us , but the most wise answer of englands last matchlesse edward , being then but a childe , when he was pressed to yeeld his assent to the burning of an heretique ; what ( said he ) shall i send him to hell ? by which he truly intimated , that whereas in all other offences , the malefactors are punished with death , because it may be hoped they have repented the sinne ; but to destroy an heretick before conviction , is to be the devils catour , and to send him in provision even to hell it selfe . for the very pertinacious holding of an heresie is agreed on by all sides to be a damnable sinne , and then the cutting them off in that sinne , is to be the immediate instrument of their perdition . this doth that virulent romanist or monster of men , nicholas harpsfeild , in his wiclevian history openly boast of , cap. 16. p. 717. that those ( blessed champions of christ whom he calls ) heretiques , did in the fires that consumed their bodies , taste the first-fruits of the eternall fire they endured afterwards . on the other side , if they suffer not but for feare of death , hope of preferment , or other base ends , turne from one religion to another , especially from the truth to errour and idolatry , without instruction , or reasonable conviction , they onely dissemble outwardly ; as the moores of gran ido did under that bloudy philip the second of spaine , who being enforced to be present at the masse in the morning , practised their own mahumetanisme in the evening ; or els their conscience being shipwracked by their apostasie before conviction , with francis spira they are swallowed up of despaire , or with peter espinae , archbishop of lions , of the henetick faction in henry the fourths time of france , with lust and epicurisme , who practised that emasculating sinne with his own sister . the jews in england from willian the firsts time , till the eighteenth yeare of edward the first , were the onely usurers of the realme , and brought in large contributions and tallages to the kings under whom they lived , and enjoyed here the freedome of their consciences : at their deaths their whole estates escheated to the king , which their next heires commonly redeem'd for one full third part of three : but to incourage them to turne christians , it was appointed in the assize , by which they were govern'd under their own proper and peculiar justices , that if any jew dyed , whose heire became a christian , he should inherit all the estate , of his ancestors , without any further sine or composition with the prince . the master of the rolls-house in london , and other places in other cities of the kingdome were appointed for the entertainment of those christian converts , and were thence called domus conversorum : all which may clearly be gathered out of those records of the exchequer , commonly called , the great pipe rolles , and the communi● rolles : by which allurements some of the jewes out of malice to their fellowes , or having committed some penall offence to escape the punishment practised amongst themselves , or els for lucre sake , ( the sin of avarice being connaturall to most of them ) were baptized and became christians outwardly , without any due instruction in the christian faith before-hand , and being convinced also that the papists adoring or bowing to , and towards images , altars , reliques , and the like trumpery , was absolute idolatry against the second commandement , they proved , as commonly the jewes and christians at this day do , when they turn turks , the wretchedest varlets in the whole kingdome . what were the poor indians wont to say , when to avoid the spaniards extreame and inhumane cruelties , they were drawn to their masses , but that since they became christians , they had learned to swear and drink ? it was an excellent and just sentence which one of the grand seignienrs pronounced against divers hundreds of christians , that falling down-before him , made declaration , that they had deserted their sacra , and given up their names to mahomet , he inquired of them why they did so ; and they confessing plainly , that they did it to be freed from those many taxes , contributions and oppressions which they before groaned under ; he rejected their enforced conversion for outward ends , and commanded their taxes and levies to be continued . this heroick action of the turkish monarch , was not much short of that policie of one of the ancient christian emperours , who having his army mixed of christians and pagans , and desiring to discover who of the first were little better then those of the latter , made , like another jehu : a publike declaration for the restoring of paganisme , upon which , divers of the christian commanders shewing themselves forward to desert the truth , and to follow the stream and time , he presently reproved and cashier'd them ; alledging , that all such were unworthy to serve any prince that had proved unfaithfull to that divine majesty , by which princes rule . sect. viii . as it is against the dictamen of christian charity , to make matter of religion a capitall crime , or to enforce the conscience , without a full and clear conviction , from the profession of one religion to another , or to any new burthensome ceremonies , to be superadded in the publick worship of god , although the religion it self remain the same it was before in the generall ; so it is against the rules of reason it self . this was confessed by henry 3. of france , one of the most impotent princes that ever swayed that scepter , and most inveterate enemy that ever the protestants had , having been instructed to hate , betray , and persecute them , by katherine de medices his bloudy mother , even from his very cradle ; yet when james clement a jesuited monk had sheathed a knife in his bowels , and that hee saw himself neer the minute in which hee was to give an account of all his cruelties to the supreme judge of heaven and earth , he made an effectuall speech to the chief commanders of his army , being most of them romanists : to acknowledge and obey the king of navar ( then a protestant ) as their lawfull soveraigne , and the lineall heire of the french crown , and to know this undoubted truth for the future ; that religion which is distilled into the souls of men by god himself , cannot he enforced by man . the same truth likewise , and almost in these very words , did the lord brederode , and the other protestants of the lower germany alledge for their just excuse in their united apologie , published in the yeere 1566. and further added ; that if the papists did conceive their religion to be the truth , they should in sieed of blood , fines , imprisonments and exilings , follow the seasonable advice of wise gamaliel , and try a while , whether the protestants separation from them were of god or not ; for otherwise , if by force and tyrannie they did compell them to professe and practice those actions in gods worship which they accounted abominable , and did also restrain them from performing those holy duties towards god , wherein they were convinced the truth of his service consisted , their consciences must needs be shipwracked and undone , and so in stead of making them new converts , they should leave them atheists and libertines . this very objection also ( in the yeere 1572 ) did katherine de medices of florence , then queen mother of france , ( though she little practised the truth of the consequence ) make in the treaty of marriage of francis de valois her youngest sonne , with queen elizabeth of england . the great rub pretended on both sides , ( though the match was never really intended by either queen ) was matter of religion ; in which that glorious virgin monarch , having given her ambassador expresse instructions , not to yeeld so far as that the duke of alenzon should be permitted the celebration of his masse in private . what mr. walsingham , saith the queen-mother upon his next audience , will your mistresse have my son turn atheist , and professe no religion at all ? for with your church he cannot joyn , till he be further instructed ; and you will not suffer him to continue those sacra by which hee hath hitherto served god , what shall hee turn heathen till you have converted him ? though this unfortunate lady did by this her wise answer discover the true madnesse of all persecutors , yet did she not forbeare to bath her cruell hands for many yeers after , in the blood of gods saints , and caused many , as st. paul witnesseth of himself , before his conversion , to blaspheme , by their ejuration of the known truth , and their subscriptions to the popish trumperies ; of which , some that persisted in papistry , turned prodigious sinners and libertines ; and others with the king of navar , and prince of conde , as soon as they got loose , returned to the known truth . the heroick answer of that brave prince , john frederick elector , and duke of saxonie , is worthy to be ingraven in leters of gold on pillars of brasse , who being taken prisoner by the emperor , charles the fifth , in the yeer 1547. and threatened with present death , except he would renounce and yeeld up his electorate and dutchie to his false and treacherous cousin maurice , and become a romanist , yeelded readily to all the former conditions , but absolutely refused the latter : and when in the yeer following , that wicked interim was yeelded unto by all the princes of germany ; some being driven by fear , and others drawn on by flattery , which was , that popery should be restored in all places , till a generall councell were called , and further order taken for the liberty of religion ; this godly prince , though ces●rs captive , could never be drawn to subscribe to it ; and when those two subtile perenots , nicholas cardinall granvellan the father , and anthony the bishop of arras his son , had used many arguments to perswade him , what ( saith hee ) would you draw me to ? i am convinced the religion i now live in to be the truth , and should i outwardly make profession of any other , i should but dissemble with god and the emperor , and so draw neer to that unpardonable sin against the holy ghost : with which answer , charles the fifth himself was so pleased , as he more respected and honoured the duke ever after . what this pious prince foresaw and avoided , too many by lamentable experience have found true , and repented , who having abjured the truth for fear , and felt but a while the horror of an afflicted and wounded conscience , have hasted to those popish officers , as divers in england did in queen maries time , where their abjurations and recantations remained , and having gotten sight of them , have rent them into many pieces , and joyfully imbraced , not only their irons , but the stake it self , as a far more easie suffering then what they before felt and indured . had charles the 9th of france but followed the good counsell was openly given him in the parliament at st. germans the first yeer of his reign , that the differences of religion neither ought , nor ever could be composed by blood and cruelty , but by gods word and seasonable conferences , he had never made his raign and memory so infamous to posterity as now it is , nor drawn the divine vengeance upon himself , by shedding so much innocent blood as afterwards he did . for as divers were butcher'd by him in that barbarous massacre at paris , in the yeer 1572. so henry de clermont ( commonly sirnamed bourbon ) prince of conde , was some days after the generall slaughter of the protestants , committed there , appointed by him to die , but his pardon being obtained by elizabeth ( a name , it seems , only proper to gracious and excellent soveraignesses ) his queen , one of the daughters of the good emperor maximilian , ( although conde knew it not ) hee comes to him , and tels him , of three things he must elect one : either to heare masse , to die , or to suffer perpetuall imprisonment ; the young prince no whit abashed , makes him this sudden and brave answer : god forbid , sir , that i should choose the first , but of the two latter , i am ready to submit to that which your highnesse shall appoint . there is as rare a story of the lady jane gray , eldest daughter of henry gray , duke of suffolk , not much inferiour in birth and extraction to conde himself , by her mothers side , who was grandchilde and co-heire to edward the 4th , king of england , related by a gentleman , and a courtier , as it seems ( for i finde not his name ) under queen mary , in the yeer 1553. who dined at mr. partriges house within the tower with her , whilest she remained a prisoner there , which narration well deserving to be transmitted to posterity , doth here ensue out of a manuscript history of a great part of that queens time , the very autograph it self being in my library , written by the said gentleman with his own hand , some few words being added , which were at first casually omitted by his haste , or inadvertency in penning of it , and some other words changed and written according to the manner of speech now used : on tuesday , the 29th of august , i dined at partriges house with my lady jane , &c. after that we fell in discourse of matters of religion , and she asked what he was that preached at pauls on sunday before , and so it was told her to be one : : : : : : : : i pray you ( quoth she ) had they masse in london ? yea forsooth ( quoth i ) in some places : it may be so ( quoth she ) it is not so strange as the sudden conversion of the late * duke , for who would have thought , said shee , hee would have so done ? it was answered her , perchance hee thereby hoped to have had his pardon . pardon ! ( quoth shee ) wo worth him , hee hath brought me and our stock in most miserable calamity and misery by his exceeding ambition ; but for the answering that hee hoped for life by his turning , though other men be of that opinion , i utterly am not : for what man is there living , i pray you , although hee had been innocent , that would hope for life in that case , being in the field against the queen in person as generall , and after his taking so hated and evill spoken of by the commons , and at his coming into prison so wondred at , as the like was never heard by any mans time ; who can judge that hee should hope for pardon , whose life was odious to all men ? but what will yee more ? like as his life was wicked and full of dissimulation , so was his end thereafter : i pray god i , nor no friend of mine die so ; should i , who am young , and in the flower of my yeeres forsake my faith for the love of life ? nay , god forbid ; much more hee should not , whose fatall course , although hee had lived his just number of yeers , could not have long continued : but life was sweet , it appeared so hee might have lived , you will say , hee did not care how ; indeed the reason is good : for hee that would have lived in chains to have his life , belike would leave no means unattempted : but god be mercifull to us , for hee saith , whoso denyeth him before men , hee will not know him in his fathers kingdome . how justly may the masculine constancie of this excellent lady , whose many vertues the pens of her very enemies have acknowledged , rise up in judgement against all such poore spirits , who for feare of death , or other outward motives , shall deny god and his truth , and so crown the trophees of the antichristian or mongrill adversaries by their lamentable apostasie . for what shee here spake christianly , shee within a few moneths after performed constantly , her life being taken from her on the 12th day of february , 1553. having lived first to see mr. harding her fathers chaplain revolted to antichrist , to whom she wrote an effectuall letter of admonition and reproof , published by mr. fox in his acts and monuments , p. 1291. not unworthy the perusall of the ablest christians and greatest doctors . sect. ix . as it is against the dictamen of reason , to make matter of religion a capitall crime , so it is against the rules of policy it self , in respect that heresie and falshood , which would in time die of themselves , are thereby increased & propagated , and so the end for which force and violence are used , is no wayes obtained thereby . this was verified in the death of prisciliian the heretique of old , by which his followers were mightily encreased , and having before but reverenced him as a holy man , did afterwards adore him as a martyr . the present age verifies it in the death of michael servetus the spaniard , and other anabaptists , though most necessarily cut off by the sword of the magistrate , for their blasphemous opinions and lawless tenets , tending to the utter subversion of all civill government . the anabaptists in their dialogues , published in the english tongue in queen maries dayes , though they craftily withdrew many of their anarchicall tenets ( agreeing almost verbatim with the workes since penned by james arminius , and the latter anabaptists ) doe extoll that servetus as a prophet of the lord ; and their numbers are at this day so increased , as they constitute or make a considerable party in divers parts of christendome . but those cursed enemies of the truth , that thinke by persecuting it , to abolish it , as they fight against god himselfe in so doing , so have they heretofore , and shall still in despight of all their devillish policy for the time to come increase and propagate the same . this , if all other instances wanted , would sufficiently appeare in that famous example of an english schoolmaster , a most zealous papist in the dayes of king edward the sixt , who afterwards in the beginning of queen maries government , frequenting the fires of some of the martyrs , was so convinced with hearing what they spake , and seeing how chearfully they suffered , as he himselfe relinquishing the former ignorance and idolatry he had so long embraced , at last witnessed the truth with his own bloud . not he onely , but many thousands also besides , were doubtless inabled by the cleare shining of those fires , to discerne the foulnesse of those mysteries of darkness , under which they had been so long held captive . and after her short raigne ( infamoused by so much bloud-shed ) was expired , it facilitated the way for her royall sister elizabeth to restore the truth at an easie rate . when the executioner came behind john hus , to kindle the pile that encompassed him : come hither my friend , ( said he ) and kindle it here before , for had i feared what thou bringest , i had not appeared at this stake to day . his death brought so incredible progresse to the true church in bohemia , as did also that of jerome of prague his contemporanie , that their bloudy persecutors had just cause within a few yeares after their decease , to acknowledge their own errour in having hastened their ends . as fruitfull a seed-time to the church in france , proved the death of annas burgus , a senator of paris , in the yeare 1559. under francis the second . a man he was so vertuous and innocent in his life , as some of the very enemies of the truth laboured his delivery when he was in prison , and so resolute and chearfull in his death , as it incouraged thousands in that kingdome , in the constant profession of the reformed religion . what better successe had all the bloudy executions of ferdinand de toledo , that merciless duke of alva , and of his new erected bishops in the lower germany , but that the gospel at the last got the victory over hell , and all the powers of darkness ? neither indeed could those cruell inquisitors have expected other issue , had they but truly considered what religion had been ; and that princes and states may command the bodies , but not the soules and consciences of men ; which having been once perswaded by instruction and information to embrace and beleeve any opinions , though hereticall , and therefore much more the truth it selfe , can never be driven from them , but by the same meanes of a further and more cleare instruction . the godly have ever lookt upon chaines , prisons , racks , and fires , as the tryall and reward of their faith , more fearing to doe evill , then to suffer evill , well knowing that they shall neither suffer more , nor their cruell enemies be able to inflict more , then god shall turne to his own endlesse glory , and their everlasting good . did the heathen poet desire to be sent back to the mines ( a life more tedious then that of the gallyes ) rather then he would commend a few bad verses , contrary to his judgement ? could epicurus , that impure philosopher , say of a wise man , that if he were scorched in phalaris bull , he would not be moved with it , but onely cry out , dulce est , & ad me non attinet ? or the young stoick in gellius , to maintaine the apathie of his sect , neither groane nor frowne in the midst of a burning feaver ? and shall we thinke that gods saints who have their reason heightened and irradiated by grace , and their soules immoveably founded upon a lively and living faith , will feare to lose their estates , liberties , and lives for the truths sake ? no doubtless , but as the gold is tryed by the furnace , and cleared from the drosse , so in time of persecution they shall be discerned from all hypocrites , atheists , libertines , and time-servers whatsoever . sect. x. but oh that princes and great ones would shake off those fleshflyes and sycophants , who tell them the contrary , and know the truth to be that nothing can more infamouze their raignes and memories to posterity , nothing bring more inevitable ruine to their persons , nothing finally prove so deadly a consumption amongst their posterity , as to inforce the consciences of their subjects , by fines , imprisonments , subscriptions , recantations , depauperations , and death . charles the fift having obtained the imperiall chaire , by the money and meanes of henry the eighth of england , was the most potent emperour that ever germany had , as long as he maintained the peace of religion , but having yeelded to the popes instigations , and prospered a while in his intended extirpation of the truth , he found at last by experience what his brave and valiant generall castaldus had foretold him ; that these violent proceedings would in the end prove fatall to himselfe ; for having first fled away at mid-night in a cold and rainy season from onspruch , for feare of the protestant army , he was afterwards ( in stead of setling his sonne philip in his own chaire , which he had fully intended ) faine to surrender up the empire to ferdinand his brother , who for divers moneths before had entred into a secret league with the protestant princes of germany , and so having lived a few yeares after in a despised and disconsolate solitude , heat last ended his life very ingloriously . his sonne philip the second , the most inveterate enemy of the gospel that ever lived , did not onely set up shambles and butcheries for gods saints in most of his own large dominions by his inquisitors , but continually ayded the rebells in france , england , and ireland , against their lawfull soveraignes , and plotted to invade all other protestant dominions in christendome , that so at last by one generall carnage of them all , he and his holy father the pope , might have shared the christian world by a double monarchy of the church and empire between them . but did this bloudy prince prosper in these his ambitious and cruell designes ? certainly , nothing lesse ; for what got he by his invading france by land , england and ireland by sea , and by his large pensions conferred on the traytors and secret enemies of either state ; but that in the issue having wasted about thirty millions of money upon those fruitless designs , and not gained a foot of ground in either of those realmes , he lost a great part of the seventeen provinces , with whom having broken the oath solemnly sworne to them upon his inauguration , they by assistance of england , and france , freed themselves from his unjust oppression and tyranny ? neither did the divine justice let him so escape , but raised a fire in his own house , so as the jeast of augustus touching herod , might well be verified in him , that it had been better to have been his swine then his sonne . for whereas he had issue by mary his first wife , the daughter of john the third of that name , king of portugall , one onely sonne called charles , a prince of admirable towardlinesse ; he during the life of englands unhappy mary , his second wife , treated a marriage for his said sonne with elizabeth the eldest daughter of henry the second of france ; during the treaty mary his wife dying , he marries the princesse elizabeth himselfe , intended for his sonne : they both often in private after never forgetting their old affection , lament their unhappy losse each of other : the sonne also distasts his fathers cruelties , and the butcheries of his inquisitors . this enraged his jealous father , who having in the yeare 1568. first imprisoned him , within a few dayes after poysoned him in a dish of broath . his mother in law followed him within a few moneths after , sent out of the world by the same kind hand and meanes , ( say the french writers ) the violence of the poyson causing her to miscarry also by an abortion . and then was philip the father put to seek out a fourth wife , and having married anne the daughter of mary , his own naturall sister , he had issue by her , ferdinand and james , both cut off by death in their infancy , and philip who being the onely issue of this incestuous match , lived to inherit his fathers dominions , though not the full measure of his cruelties , having been perhaps forewarned by his sad and loathsome end , to pursue a more milde and peaceable government . rodolph the second of that name , emperour of germany , not following the steps of the wise maximilian his father , but of the foresaid philip his brother in law , sought by all secret and hostile means to enervate and destroy religion in the empire . what got he by it , but to have the curse of the scripture to fall upon him ; that the elder brother should serve the younger ? for matthias the arch-duke of austria , raising an army in the yeere 1608. and joyning his forces with those of the oppressed protestants in bohemia , hemmed up his brother rodolph in prague , got the kingdom of hungary from him in possession , the empire in reversion , and left him only the robes and complements of majesty ; which notorious affront he did not long over-live , nor ever had the means or power to revenge . sect. xi . if wee passe out of spain and germany , from the house of austria into france , to consider the sad successes of the princes of the valesian line , upon their hatred and persecution of religion , wee shall see so many instances of gods just indignation against them , as they may not only leave to all posterity a just ground of admiration , but save us the labour also of searching any further back into the elder histories of gods judgements powred out on the persecuting emperours in the primitive times . henry the second of france , was meanly married to katherine de medices , the niece of pope clement the seventh , during the life of francis the dolphine , his elder brother , afterwards poysoned . that prudent prince , francis the first , his father deceasing , hee succeeded him in his throne and purple , and swayed the french scepter divers yeers , with much tranquillity and happinesse , till loathing the coiture of his queen , unfit indeed for a princes bed , he grew highly enamoured on pictavia of valence , a woman of exquisite beauty and good extraction : with whom hee long after lived in continuall advowtrie , and was by her enticed to the persecution and slaughter of the protestants , in the yeere 1553. that so by the confiscation of their lands and goods , shee might enrich her self and her kindred . this persecution set a period to all his former victories , and was followed the next yeere with the losse of the city of senis in italy to the spaniard , the death of that gallant old generall leo strozzi , by a base hand , and the overthrow of the french army by james de medices . in the yeer 1556. the violence of persecution was again renewed against the professors of the truth , and the very next yeer following , as before , god again gave up the french army to the slaughter of the spaniards , and the dutch , at the fiege and battell of st. quintins , in which there were about 3000. slain upon the place , and many of them signall men , and the town soone after taken in by assault , annas duke of memorancie himself , the constable of france , gasper de colignie , earle of caestilion , admirall of france , the marshall of st andrew , the duke of longevile , and a number of other great peers were taken prisoners . in summe , the losse and slaughter was so great and fatall to the french , as it well-neer equalled that victory obtained by the duke of bourbon , at the battell of pavia in italy , against francis the first his father ; yet henry the second still shuts his eyes against the cause of all these losses , and having his heart already cauterized by lust , he not only caused the godly to be committed to the flames , but would needs view their torments himself , as a pleasing spectacle , and had conspired and combined with philip the second of spain , his new sonne in law , for the utter ruine and finall subversion of geneva : nay , but a few houres before his death , in the yeer 1559. lodowick faber , and annas burgus , two senators of paris , because they had spoken a little freely for the innocency and piety of the protestants in the open senate , were imprisoned upon his expresse command in the bastile in the same city by gabriel earle of mongomery , one of the captains of his guard ; and the persecution against all others of the same profession grew hot and furious , when the king upon the 29th of june the same yeere , running at tilt with that very earle of mongomery , and neer the very baslile , where the senators remained prisoners , was struck with a splinter of mongomeries speare through his eye into his brain , and never had the happinesse to speak any one word after , though he survived the wound a few dayes , or to acknowledge his former lust and cruelty . had the papists but such an instance of gods immediate providence in vindicating their cause , we should soon heare of one true miracle amidst so many false and adulterate . but if wee further looke to gods hand that followed this prince in his posterity , it will yet seem the greater miracle ; for of five sons hee had , all except one , died without lawfull issue to survive them , and three of them by violent deaths , and in his posterity ended the valesian line , the crown devolving thereupon to the royall branch of clermont , commonly called bourbon , whom his sons had most bitterly hated and persecuted . of all his five daughters , three died issuless , and the eldest that had issue was cut off by poyson . nay , his very bastard son , henry of engolisme , a great actor amongst others in the massacre of paris , perished also by the stab of philip altovit a florentine , his old enemy , in the yeer , 1586. during the raign of henry the third his brother . sect. xii . for charles the ninth ( third son of henry the second aforesaid ) that succeeded francis the second his brother , in the kingdome of france , in the yeer 1560. had he continued his raign with as much mercy and wisdome as he began it , or followed the grave and seasonable advice of michael hospitalius his chancellor in his latter yeers , as well as he did in his former , he had in all likelihood lived as vertuously as hee died miserably . hee had scarce raigned two yeers in peace and plenty , when katherine de medices his mother , desiring to vest and settle the regencie in her self , by raising combustions in the realm , began to perswade her son to revive and renew those persecutions against the protestants which his father had begun ; shee reconciled her self to francis lorainer , duke of guise , whom but a little before she had justly feared and hated , being a secret enemy to lewes de clermont , prince of conde : he and the marshall of st andrew having gained annas de memorancy , constable of france to their party , conspired all together for the utter ruine of the truth . the protestants in the mean , seeing the king in his infancy , to be held captive , as it were , by this triumvirate , take up arms by the queen-mothers own instigation , to maintain the kings edict of pacification , published in the yeer 1561. and commonly called the edict of january . the yeer following , by the instigation of the same triumvirate , not only the queen-mother , but anthony de clermont ( usually sirnamed bourbon ) king of navar also , ( who yet died a protestant ) was drawn on to assail the said protestants by open force , they in the mean time filling the queen-mothers ears with these vain flatteries , that she should soon see the utter ruine of all the heretikes in france ; from which time that goodly kingdome , so rich , peaceable and flourishing , for neer upon forty yeers together , ( some short times of truce and peace being interposed ) was filled with cruelties , ravages , ravishments , blood-shedding , battels , sires , slaughters , and all other calamitous desolations that accompany intestine and civill broiles ; in the issue of all which , the protestants being increased in their strength and numbers , obtained a more firm and advantageous peace then ever they had before enjoyed : whereas those three incendiaries of all these miseries perished within a few yeers after , by the just judgement of god , in the very act of their hostile pursuements of his children : the marshall of saint andrew was slain at the battell of dreux , annas de memorancie under the very walls of paris , and francis lorainer , duke of guise , was pistolled by john poltrot , at the siege of orleance . king charles seeing that open force could not destroy the truth , nor root out the professors thereof , about two yeers before the hellish massacre began at paris , and continued to the perpetuall infamy of france in divers other cities in that realm , held a secret councell in the castle of blois with katherine de medices his mother , alexander and hercules ( called also henry and francis ) his two brothers , and henry lorainer , son and heir of the before pistolled duke francis , duke of guise ; by what means they might best draw the protestants into their toile to destroy and murther them . the same councell was held again by king charles in the house of hieronimo de gondy at st. clou , and the time and order of the bloody marriage banquet to be served in at the nuptials of the king of navar , with the lady margaret his sister , was there agreed upon , and resolved of , almost , in the same manner as it was afterwards put in execution upon the 24. day of august , being st bartholomews day , in the yeer 1572. in which were most inhumanely slaughtered within the space of few dayes , of men , women and children , many of them also being great and honourable personages of either sex , about thirty thousand : and while the duke of guise was busie in prosecuting that mercilesse and inhumane execution , it was seriously advised upon , and disputed of , in the queen-mothers cabinet-councell , whether it were not necessary that hee himself , and the rest of his family then there , should also be dispatched at the same time in that tumult : king charles himself never saw good day after that bloody massacre , although his court sycophants had promised him it should prove the first happy day of his absolute monarchie ; for though hee had been long drenched in lust , ( a sin seldome separated from a persecutor ) by his ordinary advowtrie with a mean wench of orleance , on whom hee begot charles of engolisme , after earle of auvergne ; and though he had been trained up by his mother , to see the flaughter of beasts , and ever in the chases loved to both his hands in the bloud of the fallen game , ( all which might have served to have stupefied his conscience , as they did enflame his fierce and cruell nature ) yet so stinging a remorse in his inward man did ever pursue and haunt him after that mercilesse slaughter accomplished chiefly by his often swearing and forswearing himself , ( by which the queen of navar , and the admirall chasrilion were deceived ) as that his eyes rolled often uncertainly in the day with feare and suspicion ; and his sleep was usually interrupted in the night with dismall dreams & apparitions , like r. 3. of england , after the murther of his two nephews in the tower of london ; nay , though he survived not this inhumane slaughter sull two yeares , yet had he plotted and decreed the death of the said henry duke of guise , and the removall of his queen-mother & her instruments from the helm of state : but some of his agents that were to have acted these last feats , playing false with him , ( as he had some few dayes before the said massacre poysoned that incomparable princesse for learning and piety , joan d'albret queen of navar , grandmother to lewes the thirteenth , now king of france : ) so did his mother or the duke of guise , by way of prevention or anticipation minister to him his fatall physick , of which , after many sharp and grievous torments , he deceased upon whitsunday , having not then attained to the five and twentieth yeare of his age , in the yeare 1574. the violence of the venome leaving in his intrailes ( as appeared upon his distection ) many blew spots and swellings . sect. xiii . we have seen the gain and advantage that king charles the ninth of france made by his barbarous persecutions , 't is likely that those very flatterers which assured him those cruelties should make him an absolute monarch , did help to absolve him of his monarchy . he had his punishment first , his mother , his two brethren , the cardinal & duke of guise , that had not only joyned with him in it , but encouraged him to it , they still survived him , and for ought men saw , were firmly stablished in much safety and prosperity ; though guise might have been warned by the death of claude , duke of aumale his brother , slain at the siege of rochel , in the yeare 1573. the first act by which henry the third ( the new french king , and brother and heir of charles deceased ) discovered his impotency of spirit , and want of judgement , was his clandestine and sudden stealing out of poland , where he had been but a few moneths before elected and crowned king : this was the first unfortunate step of his following his mothers weak dictates , and rejecting the able advises of his own councell . but her next instructions which shee as fatally gave him , as he weakly pursued , being to root out the professors of the truth with fire and sword , involved him and his kingdome into innumerable miseries . the good emperour maximilian the second , in the kings passage out of poland through germany , and the venetian state , during his stay there , gave him both of them more faithfull counsell , earnestly advising him to maintain the former edicts of pacification , and not to enforce the consciences of men in matter of religion : the same opinion was generally held by his wisest counsellers , and by all sober and discreet romanists at home , who saw plainly , that the protestants encreasing was the onely meanes now left under heaven , in time at length , to draw the pope and his conclave to yeeld to some reformation of the church , which it exceedingly needed . but other papists there were of loose and atheisticall lives , as lewes lorainer , cardinall of guise , henry lorainer his elder brother , duke of guise , renate villoclare , ( a man , saith incomparable monsieur de thou , fatally preferred to this kings attendance by his mother ) and divers others , who perswaded the king to break the former edicts of pacification , and never to sheath his sword , till he had utterly ruined the protestants of france , whom some of their foul-mouthed fellow-brethren , protestants of this age , have stiled french puritanes , and would , perhaps , had they lived in his time , have joyned their ghostly advices with those of the cardinall of guise for the utter extirpation of all such as dissented in judgement or practice from themselves in matter of ceremony . i have often wondred in the perusall of the story of this king , whose troublesome raign did necessitate his frequent consultations ; that when divers advices were propounded , he ever pitched upon the worst and most fatall to himselfe : but i found the two main causes of it to be ; first , his blind and inveterate hatred of the truth : and secondly , his weak and degenerate spirit , by which the house of guise , the arch-enemies of the gospel , became at the last so potent , and triumphed so notoriously over his impotency , as they forced him to seek to those very protestants for support , against whom himself had taken a most wicked and solemn oath , as the head of a faction amongst his own subjects , for their utter subversion . infinite almost , was the treasure he spent upon his minions and pleasures , ( his very expences for maintenance of his dogs onely in that age , amounting unto twenty thousand pounds yearely at least ) but most was exhausted in the prosecution of his civill wars against the protestants , and his servile ancillating therein to the ambition of others . guise and his faction now grown strong , ( and assured of support from philip the second of spain , ) after his expelling the king out of paris , and heaping a world of other insolent affronts upon him , was drawn by him in the yeare 1588. to the assembly then held at blois ; he came thither with lewes lorainer , cardinall of guise his brother , and charles prince of jenvile his son , upon the same royall assurance of safety with which charles the ninth had ( by his advice ) deceived the protestants before the inhumane massacre in the yeare 1572. and now let all popish and popishly addicted , pseudo-lutherans , who make it a sport to fine , imprison , suspend , vex , and impoverish their fellow-christians for the lightest matter , draw neer and stand amazed at gods secret judgements : for during this assembly at blois , was this henry , duke of guise , slaughtered , against the publike faith given him , not onely within the castle of blois , but in that very room in which sixteen yeares before he had advised the bloudy massacre of paris to be committed and executed . two circumstances also that attended his fatall minute , do adde much horror to the punishment it selfe : the first , that he was but new risen from the bed of his adulterate lust , the very morning he was murthered , having not been able to conquer the chastity of a gentlewoman attending the queen-mother before that night ; and therefore was so eager upon reaping the fruits of his long fiege , as he repaired not to the councel-chamber till he was often sent for , and scarce ready . the second , in the manner of his first wound , which was given him in his throat , and caused immediately the bloud so abundantly to stream out of his mouth , as he never had time once to call on god for mercy or forgivenesse , but spent the last minute of his life , in the revenging himself on his murtherers . a little after the cardinall of guise his brother , a great gamester at cards and dice , perished likewise in the same castle of blois , by a violent death . katherine de medices , the queen-mother , who had been the chief cause , for neer upon thirty yeers before her death , of the shedding so much innocent blood in france , being present at the same time , in the castle of blois , stormed secretly , that so great an action should be entred into , and gone through without her advice ; and ( when she understood that charles lorainer , duke of maine was escaped , being the younger brother of the murthered duke of guise ; ) presaged to the king her son , the sad issue of that rash attempt , which he interpretting ( as it seems ) to be rather the expression of her wishes then her fears ; and having , by many wofull experiences , seen the effects of her italian revengefull spirit , took a course to pacifie her wrath ; for not long after , she there ended her unhappy life by poyson , ( saith elias reusner ) in the same castle also , where she held the first secret and bloody councell for the execution of the foresaid inhumane massacre . francis her youngest son , died before her , upon the tenth day of june , 1584. in the one and thirtieth yeer of his age , of so violent a poyson ministred to him , doubtlesse by some of the hispaniolized guisards , as it caused his very blood to gush out of his body in severall places ; the sight of which purple streams , might well call upon him to remember with what inhumane triumph he trampled on the bloody streets of paris , in the great slaughter committed on gods saints and martyrs , about twelve yeers before . there now only remained henry the third , the french king alive , of all the first contrivers and principall executioners of that inhumane massacre , which no age , no time , no action of the most barbarous nations of the world could ever pattern ; neither believe i , can any ancient or modern history parallel the following punishments of the chief actors therein in all respects : who not only all of them perished by violent and bloody ends , but proved also the murtherers one of another . charles lorainer duke of maine was presently upon the death of his brother , made generall of the holy league ; paris it self , and in a manner , all the popish cities beyond the loire , giving up their names and forces to the henotick faction , supported by pope sixtus the fifth , from rome , and philip the second from spain . when the king saw that neither his acting the monk with the flagellators , nor his playing the persecutor against the protestants would secure him from a speedy ruine , by the violent hands of the rebels : he sends to the victorious king of naver , his brother in law , and to the euangelicall army , before whose known valour the popish forces hastened back from the loire to the seine ; henry the third pursues them , and pitched his royall pavilion at st clou , not far from the gates of paris . but his old cruelties and persecutions of the godly , were doubtlesse the remora of his new expected victories ; and the divine providence so ordered it , that in the very place where the last resolution was taken by himself , his mother , his brethren , and others , for the speedy execution of the before-mentioned belluine massacre , about seventeen yeers before , nay , in the very same house of hierome de gondy , and in the very same roome or chamber ( saith john de serres ) was he murthered by james clement , a jesuited monk , in the yeer 1589. and in the thirty and ninth yeer of his age . the assassination was furthered by the authority of pope sixtus the fifth , by the seditious preachings of the jesuites , priests , and friers , in paris , ( who had secretly drawn infinite numbers into open rebellion before , by their auricular confession ) and by the perswasion of the lady katharine mary , dutchesse of mompensier , sister of the deceased duke of guise , whose horrible transport with malice against the protestant party , and desire of revenge against the king himself , did so far excaecate and blind her nobler endowments , as she prostituted her body to that jesuited wretch ( as impartiall de thou himself relates ) to incourage him the more in the accomplishment of the murther , and so to stupefie and harden his soul by that fatall sin of lust , that it might not startle at the commission of any other wickednesse whatsoever . yet as this king some moneths before his death altered his former bloody resolutions against gods servants , so did the divine providence at his death afford him some hours of repentance and sorrow , after the bloody knife had been sheathed in his belly : in which he acknowledged his error and sin ; his error , in having been so long mis-led by his ambitious and factious vassalls ; his sin , in having persecuted his protestant subjects , and inforced the consciences of many to submit to popery against the known truth by cruelty and threatning . sect. xiv . in this fifteenth age also ( within the compasse of which wee shall confine our discovery of gods judgements upon persecuting princes ) the truth began to spread forth its beames in this other world of great britain , in a more resplendent lustre then formerly : not but that i dare undertake to prove by some select , and perhaps , fearce known monuments of antiquity , that the gospel was planted here in the primitive time , that the protestants religion flourished here neer upon four hundred yeers , before austine the monk , the first popish archbishop of canterbury , poysoned the purity of gods worship with his burthensome trinkets and ceremonies . finally , that it was from the first plantation preserved amongst the welsh and scots , to the dayes of john wickleffe , without any interruption , and was secretly practised also in england from henry the seconds time , at the least , to the begun reformation of king edward the sixth . but this requiring a reasonable volume of it self to be at large deduced , i must passe over , as improper for this place . we may begin in england with henry the eighth , in whose raign no papist can deny , but that divers protestants were not only hunted after , fined , imprisoned , compelled to abjure , and otherwise disciplined ; but were likewise consumed in the merciless flames , as heretiques . and therefore when the papall side take so much pains to recount either the ill successes of his own raign ; or the dying issulesse of all his posterity , as the signes and characters of gods indignation against him , they do but furnish the orthodox party with weapons against themselves . for the truth is , he did only abolish the usurped power of the bishop of rome , not the pontifician or papall church , which to this day , as also in the former ages in france , hath been so hedged up and incircled under certain restrictions and limits , as it is of small consequence to help the prelates , and of little power to hurt the king ; so that cuffetellus the dominican proved it at large in an elaborate work , published in the yeer 1609. and the sorbonists determined it in the yeer 1611. that the pope had no power or jurisdiction in that kingdome in matter of temporalities . neither did henry the eighth in england proceed any further in this particular of abolishing the popes power , then those his two coaetaneous princes , francis the first , and charles the fifth , did at sundry times in their severall dominions , upon lesse provocations : so the same charles the fifth , writing to the councell assembled at bononie , superscribed his letters only , conventui bononiae , as did afterwards henry the second of france , writing to the tridentine conspirators , fule it only the convention of trent ; who also in the former and better part of his raign fairly cut shorter a great-part of the popes ecclesiasticall authority in france . and how little philip the second himself of spain , the sworn enemy of the godly , regarded the pope further then he did ancillate to his ambitious ends , appeares plainly in this one particular , that when upon the unfortunate death of sebastian , king of portugall there were divers competitors for that kingdome , and that don antonio had already assumed the title thereof , he would not admit the popes intercession to have the matter composed by treaty , or referre the cause to his decision : nay , that bloody charles of france , of whose fatall end we have but a while before discoursed , when pius the fourth , in the yeer 1563. had cited odetus de coligny , cardinall of chastillion , john de monluce , bishop of valence , and others of his subjects , to appeare at rome before his inquisitors , he sent him a stout message by henry clutinius his ambassador then at rome , that if hee did not speedily withdraw that citation , hee would no longer acknowledge him for pope . at which bold declaration , the pope and his conclave being affrighted , the prosecution of that businesse ceased by the very withdrawing of the citation it self , and by the popes future silence . all which open affronts , the popes in this fifteenth age after our bleffed saviours incarnation , endured from these kings ; not because they were more deare to their subjects then their predecessors , or the popes lesse potent then in former times , ( for their strength in italy was more encreased in that age , then in ten fore-going ) but indeed it was the light of the gospel that began about these times to dawn every where , that made way for dispelling those chains of darknesse , with which both prince and people had in those former ages been enfettered ; so as the pope fearing , lest all should fall from him , as some germane princes , republiques , and cities had already done , was fain to comply with the french king , to submit to the emperor , and to court the king of england , by the intercession of foraine princes for a reconcilement . but to proceed from henry the eighth of england , the father to mary queen of the same realm , his daughter , of whom , and her wisdome , the pontificians so much boast . it is certain that she entred her raign with the breach of her publique faith ; for whereas the crown was set on her head by the german and commons of suffolk , although they knew her to be a papist , ( which shewes that the godly protestant usually nicknamed by those that are prophane , lustfull , and popishly affected , is the best subject any soveraign can be happy in ) yet she in one of her first acts of councell , took order for their restraint , long before the masse and latine service were generally received in london it self , and caused that diocesse to taste the sharpest inquisition and persecution that raged during her raign , which was happily shortened by her husbands contemning her person , and her enemies conquering her dominions ; neither of which she ever had power to revenge , or recover ; so as though the cause of her death proceeded from no outward violence , yet was her end as inglorious and miserable , as her raign had been turbulent and bloody . she might have taken warning by the sudden and immature death of james the fifth king of scotland , her cousin germane , who raising persecution in scotland against his loyall and innocent protestant subjects , in the yeere 1539. burning some , exiling and imprisoning others , and forcing many to blaspheme , in abjuring the known truth , by the advice and procurement of james beton , archbishop of st andrews , and david beton , abbot of arbroth his brother , never saw good day after : two brave young princes his sons were the yeer following cut off by abortive ends in their cradles . wars to his great losse and disadvantage were raised between himself and his uncle henry the eighth king of england , and all things fell out so crosse to his haughty and vast minde , as it hastened his death , which fell out in the yeere 1542. sect. xv . were the histories of popish prelates worthy to be joyned to those of kings and princes , wee might fill up a large tract with gods judgements powred upon them : for as most of them have been given up to lust and crapulositie , so have many of them been bitter enemies of the truth , and stingie persecutors . we have seen the fall of the cardinall of guise , and all ages have cause to admire the exemplary judgements of god powred out upon that bastard-slip , stephen gardner , bishop of winchester , in the very instant of his plauditees and caresses for the vivicombury of reverend latimer , and learned ridley . but i shall content my selfe to have abstracted , as a taste for the rest , the notorious punishments inflicted by a higher hand upon two arch-prelates , the one of england , the other of scotland : thomas arundell arch-bishop of canterbury , having been the successefull traytor , by the help of his reverend fellow-bishops , to establish henry the 4th in the throne of r. the second his liege lord , and cousin-german , pressed the new king ( whose broken title needed his prelates supportment ) to use his temporall sword for the destroying the disciples of john wicklesse , whose numbers were so increased at that time , as they even filled the kingdome ; the king assents , and having by their mercilesse instigation shed the bloud of gods saints , he raigned neither long nor happily : h. 5. a brave and martiall prince , his son , succeeding him , the protestants began to meet more publikely , and to professe the truth more openly then before ; the archbishop thereupon renews his former suit to the son he had before pressed with successe upon the father , and prevailed . in particular , he first aimed at the destruction of sir john de old castle , knight , commonly called the lord cobham , who had most affronted him . this noble gentleman was extracted from an ancient family of wales , where he had large possessions , and much alliance , by whose means he after lay long-hidden there , notwithstanding all the search his bloudy enemies made after him : he had issue by katherine , daughter of richard ap yevan his first wife , john , who died before himself , and henry de old castle , who survived him , and to whom king henry the sixth , in the 7th yeare of his raign , restored divers mannors and lands which had been entailed upon him ; he married to his last wife , joan , the sole daughter and heire of sir john de la pole , knight , whom he had begotten upon the sole daughter and heire of the lord cobham of kent , which joan had been first married to sir robert de hemenhale a suffolk knight , and was secondly the wife of sir reginald de braybroke , knight , by whom shee had onely issue that survived her ; the said sir john de old castle her third husband , in her right enjoyed the castle of couling in kent , and many other large and great possessions ; and by the marriage of her also he was neerly allied to the duke of suffolk , the earl of devonshire , and many other great peers of the realme at that time , and did doubtlesse enjoy the stile and title of baron cobham , as is infallibly proved by severall writs of summons sent unto him , being all entred upon record in the close rolls , by which he was summoned to assist in the house of peers in parliament by that name , in the time of h. 4. and h. 5. all which i have thought fit to transmit to posterity touching this noble martyr , being no where to be found in any publike story , not onely to shew how many supportments he had , besides the favour of king henry himself , to have retarded the clergie from questioning him , but also , how easily he was destroyed by the bloudy prelates of those endarkened times , when the soveraign had but permitted them the use of his power to ancillate to their cruell resolutions ; of which impotent act of the kings , saith archbishop parker himselfe , rex virum clarum sibique familiarissimum episcoporum potestati , & carnificinae permisit , who yet overlived that excarnificating arch-prelate two yeares at the least : for the archbishop having murthered divers godly martyrs in h. 4. time , and been a great stickler in state-affaires , when long before he procured himself to be made lord chancellor of england ; and lastly , in a synod held by himself at rochester , having forbad the reading of the scriptures in english , and limited preachers under a heavie censure what they should treat upon in the pulpit , was soon cut short himself by the immediate hand of god , after he had condemned that warlike gentleman , sir john de old castle , lord cobham , before he could see him executed , his tongue being so benummed and swoln , that he could neither swallow nor speak , as thomas gascon relates in his theologicall dictionary , for a few dayes before his death , it being , faith another , the just judgement of god upon him ( and may be a faire warning to all other wicked popish prelates ) that as he had muzled up the mouths of preachers , and kept the scriptures from the knowledge of the people being their spirituall food ; so he should neither be able to speak nor to swallow from that very minute this judgement fell first upon him , but died within a few dayes after in great torment and extremity , by a languishing silence and famishment . the last example is of later dayes , and concernes the admirable punishment of david beton , archbishop of st. andrews in scotland , being also a member of the purpurated conclave at rome , he had continued divers yeares an inveterate enemy of the gospel in that kingdome , under james the fifth , and after his death taking advantage of the infancy and pupillary age of the princesse mary , the hereditary queen of that realme , he thought it a work worthy of himself to double-die his cardinall robes in the bloud of the saints ; and therefore , to make a sull and cleare way for that his sanguinary project , he forged a will of the deceased king , establishing himself chief regent there during the young ladies incapability to govern ; from which , upon the discovery of his false play , he being removed , and a while committed to safe custody , he was no sooner delivered , but he presently enterprised to raise a new and fatall war between england and scotland , and to root out the professors of the truth , by a violent and bloudy persecution . amongst others , cited and imprisoned , or exiled in the yeare 1545. he seized on george wischart , a very eloquent and learned preacher , who by the latine writers of that age , is surnamed sophocardius , and contrary to their own popish canons , adjudged him to present death himself , ( which is never done , except in the merciless inquisition of spain , by those bloudy wolves themselves , but by delivering the martyrs into the power of the lay-magistrate ) and in the court before his castle of st. andrews , caused the same to be executed , the said george being first strangled , and his body afterwards burnt to ashes , the cardinall in the mean time had a chamber prepared for him , with carpets and cushions on the windows , out of which to be a triumphant spectator of this godly mans murther , from which he departed not more delighted then ( as he himself thought ) secured , beginning to fortifie his said castle against all assaults : but gods judgement from eternity awarded against him for this latter as well as his former cruelties exercised upon his faithfull servants , slept not ; for within a few weeks after , the cardinall having falsified his promise to the lord norman lesle , son of the earle of rothsey , a devout romanist , he upon the thirteenth day of may , the same yeare , with some fourteen resolute gentlemen in his company , entred the same castle of st. andrewes , where the cardinall lay ; and having first assured himself of the command within , and the gates without , he executed that bloudy prelate in his bed , without law or justice , who had but a little before , most unjustly condemned and murthered the aforesaid george wischart ; and willing to expose the dead carcasse of that purpurated persecutor , as it were , all weltered and besmeared with bloud to the view of the people , who abhorred his cruelties , and rejoyced at his fall ; they casually and contingently laid it along to be seen of all men upon that very window out of which a little before , leaning at his ease upon rich cushions , he had proudly beheld the butchering of that godly martyr . the cardinals end , 't is likely , had neither been so sudden nor so shamefull , had he followed the wholsome counsell and seasonable advice of john viniram a learned priest and moderate papist , who by his command preaching before him and divers others of the romish clergie then assembled together , for the condemnation of that godly martyr , george wischart , told them plainly , that nothing did more encrease the number of heretiques , then their own stupid ignorance and wicked lives ; and that there was no other sword to be used for their extirpation then that of gods word , by which they were to be tryed and convinced , because every error which might properly and truly be called an heresie , was directly and flatly against the same written word . sect. xvi . it may somewhat amaze the reason and judgement of any moderate man , though an atheist , why the pope himself or his prelates and clergie should so extreamely hate and violently persecute ( even more cruelly then they doe jewes or turks ) the evangelicall partie , and especially those of the french , scottish and helvetick confession , who doe commonly joyn eminency of piety and godlinesse , with a most sound and absolute body of doctrine agreeable with that of the primitive church . but if wee consider that the pope himselfe , all popish or popishly affected prelates , and all the romish rabble , like the scribes and priests in our saviours dayes , ayme nothing at all at gods glory , or the salvation of mens soules , but onely at the maintenance of their wealth , pride and tyranny , not intending to yeeld an inch or haires breadth to any the least reformation : wee cannot but see that their self-love , and wallowing in all sensualitie , is the cause of the hatred of the godly , who both by their lives and writings condemne and oppose their wickednesse and errors : for as the persecutions of the arrians against the orthodox fathers exceeded the cruelty of the heathen emperours , so hath that of the romish babylon far surpassed and out-stript them , both being joyned together , they feare not the diminution of their votaries by the perswasion of jewes or turks , but onely by the sound reasonings of the protestants , whose religion hath already gained from them , not onely cities , republickes , and provinces , but whole kingdomes also ; and therefore seeing the truth it selfe is against them , they count it high time to fall from reasoning to policy , and from institution to cruell persecution , as a ready meanes to carry through their bad cause . incomparable monsieur de thou ( who is a glory to the romish synagogue it selfe , and whose history the most exact and excellent that ever was written by a humane pen , ought alwayes to be deare to the christian world ) discovers plainly to us this truth , in setting downe the bloudy legacy pope paul the third left to his conclave when he died in the yeare 1359. for having called divers of the cardinalls into his bed-chamber , he exhorted them by all meanes to maintaine and continue the office of the inquisition , as the onely meanes left upon earth to establish and support the romish religion : then which confession there can none be more cleare of the falshood of their pretended catholick church ; for if no other way remaine but bloud and butcheries for them to establish and repaire the lofty and proud towers of their babylon , then have they doubtlesse no part left in the church founded by our saviour and his apostles ; for that was at first reared up and finished by the preaching of the gospel , and may certainly be continued and supported to the worlds end by the same meanes . it is not for christians , but for pagans and infidells , who know not the way of instruction , to propagate their gentilisme and idolatry by fire and sword . besides , that epidemicall sinne of lust , both naturall and against nature , being peculiar to the popish prelates , and the rest of their clergie , is a maine ground of their stupefied consciences , and so prepares and fits them for the shedding of innocent bloud , or any other sinne whatsoever . peter espina● , archbishop of lyons in france , was a great persecutor , and a prodigious incestuator with his own sister ; john archbishop of st. andrewes in scotland spent the greater part of the revenues of his sea , and the seizure of the protestants estates ( whose mortall enemy he was ) upon his harlots and revellings ; the cardinall of granvellans veneries were so manifest and numerous , as when in the yeare 1574. the kingdome of tunis , and the fort called the gulet , before accounted impregnable , were wonne by the turke ; the spaniards made a jest of it , and said openly , that the cardinalls breeches had occasioned that losse ; meaning thereby that philip the second relying chiefly upon his advice in that and most of the rest of his important affaires ; his lust so tooke him up , as he had not time to give seasonable counsell . the reckoning up of all these lustfull priests and prelates , who have been persecuters of the truth since the last reformation begun by learned luther , would defile all modest eares to heare , or any christian tongue to relate . it may justly be said of them all , what one delivered of the before-mentioned cardinall beton ; that he wallowed at home in pollution with his harlots , and raged abroad with the bloud and slaughter of the innocent . ockam himselfe in the first part of his dialogues , lib. 5. cap. 16. confesseth that a wicked and an atheisticall life blinds the understanding , and prepares a way for the entertainment of the vilest heresies : how true is this of the romish prelates , who could not possibly swallow down those prodigious errours , and severall kinds or species of idolatry , abhorred of the very moores and turks ; that taking from the commandements one ; that adding to the articles of the creed twelve ; that robbing the people of the cup ; that depriving god of his honour , by praying to men and women departed ; that trampling of christs infinite merits under their prophane feet , by their own merits , and a number of other falshoods , were not their judgements poysoned by their horrible lusts , and other crying sins ? the turks themselves boast at this day , that they first learn'd their sodomie from the italians , and that disorderly brood in italy , may as truly vaunt , that they first learn'd that abomination from those amongst them in orders . was there ever , or shall there ever be , not onely amongst the papists , but amongst the lutherans and pseudo-lutherans , any prelate , or other ecclesiasticall person , that did or shall violently cite , accuse , suspend , fine , imprison , deprive , or murther any godly minister , or other pious christian , who was not , or will not be amongst other vices , guilty of that brutish sin of lust ? and 't is possible , though the back-door be kept never so secret , yet god shall at last , in his judgement , reveale it to the world , as he doth often punish them with that loathsom and infamous disease commensurate to that sin , with which that notable persecutor doctor weston in queen maries dayes in england was so unconcealably smitten , as he was ordinarily branded by a beastly nickname , not beffiting modesty to expresse . sect. xvii . the fruitfull seed-time of severall vices , and of lust especially in the popish prelacie and clergie , brings in a large encrease in the laity also , to fill up the reaping time , or harvest ; and not onely their lust and epicurisme , but their malice against the truth , and thirsting after the bloud of the professors thereof , like a contagious gangrene , hath likewise infected , especially , since the yeare 1500. the vicious and prophane lay-papists themselves . what was escovedo the great instrument of the king of spains cruelties against the evangelicall party in the lower germany , but a lump of lust , which in the end proved fatall to him ? but as the horrible massacre committed in france , in severall places , in the yeare 1572. is not to be paralleld , in respect of the treachery and inhumanity of it in any story of the most barbarous nations of the world : so it will not be amisse , seeing the examples of this kinde would else prove endlesse , to confine our selves , with taking a summary view of the chief undertakers in that master-piece of hell , which was never in any possibilitie to be equalled since , but with the romish powder-plot in england , had it succeeded . to begin with paris it selfe ; the murtherers there , were for the most part , brutish and lustfull souldiers , or prophane varlets of the scumme of the citie , their leaders were indeed more noble , but lesse vertuous : the dukes of guise and aumale , albert gondy , earle of rets , tavanne , and others of them , having been bred up in lusts , revellings , and other aulicall deviations . the place that came neerest to paris in the cruelties of their murthers , was the citie of lyons , where the numbers of the slaine and massacred were so great , as their bodies being cast into the river rosne , corrupted and stained the streame , the violence whereof carrying them downe upon heaps to tornou , and the inhabitants not knowing what they were , but fearing an invasion by enemies or robbers , assembled themselves in armes together for their mutuall defence . the chief abetters and ring-leaders of which butchery , monsieur de thou himselfe confesseth to have been boidon , mornieu , and clou , three of the most wicked and vilest varlets that a kingdome could harbour : which boidon was after executed at clermont , in auvergne ; and if merniue escaped a shamefull end , yet doubtlesse he deserved it as well as his fellow-persecutor , having before , as witnesseth serranus , procured the murther of his own father . at tholouse also , a few dayes after , there was a great slaughter of the godly committed , but by whom ? not by the better sort of citizens , or sober and morally vertuous men , but one turry , and a number of other infamous lewd persons like himself , joyned themselves together , for the effecting of that bloudy execution : the like villany was accomplished at the great city of roane in normandy by one maronie , a most infamous ruffian , and a great many other base varlets , who assembled themselves to him as their ring-leader ; but in none of them were these two hellish sins of advoutrie and bloud more adaequately coupled together , then in one ruygaillard the masterbutcher at angiers , who having long continued an adulterer , was at last enticed by his harlot , to murther his own wife . thus we see that it is not the sober and vertuous , but the lustfull and vicious papist , that inveterately and irreconciliably hates the godly and sober protestant ; not but that common experience teacheth us how the loose and debauched persons of either religion , do as well agree together in their plots and excesses , as if there were no difference of opinion between them ; but that there should be such prodigious malice in the looser and erroneous protestant against the more strict and orthodox , as to wish their extirpation , rather then the conversion of the romanists , nay , to joyn their armes with those of the vassals of antichrist , for the eradication and subversion of them , is such a mystery of the lower region , as the horrible and vast desolation of gods true church in our dayes , gives us as much cause to lament it , as the ages to come will have abundant occasion to admire it . amongst the turks , jewes , indians , persians , and the papists themselves at this day , the most zealous and holiest as they conceive them in their religion , are most esteemed and honoured , and onely in the greater part of the protestant churches , the most knowing and tenacious of the evangelicall truth , and the most strict and godly in their lives are hated , nicknamed , disgraced , and vilified ; and grace which should onely adde a lustre to learning , riches , honours , noble extraction , and all other outward gifts , either naturall or acquisite , that alone obscureth all the rest , and brings the contempt , not onely of great ones , but even of the scum and dregs of the multitude upon the persons so qualified . doubtlesse , this shewes that the protestant religion , where the gospel is maintained in the power and purity of it , is the very truth it self . and that the prince of darknesse seeing the greatest zealoters amongst the turks , jews , and papists hasten on in a false and fatall course , never opposeth them , no more then he doth the debauched , loose and atheistical protestant , but only stirreth up all he may the hatred , scorn and persecution of all sorts against those pious christians , who are convinced of the truth , and by their innocent lives and godly conversations , maintain and demonstrate , that it undoubtedly is the true religion which they professe . sect. xviii . lvther had scarce planted the gospel in germany , in the yeere 1517 but within the space of some five yeers after , melchior hofman , thoms muncer , bernard rotman , and other anabaptists , planted there also , as may be strongly collected , divers pelagian blasphemies of free-will , recidivation from grace , and the rest , to which they joyned community of goods , and the extirpation of all monarchie and magistracie , saying , luther and the pope were two false prophets ; but of the two , luther was the worst , because luther especially laboured to advance gods grace , and to beat down the hereticall tenet of mans free-will . michael servetus the spaniard , and bernardin ochinus , as may probably be gathered , did succeed muncer and rotman , as the chief doctors of that pestilentiall sect ; but as may easily appear , upon diligent search , did cunningly conceal their dangerous doctrine , of not allowing temporall princes and magistrates , because they saw it inevitably drew upon them the necessary opposition of all kings , and well governed states . theodore bibliander , and sebastian castellio the savoyard , grew famous amongst their fellow anabaptists after servetus death : and the same castellio translated into latin the dialogues which the said ochinus had written in the dutch or german tongue , which dialogues are ordinarily at this day imprinted with the rest of castellio's works : and in the last age from the time this sect took its first beginning in holland , till about the yeer 1611. they knew no other name or appellation , but of anabaptists only , which title also , with much alacrity and confidence , they assumed and appropriated to themselves in their own books they published : james arminius , a flashie and shallow divine of leyden , ( as may easily be evinced ) was so taken and overtaken with the perusall of castellio's dialogues , and the secret conferences of some of the anabaptists themselves , as it clean turned his judgement from the truth to falshood ; and therefore to justifie his own apostasie , and to perpetuate the memory of his new masters labours , without once doing honour to his name ; he re-prints his said dialogues , and other works , almost verbatim , altering only the frame of them , and patching them out also with some pieces he had borrowed from the jesuites polemicall volumes against the dominicans , the latter opposing , and the first defending the hereticall tenets of pelagius , the britain , as learned de thou himself freely acknowledgeth . after the death of arminius , in the yeer 1611. the name of anabaptists , by which the maintainers and asserters of those errors had for above fourscore yeers last past , been known and called by ( as in the articles of the church of england , published in the yeer 1552. article 8. and elsewhere ) and sometimes also anabaptists or servetians , from michael servetus , as by the same de thou in his story , lib. 34. p. 239. began to be deserted , as too odious and grosse for this learned age , and by the ignorance of the orthodox divines , who saw not the admirable use of story in their polemical tractates , they have atchieved the senslesse and new name of arminians , when poor arminius himself took up his errors upon trust at the third or fourth hand , stealing that out of castellio , which he had borrowed from ochinus , the scholar of the spaniard servetus : and barnevelt himself in his apologie confesseth , that he had learned those points in germany many yeers before he knew arminius ; nay , as men extracted from base beginnings , and advanced to high honours , do commonly pretend by an adulterate and a false descent to noble ancestors : so these impudent fellows are not ashamed to father their forgeries on judicious luther himself , as if there were no other difference between them and the orthodox protestants , then was between luther and calvin ; whereas it appeared plainly , in the yeer 1560. by the very confession of the papists themselves , that upon a strict inquiry then made , it was found , that the protestants dissented from the romanists in forty points of doctrine . but those of the helvetick and augustane confessions amongst themselves but in two , whereas if these new coiners do but daily increase their dangerous errors for the time to come , as they have done for the time past , since sebastian castellio's death , they will dissent as much from learned luther , as he did from the papists themselves . and how little coherence there was between luther and those anabaptists of his time , whom castellio followed , is apparently expressed in the very preface it self prefixed before his dialogues , and other his latin works , printed in the yeere 1613. where the author of the said preface ( a stout anabaptist ) freely acknowledgeth , that martin luther , john calvin , and martin barrha , did all defend gods absolute and eternall decree , and the power of his grace , following therein st. augustine ; and falsly addeth , that a way is thereby opened to a secure and loose life : which inconvenience , saith the same prefacer , erasmus roterodamus , theodore bibliander , and sebastian castellio , fore-seeing and desiring to prevent , did oppose the said doctrine , and maintained free-will to be in man , or an ability in and from himself , without the assistance of gods grace , to do good . the pseudo-lutherans , or anabaptists in germany , that had even overspread the whole dominions of the elector of saxonie , before the enangelicall jubilee was there celebrated in the yeer 1617. were within two yeers after , the direct instruments of ruining the gospel it self : for they mistake themselves ignorantly , or are wilfully blind in the passages of that time , who impute all the miseries that germany hath now for these eighteen yeers last past groaned under , to frederick the fifth , prince elector palatine , his accepting of the bohemian crown , in the yeere 1619. in respect that the protestants of that kingdome , after the election of ferdinand of gratz , for the king thereof , in 1617. finding that he was wholly swayed by the jesuites themselves , or his jesuited counsellors , and began to infringe the liberty of religion there established , they acquainted the emperor matthias therewith , during whose life , the said ferdinand was not to intermeddle with the affaires of that realme . but the emperor , whether hee feared that his said cousin of gratz should supplant him , as he had formerly done his own brother , rodolphus the second ; or whether out of immoderate love to him , i know not , neglected the bohemians , just petitions and romonstrances ; whereupon , in the yeer following , there being a great assembly of them in the chancerychamber , within the castle of prague , and some sudden alteration happening , they threw out three of the emperors counsellors at the windows , and though none of them were slain or maimed with the fall , yet the bohemians themselves took this outrage to be an offence so unpardonable , as they presently prepared themselves for an offensive and defensive war , elected thirty directors to govern the kingdome , and raised two armies to be in readinesse , the one under the earl of thurne , and the other under ernest , count of mansfield . the emperor also , and his cousin ferdinand , made great preparation for war , nominating the counts of dampetre and buequoi for the generalls , upon which there presently followed divers hot skirmishes , between the forces on both sides , the miserable inhabitants of bohemia proving already a lamentable prey to the licencious souldier . and now let any indifferent and impartiall man judge , what fault or error all this time , did the said prince elector palatine commit ; nay , on the contrary , the jesuite himself confesseth in his austrian laurel , pag. 104. that the said prince elector laboured by all means to have composed this difference in a treatable and amicable way by his letters and internuncio's , till seeing the emperors armies , notwithstanding all his intercession to have entred and wasted bohemia , their aime to be chiefly at the extirpation of religion ; and himself as the prime prince of the new union , to be obliged in honour and conscience to have a care of the euangelicall cause , hee was necessitated to joyn his armes to theirs , not refusing also the crown , being , for ought hee knew , most justly laid at his feet , after a generall and unanimous election : could he fore-see that any euangelicall prince should be so pseudo lutheranized , as to betray the whole body of the protestant religion , and the fundamentall liberties of the empire in germany to the antichristian adversary ? in all humane reason , had the elector of saxonie but looked on , and done nothing , much more had he but assisted the bohemians , professing the same gospel with himself , that fair branch of the third family in christendome had now flourished in those ancient regalities their ancestors enjoyed , and the church and empire had been as glorious and happy as now they are desolate and miserable . but god that decrees all most justly and wisely for his own glory , and the good of his children , will , i doubt not , by some means , though yet hidden , replant again the royall branches of this imperiall vine , as to the admiration of the whole christian world , both enemies and friends , he hath hitherto supported the royall root of those branches with patience and alacrity . sect. xix . as the vicious and atheisticall popish and popishly affected prelates and prophane christians hate and persecute the pious protestants more then they doe adulterers , swearers , perjurers , or any other notorious delinquents ; so the moderate and vertuous papists of both orders , abhorre their slaughters , and desire their peace and freedome . sir john de old-castle , in the time of henry the fifth of england , being convented before thomas arundel , archbishop of canterbury , and divers other lustfull and bloudy prelates ; whilest i was ( saith he ) a swearer , a rioter , and every way else vicious , you never reproved me or questioned me , but since i have imbraced this despised doctrine of wicklesfe , which hath taught me how to conquer my sinnes , and to lead a godly and an honest life , now you are enraged against me with malice , and seek my destruction . the same true observation was made by annas burgus , that brave senator of paris in the yeare 1559. under henry the second of france ; that there were many adulteries , perjuries , oaths , and other infamous offences , daily committed , and already punishable by the lawes , and yet such as were guilty of all or any of those crimes were countenanced and advanced ; but against the protestants all cruelty was practised , who were guilty of no other offence , but of imbracing the truth of the gospel revealed unto them by the spirit and word of god , and of discovering by the same light , the horrible vices and errors of the popish power , that so there might follow an emendation . to this purpose also tended that christian advice which a person of noble extraction david hamilton gave to his cousin james , earle of arran , then regent of scotland , in the yeare 1545. when cardinall beton would have perswaded and drawn him to have joyned with himselfe in the persecution and slaughter of the godly in that kingdome . i cannot but wonder , saith he , that you should give up the innocent servants of god himself , against whom no crime is objected , but the preaching of the gospel , into the hands and power of men most infamous for lust , cruelty , and all other wickednesse , when in the meane time those very enemies of the truth themselves cannot deny , but that the lives of such as professe this doctrine they hate , are full of integrity and vertue . and therefore , although the prophane and bloudy prelates could never be drawn to pitie gods children , much lesse to love them for their piety and innocency , being therein more inhumane then divers of the heathen emperours themselves , who upon information of the vertuous and harmlesse deportments of the christians by their governours of provinces under them , did cause their persecutions to be slackned and ceased . yet have divers princes and other moderate pontificians in the fore-going age , been moved by the upright and honest lives of gods children , to further their libertie of conscience , and to abhorre the cruelties of their fellow-romanists practised upon them . maximilian the emperour , sonne of ferdinand the second , and francis the first , the french king , were hence drawn to permit unto their own subjects freedome of conscience : the earles of egmont and horne , ( though zealous papists ) laboured with the dutchesse of parma , that the low-countrey protestants might be free from fines , imprisonments , and all other persecutions in respect of religion . under francis the second , the french king , in the yeare 1560. by the elaborate and learned speeches of charles marillack archbishop of vienna , and john de mon●●●e bishop of valence freely pronounced before the king himselfe , in behalfe of the french protestants , all persecution against them was for a time remitted ; the said bishop amongst other particulars , not fearing to affirm plainly , that a great increase of the sectaries did proceed from the ignorance and evill lives of the bishops , who having cast away the cares of their flocks , had for many yeares studied to inhaunce their fines and rents , and to live deliciously and loosly ; so as sometimes there were seene fortie of them at once together mouldering and wasting themselves in paris in luxury and idlenesse : the care of their churches being in the meane time delegated over to young and ignorant fellowes ; and so the bishops themselves becoming blind and uselesse , the parish priest also following the example of their diocesans , were onely carefull to spoile and vex the people for their tythes , and wholly unskilfull and negligent in preaching to them ; and that therefore it was no wonder , though divers of the nobilitie , as well as of the common people , did readily hearken to new opinions and doctrines . the same counsell , that the conscience ought not to be forced , nor any to be persecuted for religion meerly , did michael hospitalius chancellor of france , give unto charles the ninth , the same yeare upon his new succession to the crown after the decease of the said francis his brother ; and paulus foxius to henry the third , in the yeare 1574. very copiously , and most eloquently , couched in two severall orations , inserted at large by monsieur de thou , in his unparallel'd history in their due places , who was himselfe nineteen yeares old when that horrible massacre was committed in paris , in the yeare 1572. on saint bartholomenes day , which fell out that yeare on the lords day , and did in his very soule abhorre the crueltie and savagenesse thereof , when in his passage through the streets to mattins that morning , he encountred with divers villaines , dragging along the dead body of hierome grolote , late the governour of orleance , all weltring with gastly wounds in his own bloud ; at which sight his heart relenting , and mourning inwardly , not daring to shed teares publickly , he hastened home to the house of christopher de thou his father , at that time the chief president of the court of parliament at paris , there freely to deplore and execrate that heathenish butchery ; as did also the said christopher his father . vidus faber pibracius , john merviller , belieureu , all eminent men , with all the judicious and morally vertuous papists in the citie , who christianly hid up , and so preserved many protestants secretly in their houses from a wretchlesse massacring ; nay , arman guntald the old marshall biron ( father of charles duke of biron , that was beheaded in henry the fourths time ) when the deputies of rochel repaired unto him some few weeks after that bloudy execution , to treat of a peaceable accommodation of their affaires with him , he shed many teares in their presence , upon his execrating the authors of that cruelty , and acknowledged it the great blessing of god upon him , that he neither knew of it , nor had any hand in it . at the city of lions also , where the inhumanity of the murtherers almost equalled that of paris , mandelot the governour there , did his best to have prevented it , and in his heart , with many other grave and sober citizens of the romish religion , utterly detested it . and when the slaughtered bodies were tumbled into the river rosne , and carried down with the stream to tornou , valence , vienne , and burg , contiguous to the same river , the papists generally detested the cruelty . and at arles , where for want of springs and ponds , they had most use of that river-water ; they so much abhorred that butchery , as they would neither drink thereof , nor yet eat any of the fish taken therein , for divers dayes after ; and generally , in all provence , those of the romish religion drew out the mangled bodies out of the water , and with great humanity interred them . monsieur carragie , a noble gentleman the governour of the great city of robin in normandy , did likewise oppose the massacres there to the utmost of his power , as did also james benedict lagabaston the prime senator of burdeaux , who thereby became himself in danger to have been slain by those seditious varlets , who had been at first stirred up to commit those murthers by the wicked sermons of a lustfull jesuite , named enimund auger . claudus , earle of tende , a descendent of the illustrious house of savoy , governour of provence , monsieur de gordes , governour of daulphinie , monsieur sauteran , governour of auvergne , and francis duke of memorancie , particularly and absolutely refused to suffer any massacres to be committed in such places as were under their severall government ; so as the rochellers in their declaration set out the same yeer , do acknowledge and confesse , that all such rom mists , who had but any humanity left in them , did in their hearts abhor , and with their mouths detest those hellish outrages and cruelties . and it well appeared , what base varlets they generally were in most places , who were the executioners of those villanies , because their religion consisted chiefly in robbing and spoiling the protestants houses , suffering many of them in the mean time beyond their cruell resolutions to escape safely away . nay , whereas the furious people of paris already inraged with a blinde zeale , came to a certain white thorne-tree that blossomed the day of the massacre in st. innocents churchyard , in that city , as if god by a miracle had approved their barbarous and sanguinary action ; the more judicious papists , conceived this to have happened by powring of hot water upon the root of that tree , or by some other secret imposture ; or if it were a true miracle , then the protestants alledged , that it might much more justly be interpreted to the advantage of the protestant church then of their own : that first the place where the tree grew , being dedicated to the memory of innocents , argued the innocency of those who were martyred ; and that as the same tree at that season of the yeere , being in august , though it shewed life , yet could not have blossomed without a miracle : so the protestant church and religion in france , which seemed by this blow to be utterly extinct and ruined , should again revive , blossome forth and flourish , by the miracalous power of god , in as great splendor and beauty , as over it had done formerly ; which the event and issue notwithstanding all the great processions and high masses of pope gregory the thirteenth and his conclave at rome , did accordingly verifie . sect. xx . how shall these sober minded and moderate papists rise up in judgement at the last day against all loose , ignorant and prophane protestants of both orders , who for the smallest offences and for the very tendernesse of conscience it self , vex , molest , cite , sue , imprison , fine , suspend , deprive , and utterly undo their innocent , godly and peaceable fellow christians ? for if it be neither warranted by the practice of the primitive church , nor consonant to reason , policie , or the property of the true church , to kill an heretique by a long and noysome imprisonment , or to adjudge and put him to a violent death . if persecution for conscience sake be accounted , and that justyl , a brand of the antichristian church , and that luther and his followers had even necessary cause in the yeer 1517. in that respect only to depart out of the romish babylon , as from a malignant synagogue ; how is it possible that protestant prelates should persecute any at all with imprisonment and despoiling them of their goods , though convicted of schisme it self , but much more such sober and innocent christians , who by their own confession hold nothing in matter of doctrine contrary to the truth , live inoffensively and vertuously in respect of their conversation , and are ready in all humility to submit to any particulars in matters supposed to be indifferent , which they shall be convinced out of gods word to be so ? it is confessed on all hands , that it is a most dangerous sin to do any thing , yea , a lawfull act , against the dictate and perswasion of conscience ; and shall pious christians in all other respects , for this alone be persecuted , and followed with greater violence , then adulterers , swearers , or fornicators themselves ? the authority and glory of a prince had been as fully extended in removing those particulars which made the breach , as in retaining them , it being acknowledged on all hands , that the removall of them is , and was alwayes as lawfull as the retention of them ; but if the wisdome of any church conceive it self upon great and sound motives rather obliged to retain them , and to adde new burthens rather then to abolish or change the old ; yet doubtlesse withall some course may be considered of , how those who in all main and fundamentall truths are the true servants of god , the humble and obedient children of the church , and of innocent and vertuous lives , might in the mean time enjoy the ordinances of god in peace and quiet : for doubtlesse , if one protestant may lawfully vex , cite , fine , suspend , deprive , excommunicate , and imprison another ( which in some cases necessitates a lingring death ) for things accounted by themselves no way essentiall to gods worship normans salvation : then is all we have said against the romists synagogue of no validity at all ; nay , there being no magis and minus in persecution , it will follow necessarily , that for the same causes one protestant may as well put to death another , as imprison him ; and so samaria shall of necessity justifie her sister sodome . that the supreme magistrate in things lawfull ought to be obeyed for conscience sake , is a certain truth : but yet it is too apparent that such as are more violent for these lesser matters , so to ravage and trample on the weaker and more humble christians , by pressing obedience to the magistrate , are commonly themselves the most outrageously disobedient ; for though they seeme most eager to obey him in these formall and outward commands , yet where the commands of god himself and the magistrates meet together , forbidding adultery , fornication , swearing , blaspheming , unlawfull gaming , starving of souls , maintaining erroneous doctrines , and divers other horrible and atheisticall offences ; here neither god nor prince , law nor gospel , heaven nor hell , can restrain their lustful practices or scandalous lives . did cardinall sadolet himself intercede with francis the first the grandfather , and the arcbishop of vienne , and bishop of valence , with francis the second , the grandchilde , two of the french kings , for the protestants of their times , whom yet they accounted heretiques ; and is it possible any protestant prelate or divine , should stir up any protestant prince or state to ruine their protestant-fellow-ministers , and other christians , because they cannot submit to such particulars , as in themselves can no way hinder or impeach the unity of faith , nor could breake ( if gods glory were only aimed at ) the bond of love ? the apostle paul having left the true church that incomparable catholike rule ; that the stronger christians should beare with the weaker , and that the weaker christians should not condemn the stronger . sect. xxi . there were in all ages , even in the first and purest times , confessions set out by the primitive christians , to be a guide and a rule for all conditions to walk by : and when the nicene creed was penned by the learned fathers of that councell , it was all that was required of any to be publikly confessed , that had been either accused or suspected of heresie . the protestants in all ages , when they were questioned , ( and especially since the yeere 1500. that the differences about religion have even filled europe with the sharp disputes of the sword and pen ) have not only offered to do whatsoever the ancient fathers required as an act sufficient to cleare and acquit such as were in their times suspected of heresie , but further to put their cause to the triall of the scriptures , the best and surest rule ; nay , to admit the decrees of the first generall councels , and the united tenets of the orthodox fathers for the first five hundred yeers . but the romish synogogue degenerating , first in manners , and then in doctrine ; first introducing innumerable trinkets and ceremonies , to pester gods publique worship , and afterwards severall idolatries , absolutely to kill and poison it , could not satisfie themselves with pressing upon the protestants the confession of those truths they yet maintain'd an i held ; but that not a grain of corn might remain in their great heap of chaffe , nor one true professor be hidden amongst the multitude , they invented four manner of unchristian and tyrannicall courses , whereby to insnare and illaqueate not only the most innocent , but even the most prudent and sagacious man alive . first , they proceeded against any person they suspected , without accuser , witnesse , or proofe , and fettered his eares with so many questions to be answered unto upon oath , and with so many severall examinations at severall times , that at last , as john de monluce , bishop of valence , well observed of the spanish inquisition , in the yeer 1562. that it was decipula ad vexandos bonos & illa● queandas conscientias : though hee came into their clutches unjustly suspected , yet he was sure never to escape their griping talons justly acquitted . a second invention was to adde many new matters to be confessed as matters of faith , which were before left as matters of liberty and fact , either to hold or not to hold ; and in this particular did that fatall conventicle of trent so blasphemously transcend the bounds of all sobriety , as to adde twelve new articles of faith to the ancient creed , to be believed upon pain of damnation ; and to this they commonly adjoyned , as a slip or branch of it , adjuration of all former truths , or at least a recantation . miserable experience hath taught the lutherans and pseudo-lutheran , in germany , the tyrannie of the romanists in this particular , who having assisted them to ruine those godly protestants in the empire , of the most sound and orthodox helvetick or french confessions , did , as a reward of their treacherie , finde them more implacable against them , inforcing upon them a most dangerous and blasphemous abjuration , then against the others . these two former wayes of inquisition went yet no further then the tongue , but the next that followed included the hands also , and compelled subscription to many false blasphemies , and dangerous heresies . thus the lutherans of saxonie desiring to root out all the godly ministers amongst them of the purer confessions , would have them subscribe to those two portentuous and monstrous errors , of consubstantiation and ubiquity . and it was a notable machiavilian policy of charles the ninth of france , who having enforced the consciences of the king of navar , and prince of conde , in the yeer 1572. by the cruell murther of divers in their sight , and by threatning death to themselves , to cause them to write to pope gregorie the thirteenth , by their letters under their own hands , that both their conversion to popery , and abjuration of the truth , had been gratefull and voluntary . but the fourth and last invention is a down-right and never failing way , either of discovering the godly , or of shipwracking their consciences , being one of those sins divines call peccata vastantia conscientiam , and that is their enforcing them to adore their severall idolls , by bowing to and towards their hee-saints and shee-saints , altars , reliques , crucisixes , and their great moloch of the masse . this skill they learnt from the heathens themselves , who to avoid multiplicitie of interrogations , with the first holy and primitive christians , who abhorred the placing of images in their publique temples and oratories ; they asked them in a few words , will you sacrifice to the image ? charles the ninth of france never demanded of henry de clermont prince of conde , whether he would turne papist ; but , will you goe , ( said he ) to masse ? he knew raw flesh to be harder for a true protestant to digest , then all the other parts of popery . and doubtless , he that will adore and bow unto or towards an image , the sacrament , an altar , a communion table , or any other creature , where the bowing is not meerly civill , will never stumble at any other part or point of popery , but may safely passe to rome , or rhemes . oh that the papists could but see their own vanity in bowing to and adoring the wafer cake as god! for they confesse it is not transsubstantiated into christs flesh , unlesse the priest that consecrate intend to turne and change it . and what then if the priest be so ignorant , as many be , that he know not the words at which his quu or turne is come by his imagination onely to worke a miracle ? what if his minde be roving about his necessary affaires , or more unnecessarie and vainer thoughts , usuall with them that reade one particular often over , and so inadvertently he forget to joyne his intention to the words of consecration ? doubtless , these cases and divers besides , might be instanced ; in which the priest hath often and doth daily faile to create his saviour ( blasphemy i confesse positively to affirme ) for want of meere advertency and premeditation within the rules of the romish synagogue it selfe . and then what follows , but formall and materiall idolatry , by their owne confessions , when they adore it ? so as should the papists themselves see a protestant prelate or minister bowing to and adoring the elements of bread and wine in the sacrament of the lords supper , before or after consecration , he could not but account him a poishly affected priest belonging to his owne church , or an absolute idolater ; for in the 29th article of religion , published by the church of england , agreeing expresly with the helvetick and french confessions , it is plainly let downe ; that transubstantiation or any change of the substance of bread and wine , is repugnant to the plaine words of the scripture , overthroweth the nature of the sacrament , and hath given occasion to many superstitions ; that the body of christ is given , taken , and eaten in the supper of the lord onely after an heavenly and spirituall manner ; and that the meane whereby the body of christ is received and eaten in the supper is faith ; and that the sacrament was not by christs ordinance reserved , carried about , lifted up , or worshipped ; so the article of the church of england . when therefore any papist shall see his masse celebrated by any english divine , with elevation and adoration , or bowing to and towards it , both gestures being condemned by the doctrine of that church , he must either within , and by the rules of his own church give him up for an adaquate idolater , in giving adoration to the substances of bread and wine , which action the romanists abhorre and condemne , or else in charitie suppose howsoever in outward shew he seem an heretick , yet in truth he is a good catholick ; and did intend in and by the words of consecration to make his saviour ; and so supposing his body to be really there before him , doth adore and bow to it . the lutherans condemne the popish transubstantiation ; the jesuites deride the lutherans consubstantiation and ubiquitie , and both justly . but should they heare of any subtle wittall , that hath in theso dayes found out a third and more sublime invention out of the bush that the man in the moone carries at his back , and can finde christs body in the sacrament as really and naturally as it was in the virgins wombe ; but yet will not say , he is bodily there either con , sub , or trans , they would most justly hisse him out of their churches and schooles . doubtlesse , the popish transubstantiation is of the three the most rationall and profound error , because that being accompanied with a supposed miracle , and may be at any time excused by the inadvertent default of the priest , admits the losse opposition . and i have often wondred why some of that active rabble could not as well and as secretly on the sudden have supposited true flesh instead of the hostia , as they have by an insensible legerdemaine sprinkled pure and lively bloud from a lancinated singer upon the wafer cake it selfe . certainly , there is no truth in scripture more plainly set down then that doctrine of the church of england , and of the more orthodox reformed churches , in which they maintaine and teach , that christs body is ascended into heaven , and there remaineth as visibly and circumscriptively as it did upon earth before it ascended , that it is onely present given and taken in the sacrament , after an heavenly and spirituall manner , and that to worship it , or make it a sacrifice , are blasphemous and dangerous deceits , from all which it will undoubtedly and necessarily follow , that christs body is no more present at the sacrament really and carnally after the words of consecration , then it was present with the bread before it was brought into the church , or with that which is left after the administration of the sacrament ended , and is carried againe out of the church , where also it may as lawfully be adored , as at any time during the holy administration it selfe , each adoration being grosse idolatry . were the ignorantest men and silliest women able in queene maries dayes to assert this truth , even by dispute against those bloudy bishops and idolatrous priests , that would have obtruded christs reall presence in the sacrament , and their blasphemous sacrifice of the masse upon them , and after to die for it ; and shall wee not thinke thousands will be now ready also in all humilitie and patience to lay downe their lives for the same truth ? how dangerous in all ages this idolatrous adoration or bowing to images , altars , the hostia , reliques , and such other trumpery , hath been to the very moderate papists themselves , appeares by a pretty relation in the history of learned de thou ; that francis the second in the yeare 1559. being perswaded by the cardinall of lorraine , and some others of his faction , that there was no way to discover and irretiate the protestants like that of their images , did cause them to be erected and set up with candles burning before them in severall streets and eminent places of paris , to which there assembled divers tankard-bearers , scullions , and other such like of the dregs and scumme of the people , who to the shame of the priests and all church-discipline , prophanely chanted and sang before them : and when any passed by , were he papist or protestant , if he did not presently deliver them money towards the maintenance of those tapers , and adore the idoll , they fell upon him ; and not contented to make him tast of their fists and handy-blowes , or to throw him into the dirt , and trample on him , did after all those grosse abuses carry him to prison , there to be further questioned ; many sober papists having hast of businesse , not seeing the images , or otherwise not regarding the disorderly carroling of such a company of varlets , were by them basely assaulted , beaten , and spoiled , to the great distaste , and open repining of the best and discreetest citizens , though otherwaies truly caec-obedient and zealous romanists . sect. xxii . yet must we not think that heresie or heretiques ought so to be indulged , as thereby to be confirmed , and made more pertinacious in their heresies . they ought to be instructed , reproved , and discountenanced , and if they prove irrecoverably obstinate , exiled . wee see god himself commanded the jewes to put an idolater and a blasphemer to death ; and though i do not conceive that to be an evangelicall precept , but onely a judiciall law , proper and peculiar to that people and church , yet doubtlesse it may thence by the rule of analogie be concluded , that where idolatry and heresie are mixed together , as amongst papists and montanists or altar-adorers , or where blasphemy and heresie meet in one , as amongst the arrians , pelagians , or anabaptists , the followers of sebastian castellio , and james arminius , there a more severe course may be warrantably practised to stop the dispersing of that poyson , then for the suppressing of any other heretiques , who are not guilty of those two abominations , but onely hold some lesser errours . incomparable monsieur de thou , saith in the preface before his history , dedicated to henry the great of france , that exile or banishment was the first and greatest punishment that ever the ancient church inflicted upon heretiques , ( which on all sides is acknowledged to have been a true church ) as wee see in the banishment of the manichees , under those two pious emperors , theodosius & valentinian ; and in the exilement of divers kinds of heretiques under constantine and marcianus : but when men have joyned , either open rebellion and treason , or proditorious positions to their religion , as the papists , or have maintained anarchicall theses as a part of their doctrine , condemning monarchie , magistracie , and all civill government , as the anabaptists : in these cases , although they did absolutely defend dogmaticall and fundamentall errors , yet were their exilement or a greater punishment justly inflicted on them , because the case is now altered from matter of conscience to matter of offence & crime . had the protestants been but once guilty of such an unmatched villanie , as the powder-plot was , in any part of the world where they are tolerated , they had doubtlesse been for ever rooted out from thence ; for though some desperate romanists only were ingaged in the execution , yet in the generall , questionlesse , all the recusants of england knew , that a great action was in hand , against church and state ; and that their romish synagogue was to be erected in great britain , upon the ruines of them both : and for the prosperity of it , as henry garnet himself confessed , they all prayed . nay , when divers english papists , admonished by the guilt of their own conscience , fled upon the discovery thereof into france , and were kindly received there by the governour of callis , and he comforting them , in respect they had left their countrey , estates and friends ; no , saith one of them to him again , wee grieve not at all for those losses , but that so brave and excellent an action ( meaning the powder-treason ) had no better successe . at which answer , the said governour was so extremely incensed ( as hee often after himself related to the same de thou , who delivers the story ) that hee verily thought to have precipitated the varlet headlong into the sea . and as for their romish doctrines , manifestly tending to treason , conspiracy and rebellion , they were so exactly collected together into one bo ly by learned bishop morton , and published in the yeere 1605. a little after the discovery of that treason , as wee shall need a great deal of charity to believe they can be good subjects in and under any protestant prince or state . neither do the anabaptists come much short of the papists in their dangerous tenets or practices , although they exactly imitate their old master pelagius in one particular , which vossius himselfe confesseth of him , teaching many of their desperate doctrines , as he did , privately , which yet they conceale and suppresse in their published tractates , which have given so many fatall wounds to the true church of god in this and the last preceding age ; for the proofe whereof , wee shall need to produce no other witnesses then those two sincere and impartiall historians , john sleidane , and the same monsieur de thou , from whom wee may learne , that after melchior hofman had broached his wicked tenets in germany , about the yeere 1520. and with his disciples , thomas muncer , bernard rotman , and john leyden had assumed to themselves the name of anabaptists , and drawn many of the baser sort after them , whom they perswaded not to suffer any of noble blood to remain ; and that there could be no other lawfull magistrate , but one of their sect : they easily drew them to take armes , and possessing themselves of the city of munster in westphalia , had like to have proved the utter ruine of it , had it not been delivered by the armes of some of the germane princes , after which followed the execution of divers of those rebels . after these men succeeded as chiefe propagators of their errours , john cerdo , hanged at brussels , michael servetus the spaniard burnt at geneva , and cornelius apelman executed at vtrecht in the yeare 1570. all three of them , though guiltie of divers grosse heresies , yet were condemned and put to death for blasphemie , and other notorious crimes . john williams their successor , finding their treasonable and anarchicall positions to afford them no safety in any well governed monarchie or republique , got him to ruremund , in the dutchie of guelders , and there having drawn to his partie some three hundred varlets and mean fellowes , hee told them no goods could rightly appertain to any man but of their own sect , and therefore assured them , whatsoever they could get by pillaging and robbery , was a lawfull gain : by which means many horrible and grievous thefts and spoiles were committed in guelderland , and in the dutchie of cleve adjoyning . the said williams also being taken , was for his many abominable offences and villanies burnt at buslaken in the dutchie of juliers , yet died so courageously , like servetus his fellow anabaptist , as that their sect was exceedingly confirmed and increased thereby ; so as had not their other portentous crimes justly necessitated their capitall punishment , it had been much better for the true church of god , their lives had been spared : for whereas before ignorant men had for the most part presidented their church and kingdom , ( for their chief prophets commonly governed all the rest after their own wills ) these mens sufferings drew on , as may be easily gathered , theodore bibliander and sebastian castellio , to give up their names to the maintenance of the same blasphemies , who cunningly defended only in their publique writing those points which pelagius had formerly broached , whom arminius , vorstius , and the other anabaptists of the nether germany have since followed ; but for those dangerous and unsafe doctrines of condemning magistracy , extirpating nobility , and permitting robberies , howsoever they may still in private teach and adhere to them , and would , perhaps , if they could once make the stronger partie in any state , soon enough practise them , yet they have most politickly omitted , not onely the maintenance , but the very mention of them also , in the said published works and tractates . thus also the papists themselves , upon occasion , being pressed with any of their seditious tenets , will deny them ; as peter cotton the jesuite did their allowing of the murther of kings after henry the fourth of france was stabbed by that wicked jesuited varlet , ravaillac ; and henry garnet , at his execution protested , that he ever abhorred the gunpowder-plot . the pelagians , in the time of the ancient britaines were the undoubted instruments of the ruine of england , then called britaine , of murthering constantine the father and constans the son , both successive kings there , and of setting the royall crown upon the head of vortigern , duke of cornwall , a pelagianized traytor against his soveraign , who in lieu thereof to gratifie them , soon filled up , as may be probably collected , the bishops seas , to which neither baronies nor sericality were then , nor for five hundred yeares after annexed , with hereticall and lazie droanes , who had well-neere ruined the true church of god in those dayes . all the world may know what warning king james of england , that learned prince , gave to the united states of the netherlands , by his published works upon the death of the anabaptist arminius , and succession of that blasphemous vorstius in his roome and chaire at layden , that if they did not in time look to the suppression of those blasphemous heretiques , they would in the end prove the ruine of their church and state . god of his infinit mercy grant that they may never be able to bring desolation or subversion to them ; nor to any other church , kingdome , or state of christendome , where the gospel and the truth are established , by the increasing of their numbers and powers to an excessive and formidable proportion . sect. xxiii . we have seen the greatest and uttermost punishment that the primitive church thought fit to be inflicted on the heretiques of those times was exilement , in which case they had alwayes a competent time allowed to provide conveniences before they receded , safe conduct for their departure , and a full power given them , either to retain their praediall and fixed estates they left , and to receive by their deputed agents the yeerly revenues of them , or else sell them . and if wee do seriously peruse the histories of later times , we shall finde the cruellest tygres , and most wolvish prelates that ever miscarried the affaires of any kingdome or state since the yeare 1500. never to have grown to that senslesse and belluine height of malice against the godly , as neither to suffer them to enjoy their liberty and quiet of their consciences at home , nor yet peaceably and innocently to leave their deare and native countrey , and to plant themselves in such parts of the world as they may enjoy their inward peace without offence or scandall to any . philip the second of spain , who was one of the most prodigious offenders against god , in his time , having vitiated women of the noblest rank , violated contracts of the deepest nature , murthered his eldest son , and third wife , unjustly detained the kingdome of navarre , broken his oath with arragon , naples , and the netherlands , and the most resolved and premeditated persecutor of christendome , being wholly actuated & precipitated to it by nicholas perenot , cardinall of granvellan , and the bloody inquisitors , yet in the yeer , 1575. he set out a publick declaration touching all the inhabitants of the netherlands , that it should be lawfull for any that would not embrace the rom m religion , to depart from thence whither soever they would , and to sell their estates , or else to . retain them , and to receive the profits of them : and not many yeers after , he gave liberty also to the very mahometan moores in spain , amounting to divers thousands , to depart freely thence , into any province of africa , there to enjoy freedome from the bloody inquisitors , and with his own shipping conveyed many of them safe into france , through which , by the graclous permission of henry the great , they had safe and free passage . charles the ninth also , the french king , did by his agents earnestly sollicite lewes de clermont , prince of conde , and gaspar de colignie , earle of cistillion , admirall of that kingdome , being the chief commanders and directors of the protestants affaires , to depart the kingdome , with the rest of the religion ; and that they might begin a plantation in the island of florida in america , hee not only gave leave to the first expedition , which was undertaken by john ribald , in the yeer 1562. but also , at the same admirals intreaty , did contribute very largely himself to the second navigation , which was entred upon , not long after the first , by renate laudonere , and divers other protestants . but it pleased god , that this fair occasion , not only of enlarging the french empire , but also of planting a blessed church amongst those heathen people , was in the very bloome and infancy prevented and brought to nothing by the precipitation of luidonere himself , and by those factious romanists about the king , who occasioned new civill wars and tumults in the realme . after the horrible and inhumane massacre of paris , in the yeer 1572. which was partly resolved upon , because the protestants would not upon any terms remove out of france , and so desert and leave their deare and native countrey : charles duke of loraine intending to take that occasion , to extirpate the true religion out of his own dominions , which he might have done by their slaughters , yet gave them liberty to depart whithersoever they would in safety , and full time to sell and dispose of their goods and estates . nay queen mary of england , whose bloody persecutions shall make her raign infamous to the worlds end , yet in her first yeer expressed so much mercy , as having publikely declared , that she meant to restore the romish religion ; shee further permitted to all her subjects that would not professe the same , free liberty to depart out of her kingdome ; by which the lives and ravagings of many hundreds were saved , and amongst them divers of the clergie ; for the first sensible persecution began then in st. johns colledge in cambridge , where the idolatrous bowing to the masse and altar , being wickedly practised and pressed , divers immediatly left the same colledge thereupon . now if the popish prelates of those times , who accounted the protestants arch-heretiques , and mortally hated them , did yet perswade the kings and princes they served , and too often misadvised , to permit the protestants freedome of departure , with liberty and time to sell their goods and estates ; is it possible that there should live in and under any protestant church , such inveterately hating prelates , against the weaker and humbler christians , who dissent from them , as themselves pretend , only in matters of form and order , arbitrary to be abolished or retained by the supreme magistrate , as neither to suffer them to live quietly at home without vexation , suites , fines , suspension , deprivation , and imprisonment , which in many cases occasioneth their immature deaths , nor yet suffer them to depart quietly , to plant a church amongst the very heathens themselves , to the honour of god , and the inlargement of their soveraignes empire and profit ? is it possible that so many miles distance should not abate and asswage the very malice of rome it self against them ? were their departure like that of the fugitive romanists a few yeers since , to joyn with the publike enemies of the kingdome , to invade it , and to be more forward to subdue it to a cruell and barbarous nation , as they were in eighty eight , then the adversaries themselves , then might there be some colourable reason to use all extremity and cruelty against them for their ruine and extirpation ; but when their hearts and soules breath forth nothing but loyaltie and innocencie , the throne and kingdome fare the better for their prayers and humiliations , and the worst they desire , is but the quiet of their own consciences ; how is it possible they should be so prodigiously hated of any , that would but pretend truly to love the gospel , and heartily to vote the flourishing of it ? certainly it is impossible they should be so transported with barbarous rage , as some of the popes have been , who rather desired to see the ruine of those innocent christians , then of the very turks and mahometans , unlesse they will yeeld themselves to be as deeply toxicated with the dregs of that romish cup as the jesuites are , who in the yeere 1578. began to preach and teach publikely , that it was a more acceptable work to god , for christian princes to root out and persecute all sectaries and schismatikes amongst themselves , then for them to joyn their forces against the turks and infidels ; a doctrine , saith monsieur de thou , ( one of their own historians ) contrary to all christian pietie and mansuetude , who with the rest of the sober and moderate romanists , by their charitable and advised censures , given of the strictest and most tender conscienced christians , ( notwithstanding they most abhor any the least intermixtures and additions in gods worship , which have been introduced by the papists ) shall at the last day rise up in judgement against the invectives of many seeming protestants , of both orders , against the same persons , endeavouring thereby to prepossesse the eares and fascinate the judgements of the greatest princes , that so they may obtain license and power under them , utterly to ruine and destroy their humble and pious fellow-christians , who are notwithstanding permitted quietly and safely to enjoy the publike liberty of their conscience in those kingdomes and states where the romish religion it self flourisheth . sect. xxiv . under henry the fourth , the late great and victorious french king , the major part of the papists of that kingdome continued in a most obstinate and furious war against him , during the first four yeers of his raigne , calling into their succours the spaniards the sworn enemies of that crown and state , and yet he offered them , not only to permit all his romanized subjects the publike exercise of their religion , but also to continue it in all places in the same forme and freedome as it had been used at the time of the murther of henry the third his predecessor , by a jesuited assassinate . and further implored his own subjects , not to endeavour to force him to the change of his religion , which he knew to be the truth , being a cruelty hee desired not to practise upon the meanest of them . the protestants will yeeld up their religion as false and wicked , if ever such an example can be produced against them , where they had libertie of conscience sincerely afforded them , and yet took up armes against their lawfull soveraign . but those unreasonable french papists , being true limbs of the romish synagogue , whose faith was then faction , and whose religion was then rebellion , would embrace no conditions of peace , no offers of pacification from their own undoubtedly lawfull and warlike king , as long as he continued in the open profession of that truth , in which he had been educated under joan d'albret , hereditary queen of navarre , his royall and godly mother ; who also upon her death-bed had expresly charged him never to recede from it . this brave prince seeing nothing but an utter ruine threatened to his kingdome of france , either by cantonizing it into provinces , or setting a forainer on the throne , ( which charles lorainer duke of maine had out of some ambitious and self-respects of his own , a while opposed and prevented ) in the yeer 1593. submitted himself to a publike recidivation , which though it brought on an outward peace to that realme , yet was the king himself never freed from continuall treasons and conspiracies , hatched against him in the dens and nests of the jesuites , till at the last he perished under one of them to the irreparable losse , not only of france , but likewise of all christendome . neither did the papists cease to vilifie his very act of reconciling himself to their church , saying , as monsieur de thou himself confesseth , that either his conversion was fained , as it had been before in the yeer 1572. and that a false catholike would do more hurt in their church then a true heretique , or else that he loved the crown of france better then he did the kingdome of heaven , that to gain that without any inward convincement , would turn from one religion to another . sect. xxv . after this martiall prince had deserted the protestant religion to the great astonishment and excessive griefe of all the professors of the gospel , both at home and abroad ; what did his french subjects of the helvetick confession instantly rebell against him , and deny him due and lawfull obedience , as his popish subjects had done before ? nothing lesse ; but all the disobedience they shewed to him , or expressed towards him , consisted in humble supplications and remonstrances , that they might still enjoy the publique libertie of their consciences ; and he as graciously yeelded to their just and christian petitions ; and all the time he raigned , never forgat their cause or prayers , or suffered any of his bloudy prelates , or jesuited counsellors , to molest , vex , cite , fine , suspend , deprive , or imprison any of them , and much lesse to butcher them , or draw bloud from them ; because he knew every one of those acts are essentially true and down-right persecution , as well as shedding their blouds ; onely there is a graduall difference in the martyrdomes of the sufferers as well as in the cruelty of the destroyers . as strange was the example of henry the eight of england , who led by the advice of some of his sycophanticall popish prelates , thought to have established the romish religion , without admitting the influence of the papacy , whose unerring spirit is to that synagogue like the soule to the body , or the sunne to the firmament . but he soone saw his error , and would doubtless , had he lived , have made that integrall and saving reformation , which his royall sonne so piously finished ; for he himselfe and his new popery , were more abhorred by the bishop of rome , and his vassalls , as a monstrous and inconsistent church , then the princes of germanie themselves , who had made a rationall and intire defection from that man of sonne . for the pope and his conclave employed cardinall poole ( henry the eighths neare kinsman ) as their ambassadour to charles the fifth the emperour , to exhort and perswade him instantly to invade the king of englands dominion , rather then to make warre against the turke himselfe . and the reason why the pope was so vehement in his prosecution against that king , doth palpably and fully appeare from the very words ensuing of the decree of pope boniface the eighth , in his extravagants set forth by himselfe in the eighth yeare of his papacy , about the yeare 1300. subesse romano pontifici ( saith he ) omni humanae creaturae declaramus , dicimus , definimus , & pronunciamus omnino esse de necessitate salut is : we declare , define , and pronounce , that it is necessary for every one that is to be saved , to be subject to the pope of rome . the same doctrine doth the bull of pope pius the fifth , bearing date there in the yeare 1564. & the romish catechisme set out a little after , doth maintain and confirme in the tenth , eleventh , and twelfth sections thereof , in their exposition of the twentieth article of their new creed , ( to which creed their prelates and other ecclesiasticks are compelled to sweare , that they hold it to be the true catholick faith ) it being strongly disputed for also by suarez in his first booke and twelfth chapter against the lutherans , by gregorie de valentia in his analysis , lib. 6. cap. 1. and by bellarmine in his third booke and fifth chapter of the church militant ; that though any prince , prelate , priest , state , or church , should receive all the other parts of the romish faith & religion , abolishing the doctrine and discipline of the protestants , and should onely deny the popes supremacy and subjection to him , yet they should still remaine damnable and wicked hereticks ; so as the light of the sunne is not more cleare then that the pope in this one particular imitates god himselfe , hating more a linsey-woolsey mungrell halting popish protestant , then a true and zealous one . blessed therefore are those monarchs , princes , and states , who preserve the evangelick truth , without the least intermixtures of false doctrine and pontificall additions ; for to halt between light and darknesse , and to intermix idolatrous actions , or popish errors , with saving truths , will necessarily draw on the ruine of the godly , and the hatred of the papacy , and bring downe gods judgements as causally as an absolute , entire , and plenary defection and recidivation . and then if the popes headship be once admitted , a volume would not suffice , how not onely every proud prelate , but even every popish priest ; might trample on the soveraignes crowne and dignitie , murther their fellow-subjects , and be guilty of a thousand other villanies , without dreading or regarding the punishment of the temporall sword . sect. xxvi . matthew paris , the monke of st albanes , ( a witnesse without exception ) doth truly relate a pithy story , to shew the ancient deplorable and base state and condition of the english kings under the papall tyranny ; that pope innocent the 4th in the year 1253. in the 37th yeare of henry the third , being set in his conclave , in the middle of his cardinalls , after mature deliberation and advisement upon a very small and trifling occasion , brake out into this vehement interrogation ; nonne rex anglorum ( saith he ) noster est vafsallus , & ut plus dicam , mancipium , qui possumus eum nutu nostro incarcerare & ignominiae mancipare ? that is , is not the king of england our vassall , or to say more , is he not our slave , who have power as often as wee please , either to mue him up in prison , or to expose him to ignominy ? justly therefore did henry the eight of england free himselfe from this papall tyranny : and if he had been possibly sensible of those bodily pangs , or inward remorses and horrors upon his death-bed , which the papists mention , yet could not these divine flagellations be imputed to his defection from rome , and error , as they pretend , but to his shedding of so much innocent bloud of gods saints , by the instigation of his sanguinary prelates . for in france after that barbarous and cruell massacre in the yeare 1572. upon the eighth day of november the same yeare , there appeared a dreadfull comet , touching which some learned protestant immediately published an elaborate and exquisite poem , presaging that it was gods herald or messenger to denounce his judgement shortly to ensue upon that kingdome , for their newly perpetrated inhumane butcherie . his verses were 〈◊〉 dispersed , when there suddainly broke out in poitou a new 〈◊〉 and before unknowne disease commonly called the poit●vin cholick , which wasted that goodly kingdome for above thirty yeares after it was accompanied with so many extreame paines and torments , not onely in the outward parts of the body , but in the inwards and vitals also , as it drew on divers horrid convulsions , and in many blindnes it self before they dyed . the strange originall , the hidden nature and those unparalleld torments it produced , sometimes resembling the very stabs and gashes made with swords and poygnards , gave all impartiall judgements just ground to conclude it to be the finger of god himself , in punishing the mercilesse murthers of his dear saints . and a blessed warning it may be to all christian kingdoms and states , that a seasonable remedie to stop the growing of the plague , pestilence , and other severall diseases and judgements may questionlesse be applyed , by inhibiting and abolishing the power and malice of such popish prelates as count it their chiefest solace to waste and persecute the pious and godly protestants , that so the true catholick church might againe flourish , as it did in the primitive times under learned , religious , sober , faithfull , preaching pastors and ministers . which incomparable blessing , the divine providence vouchsafed to the scottish , french , and helvetick churches upon their first reformation . the printer to the reader . i am here courteous reader , instead of troubling thee with an index of the errata , to give thee notice , that so great care hath been used , in this second impression , as it needs none ; neither was it my fault , but my mis-fortune , that the first had so many greater errours as well as lesser slips ; for i had the use of a very imperfect copie , transcribed from the originall by two or three severall hands in some hast ; by which i was mis-led almost in every section . those errours , and such as escaped the presse , are now amended to thy hand . finis . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a67894e-340 * lutherus paulò ante mortem , age● cum phil●ppo melancthone , fatetur , in negotio coenae●n mium esse factum , &c. dr rainoldus prelectione 4a. in lib. apocryphos , p. 53. col. 1. et orat. isaac bootii vesalii de controversiis sacramentariis edit. basilere ao . dm. 1601. ad calcem polani analys. in ho●●seam , p. 405. * john dudley duke of northumberland . the late inhumane ma● sacre and bu●chery in ireland hath since excee●ed it . a soveraign antidote against sinful errors, the epidemical plague of these latter dayes. extracted out of divine records, the dispensatory of christianity: for the prevention and cure of our spiritual distempers. by claudius gilbert, b.d. and minister of the gospel at limrick in ireland. gilbert, claudius, d. 1696? 1658 approx. 479 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 93 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2009-03 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a85988 wing g704 thomason e939_4 estc r202212 99862586 99862586 114749 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a85988) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 114749) images scanned from microfilm: (thomason tracts ; 140:e939[4]) a soveraign antidote against sinful errors, the epidemical plague of these latter dayes. extracted out of divine records, the dispensatory of christianity: for the prevention and cure of our spiritual distempers. by claudius gilbert, b.d. and minister of the gospel at limrick in ireland. gilbert, claudius, d. 1696? [24], 158, [2] p. printed by r.w. for francis titon, and are to be sold at the sign of the three daggers in fleetstreet, london : 1658. the last leaf is blank. annotation on thomason copy: "aprill". title page has text in hebrew, arabic, and latin. reproduction of the original in the british library. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) 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encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng theology, doctrinal -early works to 1800. heresies, christian -early works to 1800. 2007-07 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2007-07 aptara keyed and coded from proquest page images 2008-07 john latta sampled and proofread 2008-07 john latta text and markup reviewed and edited 2008-09 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion a soveraign antidote against sinful errors , the epidemical plague of these latter dayes . extracted out of divine records , the dispensatory of christianity : for the prevention and cure of our spiritual distempers . by claudius gilbert , b. d. and minister of the gospel at limrick in ireland . luke 21. 8. see that ye be not deceived . 2 thes . 2. 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 12. whose coming is after the working of satan , in all power , &c. and in all deceivableness , &c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . graecan . axioma . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 jehova medicus tuus , exod. 15. 26. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 qui seipsum habet prosapiente , habent eum deus & homines pro ignaro . london , printed by r. w for francis titon , and are to be sold at the sign of the three daggers in fleetsheet . 1658. to the honourable colonell henry ingoldesby , governour of the precinct of limrick and clare , and to the inhabitants of the city of limrick . honoured and beloved in the lord. the substance of this tract was through the lords help preached lately in your ears , and is of right now presented to your eyes , that through his grace , it may the better reach your hearts . the subject thereof is as seasonable as its excellent . the lord make it yours as profitably , as it s made yours affectionately . the choice usefulness of its provisions will make full amends for the plainness of its order and dress . it s not my work to tickle and flatter you , but to reach healing and food to your souls . a signal hand of heaven brought me over and fixed me here near five years ago ; by the same good hand have i been kept here in the lords charge ever since . we have had much cause still to mind and improve the wonderful dealings of our god towards us from that very day , as in former seasons . variety of dispensations hath he carried us through both publiquely and personally . visits of iudgement , and then of mercy , we have had from him again and again . no wayes hath he left unattempted that might do us good , though our returns have not been answerable . the sword , famine and plague ranged in these parts upon gods errand at my first coming , and continued a considerable time . i was thereby occasioned to contribute my utmost by the lords aid , to the relief and cure of mens souls and bodies . it was then my cordial delight and desire to spend and be spent for the good of limrick ; as the same is still my design and labour through the assistance of heaven . the voyce of gods rod cryed loud to this city then , that the man of wisdom might observe his name who had appointed it , in hearing his rod. our heavenly physitian saw it best then to diet and physick us , suiting his prescripts to our distempers . few in this place did miss of a touch ; the deeper smartings of many among us warned all the rest . our sins deserved much worse from his hand , yet he afflicted us very favourably . in the midst of wrath he remembred mercy , and stayed his rough wind in the day of his east wind . after purgations he gave us cordials , and turned in due time our mourning into joy . thanksgivings followed our humiliations , and our bitter waters were turned into sweet wine . the springs of elim followed our marah , and they reaped in joy , that had sown in tears . if the peaceable fruit of that rod may in righteousness appear among us , the glory will be his , and the comfort ours . if our ill humours have been kindly removed , it will best appear in the right use of our health . if any grow wanton after recovery , shame and sorrow will be their portion . it glads my heart that gods word and works have not been quite fruitless in the midst of us ; yet i cannot but lament with a bleeding soul the sad improvements of his renewed kindness . what could more be done for us then he hath done ? why then is our fruit so wild and so empty ? that it proves better with any of us , it s of his grace ; that divers others seem to grow still worse , it s through their fault . the lord hath bestowed much cost upon us , but like the cursed ground we bear still many weeds . he hath not spared for dressing or dunging : it will much aggravate their sin and judgement , if any of us remain still barren . the good husbandman hath cast in good seed in this ground of his , but the enemy hath crept in in the dark to scatter his tares . multiplicious errors still spread among us as in other parts , which grow much faster then christs spiritual plants . too many are found to play with their light , and abuse it to do the devils work by . that good word , which proves savour of life to some , proves too often savour of death to others . the spirits of divers are grown so childish , that neither barnabas nor boanerges will please their palate . god hath restored us to health and plenty ; but many souls are still diseased and starved . sinful infection troubles all relations , yet is little felt , because spiritual . much malignity attends those ill humours which work so strangely and perniciously . some are brain-sick with giddy notions , and others heart-sick with feavourish affections . the heads of some labour with convulsions ; the vitals of others suffer defections . spiritual lethargies benumb some into sleep and mortal dreams ; raging phrenzies do inflame some others . some are merrily mad with pleasing conceits ; others melancholy through a sullen spirit : lethal apoplexies take some few suddenly ; and spiritual palsies seiz upon others more gradually . some have lost appetite to the dainties of heaven ; others seem to hunger , but digest not well . spiritual rickets do possess divers , and sinful gouts trouble not a few . various obstructions disorder mens souls , whence the disfiguring of their life and acts. internal stoppages often discolour the external man ; the falling-sickness and the swounding fits do also take turns in souls and societies . consumptions and dropsies appear so visibly , that they prognosticate but ominous things . sad symptoms are seen in mens faces and speech , their tongues and breathings concurring therewith . if you feel their pulse and beatings of heart , you may soon descrie syncopal tokens . schirrhus ' s and hardness are easily felt ; swellings and sores manifest themselves . thus this world appears a sinful hospital for the god of mercy to give visits to . what comes away from men , proves a semeiotick that points at the cure by sad characters . the causes of such dangerous affects must needs be various and multiplicious . diseases complicate and inveterate , bespeak a difficult and a dubious cure. secresie and strength add much to that evil , besides senslesness and unruliness . disorder in food and in exercise with sloth and slumber aggravate the same strains and ruptures with dislocations , tumors and wounds manifest more evil . humours and spirits being distempered do soon disorder the substantial parts . excess in repletion and vacuity , in number and extent , still do make it worse . retention of evil & wasting of good , do both testifie the method of help . indications thus being so various , it s no wonder if the cure be slow both in church and state. purgations total and particular , must attend diet , rest and all due help . both the patients care and all assistants , will be as needful as the physitians skil . politick physitians and ecclesiastical had need look to christ for skil , strength , success . choice and cordial preservatives , alexipharmacks are often needed , where malignity doth infest mens souls . industrious care and painful attendance will be found herein of exceeding need . the ladies hand and the eagles eye , with the lions heart , will help very much in all such dressings . seek therefore and wait for that soveraign aid without which no means can find a blessing . observe his precepts , taking what he gives , carefully forbearing what he doth forbid . fear to displease christ , our gospel phoebus , that must teach and prosper aesculaps * labours . that sun of righteousness will rise with healing wings to all such as love and fear him above all. neglect then no means appointed by him ; abuse not the means by resting thereon . his all-sufficient grace believe and expect for his own glory in each of his wayes . if he make you smart , it s for your good that you may be healed on the best account . here is an antidote fitted to our case , the good lord bless it to you and to me . be helpful to me that i may help you at the throne of grace , so shall we find him our present help still . his grace will sure be sufficient for us , and his strength shall be perfected in weakness . i shall as heartily rejoyce in your good as if it were mine ; and shall design to be , through the renewed supplies of christs holy spirit , your affectionate servant for his sake , in all gospel-work , claudius gilbert . from my study in limrick , 11. 11. / januar. 23. 1656. preface . christian reader . error is the epidemical disease of this age , exactly considerable in its nature and descent , in its species and degrees , in its cause and effects , in its symptoms and cure. we shall but touch those things which others have elaborately handled , to usher in the scope and substance of the following discourse . 1. the nature and idea thereof consists much in a sinfull straying of mans judgement from the truth of god into falshood . 1. mans judgement is the proper subject and seat thereof : ( we meddle not now the angels failures ) from whence it casts a malign influence upon all other powers and parts . 2. it s genus is straying or wandring . so the greek properly imports , a slipping and sliding from truth into falshood and by-ways . 3. it s difference lies in both the terms . first , from which it swerves ; i. e. the terminus à quo , from the truth of god. secondly , to which it leads , the terminus ad quem , into falshood . so it s distinguished from bare ignorance , both negative and privative ; error being a soul-sickness , an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , a disorderly distemper , disposing to evil positively , both habitual and actual , as it deprives of and indisposes to that good , r●specting the souls health ; it differs also from scruples and doubts , which are but uncertain motives from truth , and weaker inclinations to falshood , as the grudgings and rudiments of spiritual diseases . it s likewise differenced thereby from heart-hypocrisie and verbal lies . secondly , errors descent fetches its extract from the prince and father of lies , who abode not in the truth , but drew thousands of glorious angels , who kept not their first state , into error and apostacy . his serpentine spawn by dub●ous queries was soon cast into our first parents , where it quickly bred error and all sin . that unhappy breath so strongly infected them , that this sinfull disease is become hereditary to all their natural posterity . this wofull leprosie hath been thus propagated from our head adam to all his issue , through the loins of sinfull parents . it cleavs to mans nature , and hath been in all ages successively communicated by a wofull series in all sorts , more or less . as the leprosie cleaving to the wall , could never be totally removed , till the wall it self was quite pulled down : so doth this plague cleave to mans soul , till mans dissolution . adam received at once the seed of corporal and spiritual diseases and death , in the same moment that he began to sin , he began to die , according to gods word ; from whence the progress of a dying life in him , and all his , till grace begin that spiritual life below that glory compleats above . israel had contracted their wofull leprosie from that aegypt that enslaved them ; so is our spiritual leprosie contracted from that mystical aegyt which hath poisoned us so desperately , and infests still the canaan-state of christs militant church . as truth is a most diffusive good , so is error a most diffusive evil. error like a stone thrown into the water , rises in circles , each circle begetting another and growing still wider till they all quite lose themselves in the end . like cadmus brood they start up suddenly , and as soon fall foul each on other . 3. the species and sorts of error are multiplicious , like the diseases that trouble the body . as there are various sorts and denominations of divine truths , so are there as many distinctions of errors . the specifical difference of each error is measurable still by the dimension of that truth it opposes and strayes from , and of that falshood into which it slides . the truth of god is the conforty of his thoughts , words and works , to his own glorious essence . the truth of man is the due conformity of man to that truth of god , whether mental , verbal or practical . error is accordingly diversified in its general acceptation ; but properly to our purpose it is restrained to the iudgement , and distingushed from other sins which are verbal or practical errors , flowing from mans will and affections more directly . that truth of god is especially considerable in matters of religion , either fundamental or juxta-fundamental , or more superficial and circumstantial . error is accordingly discernable in its several wandrings from that truth . the scripture of truth declares the same in all their specifical variations . tue fundamentals of religion are summed up in the articles of our faith , called the apostles creed , because extracted out of their writtings ; which symbol hath been successively explained by the several confessions of the primitive churches , as the nicene and athanasian creed , as also of the reformed in germany and france , belgium , and england , &c. as there are varieties of weeds and poisons about the earth which peculiarly offend the several parts of the body , some being more hurtfull to the head , some to the stomach , &c. so do various errors offend the several parts of truth , whence various designations are given to them . 4. the gradations and degrees of error admit also of a variable latitude , according to the variation of its aggravations . as diseases do vary in their gradual recess from health , being either simple or compound , either more or less malignant & hurtfull ; thus errors admit of many adjuncts which render them more or less sinful and injurious . in every error there is a sinfulness , an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , a defect of truth privative , & a disposition to falshood positive . as in every disease there is an evil deflection from the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or sound disposition of the body ; so in error from that of the mind . but this deflection is not alike in all , but is cloathed with numerical differences and personal aggravations . some errors are more , and others less rooted : some are more single , and others complicate . some are more submissively held , and others more pertinaciously : some are kept close , & others published ; some have more of the will and affections attending them , others less : some are more , and others less pernicious : some are more quiet , others more turbulent . as the malignity of infectious diseases admits of a great latitude : as the variety of venomous creatures , whether plants , minerals or sensitives , is multipliciously diversified by the variations of their clime , intentions of degrees , &c. some being cold as hemlock , others hot as euphorbium : some in the first or second , others in the third or fourth degree : some working more slowly , others more quickly : some by their tail , as the scorpion : some by their teeth , as the viper and rattle-snake ; some by their tongue , others by their excrements : some more sensibly , as a mad dog ; some more insensibly , as the asp : so do errors appear under variety of offensive qualities and adjuncts . 5. the cause of error also , as of every disease , is multipliciously observable , especially in a three-fold division of evident , antecedent , and continent . 1. an evident cause among physicians , is much from externals , if not altogether , whereby a distemper is occasioned in the body . so in mans soul this sickness of error may be occasioned by external causes , as by infection , ill company , bad books , various temptations , &c. 2. an antecedent cause of sickness bodily , is from some thing within , whether vapor , humor or spirit , distempering any part , & disabling it from its proper action . thus the foregoing cause of this spiritual disease , lies in some flatuous , humorous or spiritual evil that disorders the mind from its right discerning of the truth , causing it to deviate into the way of falshood . habitual corruption within , flowing from adams first sin , ( which is ours by imputation , ) attended with the want of original righteousness , and often called original sin , because the womb of all sin in us ) is the chief cause from which all other evils flow , that breed and increase these sad distempers . this corruption acts variously in the way of pride and self-seeking , security and worldliness , &c. 3. the continent cause of a corporal distemper is that immediate thing which cherishes it , being cherished from the remote cause , whether corrupt blood , wind , water , gravel , &c. so the continent cause of error , is that peculiar corruption whether . ignorance or pride , self-conceitedness or worldliness , &c. which sticks close to the mind , to breed and cherish its several dyscrasies and distempers . thence such clouding of mens iudgements and disorders in their reasonings : hence perverse disputings of men that are reprobate concerning the faith ; as ambition and pride carried simon and menander , nestorius and macedonius away ; discontent and envy prevailed with arrius ; covetousness carried on demetrius and his comrads . there is a complication of such causes in most . 6. the effects of error , as of every corporal disease , are likewise variously numerous , according to the variations of its numerical idea , of its specifical nature , of its descent , gradations & causes . this spiritual sickness is a tendency to further sin & eternal death ; as every bodily sickness is the beginning of corporal death . the wages of sin is death ; sin deserves it , it binds ever , it leads to it , it fits for it , it begins it . as much as there is of sinfulness , so much is there of death attending it , corporal & civil , spiritual and eternal . grace indeed doth restrain and limit , it pardons and subdues , it purges out gradually , and at last exterminates all sin in gods elect ; yet it changes not the nature or desert of sin , though it chances the sinners nature and relation . providence limits and over-rules this sinfulness also in the reprobate . as the wise physitian corrects his opium in a confection ; so doth god correct sin remaining in his children . as the same physitian appoints fit means against infection to all indefinitely , so doth our soveraign physician by shewing the dangerous effects of error . as the effects of poisons are very various , yet always sad : so are sin and sorrrw inseparable twins . error was set forth to the life by that leprosiy of the head , which had a peculiar mark of ignominy , infection and danger . it s like to those poisonous minerals and vegetables , which strike first ai the head , and thence at all other parts . it s a spiritual plague which cannot but be mischievous still , though not in all alike . all sorts of men in all relations are made to feel the sad consequents thereof . it s a fruitfull womb , a breeding dung hill , a poisoned spring , lerna malorum . it engages and leads insensibly to more evil , notional and practical . it disgraces god , opposes his truth , distempers mens souls , endangers their families , blasts their profession , stains their repute , scandalizes many , ensnares divers , troubles church and state , and complies with satan in his various designes , by nursing of his brood . this age gives sad demonstations thereof . as cephalical diseases are on many accounts the most dangerous of all in the body : so are these heady distempers in the soul , which are easily communicated to all the vital & inferior parts . the poison of some works in a stupifying way , as opium , henbane , hemlock , &c. others venom acts by an enraging quality , as elaterium , euphorbium , scammony : the effect of some is more speedily mortal , as in the touches of a basilisk , and asp , of the viper and rattle snake , if not very timely look'd to ; others are more slow and less dangerous , as in the operations of various simples appears . the parallel of spiritual poisons therewith is easily drawn by an observing christian . 7. the symptoms or signs of error , as of corporal deseases , are of divers sorts , some more common , others more proper . 1. the common signs are such as attend divers distempers in a general way , as enfeebling of the parts , change of complexion , indiposition to action , &c. thus errors have their common signs , wherein many of them agree , appearing much in their sad effects against gods honor and mans good , though often under far colors , like that indian apple in the western islands , which seems beautifull , and yet is rank poison . 2. there are proper tokens and characteristical 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , and notes of each bodily disease , setting out its specifical idea by its numerical and peculiar properties , whether one or more , and usually by a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and concurrence of divers , as a frensie , a lethargy , an apoplexy , &c. have singular marks from the defect and disorders of the faculties animal , vital and natural . thus error , the frensie of the soul , when boiled up to its height , sets a man on a rage against truth and her friends , rejects the means of its cure , raves and ranges at will , inflames the spirits , disorders all the powers and parts , hastning to destruction , as appeared in the ranting crue , formerly and lately in germany and england ; another error may more resemble a lethargy , benumming the soul , fixing the spirits , casting the person into a feavorish sleep , stopping the senses , filling them with dreams , closing their eyes , and distempering all powers and parts , rendering them incapable of sense and help , if the lord work not extraordinarily , witness james naylor and his quaking rout. another error may be found more like an apoplexie ; suddenly taking away sense and motion , reason and life , as that of some circumcellions , and the bloody rabble of germany and switzerland from anno 1522. till 1534. another is more like a palsey , stopping the fountain of the sinews , either totally or partially by distempering the head and its conduits , whereby sense and motion are conveyed to all inferior parts , and gradually hastning mans end . so it fares with divers quakers now , and many monkish pharisaical notionists , rose-crucians , eremitical recluses and behmenists . thus might we instance in every disease , and draw the parallel of error along in its various symptoms and characters ; the which are accompanied with malignity and infection , with confidence and peremptoriness , with censoriousness and self-conceitedness , more or less , according to the nature , extent and causes of such distempers . but as some poisonous weeds do very nearly resemble the good plants among which they grow , as young hemlock among parsley ; so divers errors grow like truth for a while , till they come up to strength ( which they do much faster then good hearbs ) to be better discerned by their ill qualities and wofull effects . 8. the cure of error , as of bodily sickness , is diversly to be observed in the indications directing thereto , in the materials to be used , and in the due method of preparing and ministring of them sutably to the rules of art , and the patients case . 1. the indications of error , as of the bodily diseases , require the removing of the cause , the rectifying of the parts , the restoring of strength , and preserving of it by all convenient means . 2. the materials and ingredients that are to be used towards that cure for soul and body , are considerable in a regular diet , in orderly medicines , and the chirurgions seasonable help . thus erroneous persons are 1. to be dieted , in shunning evil food , evil company , evil motions , &c. and in using food , company , exercise , &c. tending to spiritual health . 2. they are to be well purged with due preparatives and laxatives . 3. they must have the chirurgions help also in letting out the corrupt blood of sin , in dressing of their spiritual sores , in applying of all fit medicaments , and administring of all things orderly . 3. the method of preparing and dispensing of them all for the cure of diseases , spiritual and corporal , is to be guided by the skilfull physitian of heaven , who hath appointed men and means , that in observing the prescripts of his word applyed sutably to every ones case , his promised blessing may be waited for , and received in an obedience of faith and love. the following antidote prescribed by him may be through his grace singularly helpfull thereto . the contents . the context opened . the text divided into six doctrines . page 6. doctrine 1. wicked lawless persons are exceedingly subject to be carried away with destructive errors . p. 7 reason 1. raigning corruption . p. 8 reason 2. errors deceitfulness . ibid. reason 3. divine judgement . p 9 use 1. information ; the ground of our numerous errors . ibid. 2. admonitin to lawless ones . ibid. 3. examinatioon . ibid. 4. exhortation . p. 10 doctr. 2. error will endanger a christians stedfastness . ibid. reas . 1. it loosens a christians hold . p. 11 2. it impairs a christians strength . p. 12 3. it snatches with forcible fraud . ibid. use 1. see hence the source of our revolts . ibid. 2. convictions to erroneous ones . p. 13 3. trial of our state . p. 14 4. advice to all . ibid. doctr. 3. all christians , even the best , need still due warning to keep themselves from error and revolt . p. 15 obj. 1. what need the elect to be warned thus ? p. 16 ans . in seven particulars . ibid. use 1. consect . hence see the usefulness of a gospel ministry . p. 17 2. reprehension . p. 18 3. inquiry . p. 19 4. excitation , 1. to take warning . p. 20 2. improve warning . p. 21 1. personally . ibid. 2. relatively . p. 22 doctr. 4. the gracious knowledge of christ is a singular jewel . p. 23 1. explanation in the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . p. 24. 25 , 26 2. confirmation in the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . p. 27 3. demonstration in the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . ibid. reason 1. from the object , christ considerable p. 28 1. in his person , as god , as man , as god-man . ibid. 2. in his office , prophetical , sacerdotal , regal . p. 30 3. in his progress of humiliation to exaltation . ibid. 4. in his purchase for value and vertue , considered . p. 32 5. in his relation variously set forth . p. 33 6. in his influence . p. 34 reas . 2. from the subject recipient thereof . p. 35 reas . 3 , from the canse efficient , formal , final . p. 36 reas . 4. from the nature . p. 42 reas . 5. from the properties . p. 44 reas . 6. from the effects . p. 46 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or use 1. instruction , the method of study . p. 47 use 2. reprehension . p. 49 use 3. examination , pag. 54. therein is considered , 1. what is wrought . 2. how it was wrought . 3. what it works . p. 55. 56 in allusion to vegetative , sensitive and rational acts. ibid. use 4. consolation , obj. ans . p. 64 use 5. exhortation to nominal christians . p. 65 many obj. answ . p. 67. 68 , 69 , 70 , &c exhor . 2. to real christians . p. 73 doctr. 5. growing in the gracious knowledge of christ is a special gospel-duty p. 77 reas . 1. the christians nature . p. 78 reas . 2. gods honour . p. 79 reas . 3. mans interest . ibid. use 1. the necessity of a standing ministry . p. 80 use 2. conviction . p. 81 use 3. examination , is our growth vniversal , proportional , perpetual ? p. 82 use 4. excitation to dead and living christians . p. 84 doctr. 6. spiritual growth is a soveraign antidote against error and apostacy . p. 89 res . 1. it removes the causes . p. 91 reas . 2. it fortifies the parts , p. 92 reas . 3. it improves christs specifick vertue . p. 93 use 1. information , shewing the ground and cure of all our distempers . p. 94 use 2. admonition to all under the raign , or remainders of sin . p. 95 use 3. enquiry , personal and publike p. 96 use 4. counsel to prize and desire , embrace and ensure , keep and improve this choice antidote against all evil ; specially p. 97 first , against error opposing christ . 1. in his deity . p. 99 2. in his humanity . p. 100 3. in his soul and body . p. 101 4. in his person . p. 102 5. in his spirit . p. 104 6. in his office. p. 105 7. in his priesthood . p. 107 8. in his prophetical . p. 108 9. in his regal function . p. 110 10. in his humiliation . p. 111 11. in his exaltation . p. 114 12. in his word . p. 115 13. in his ordinances . p. 118 14. in his sabbath . p. 120 14. in his laws . p. 123 15. in his covenant . p. 124 17. in his seals . p. 126 18. in his church . p. 128 19. in his electing grace . p. 130 20. in his redeeming grace . p. 132 21. in his renewing grace . p. 137 22. in his saving grace . p. 142 23. in his magistracy . p. 145 24. in his ministry . p. 148 25. in his providence . p. 153 secondly , against apostacy . p. 157 a soveraign antidote against sinfull errors : the epidemical plague of the latter dayes . extracted out of divine records , the dispensatory of christianity . 2 pet. 3. 17 , 18. ye therefore beloved , seeing ye know these things before , beware lest ye also being led away with the error of the wicked , fall from your own stedfastness . but grow in grace , and in the knowledge of our lord and saviour jesus christ . this text affords a signal prospective into our present state , in conjunction with the context , whereto it points by the particle therefore . yea , therefore beloved , seeing ye know these things before , &c. what things ? the context tels us . this epistle was sent for a soveraign antidote against error and apostacy , to the scattered believing jews , whereto peter was eminently sent as paul to the gentiles . many of them had been converted , act. 2. who returning home to their several countries , propagated the gospel . they suffered much there , both of the jews and gentiles , as the rest did in judea , which moved our apostle to fortifie them to his best ; by his presence first , and then in his absence ; witness these two epistles , james and jude , paul and john furthered the same work , which peter in this second , received a fresh . thus the people of god need still renewed supplies from the joint labors of all his servants . yet after all , those believing jews were much endangered by satans designs , which occasioned this latter epistle . the light of christ shines so brightly herein , that it scatters all the mists of doubts , which mistakes have raised in some , about its being canonical . * three parts are therein observable , the prologue , discourse and epilogue . i. the prologue ushers in by an apostolical inscription and salute , an entrancee into the substantial discourse following ; by a divine insinuation into their mind and heart , to hasten their pace towards christian perfection . ii. the discourse it self is brought in by way of excitation , warning and prophesie 1. he stirs them up to spiritual improvement by the light and strength of many arguments , in the first chapter . secondly , he warns seriously against seducers , whom he describes at large , in their persons and doctrines , in their rise and ruine , in their acts and methods , in their principles and practises , throughout the second chapter , wherein they are pourtrayed to the life . here we have the skilfull anatomy of error , exactly managed by the divine hand of christs spirit , guiding our apostles pen. those monsters of darkness are here exposed to publique view by the light of god in all their parts and properties . those misteries of iniquity he rips up with his incision knife , and unbowels those tragical designs of hell disguised under the mask of heaven . the several lineaments of that pernicious brood , he distinctly marks out , that exact notice may be taken of them all . their various characters , his pensell limbs out with accuratness , that such pests might never be mistaken . he sets them forth . 1. as unclean beasts and filthy creatures that walk after the flesh , in the lusts of uncleanness , witness the carpocratians and old gnosticks ; the late familists , ranters and nicolaitans . 2. as enemies to rule an order ; they despise dominion , and are not affraid to speak evil of dignities , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . witness the german anabaptists , john of leyden and battenburgh , muncer and knipperdoling , with our quaking multitudes . 3 : as proud and audacious , presumptuous are they , witness those wretched followers of nailor , fox , &c. as the montanists and manichees of old , the simonians and minandrians , the marcionites and ebionites . 4. as peremptorily , selfish and arrogant in pleasing themselves ; witness our conceited perfectionists ; in their pharisaicall monkish holiness ; like the cathari of old ▪ the paracelsians and behmenists since ; all revived in the quakers . 5. as notorious railers and malicious slanderers , by mis-interpretations and mis-applications ; whereas the angels themselves , greater in power aad might , bring in no railing accusation against rulers before god , witness our quakers and notionists of all sorts , like the circumcellions , and others of old . 6. as brutishly wild beasts , that are made to be taken and destroyed , speaking evil of the things they understand not , who shall utterly perish in their own corruption , receiving the reward of unrighteousness : witness the basilidians , valentinians , marcionists , and such gnosticks of old revived in the german , and brittish ranters , familists , paracelsians , quakers . 7. as debauched libertines , that account it pleasure to riot in the day time , witness our ranting-crue , and the german rabble of munster in 1533 , like the old borborita . 8. as cheating impostors , seducing those with whom they feast themselves . their methods and wiles discovered of old , are refined and sublimed to the utmost in these days by chymical arts . 9. as atheistical villains , like spots and blemishes , sporting themselves with their own deceivings , while they feast with you . thus the hereticks of old brought the heathens odium , and and taints upon the christians , as the papists cast the reproach of all sectaries on the reformed . 10. as spiritual fornicators , having eyes full of adultery , that cannot cease from sin , beguiling unstable souls . thus former and latter herericks have still been defiling christs marriage-bed , his gospel-ordinancess by their corrupt additions and detractions , setting up of altars against his altar . 11. as earthly minded wretches , having an heart exercised with covetous practises : witness our experience , as theirs of old . 12. as accursed sensualists , wofully revolting from the blessed truth of god ; cursed children , such apostates abound every where . 13. as bewitching seducers , the egregious disciples of balaam , and other false prophets , which have forsaken the right way , and have gone astray , following the way , and loving the ways of unrighteousness . 14. as desperate hypocrites , balaam like , stabling the very heart of the lords truth and cause , under many plausible expressions and specious pretences . 15. as infectious bedlams , whose madness , like his , will not admit of conviction , or cure . 16. as ignorant sots , fitter for the asses scourge , balaam-like , then for rational course and company . 17. as empty vain boasters , speaking great swelling words of vanity . 18. as subtile deceivers , alluring through the lusts of the flesh , and much wantoness of spirit in fair promises of liberty , such as had clean escaped from them that live in error . 19. as relapsing apostates , like the dog turning to his vomit ; and the sow washed to her wallowing in the mire . thirdly , he sets forth prophetically a ranting crue of scornful mockers : that should pester the latter dayes , whom he doth accurately paint out in this third chapter ; that we might be effectually provided against such a storm . scoffers , saith he , shall arise walking after their own lusts , deriding the promise of christs coming , wilfully ignorant of the angels fall , the worlds drowning , sodoms firing , and all such preludes of divine vengancee upon all impenitent infidels . thence he hastens towards his close , by sure demonstrations of that grand truth , which they mainly opposed . christs last coming he lively represents , and assures of ; which would be sudden , seasonable and successfuls . that christ of gods so much slighted by men , shall come upon them , saith he , as a thief in the night , to fulfill that divine word , which hath reserved heavens and earth to be burnt up with fire ; then shall the heavens pass away with a great noise ; the elements shall melt with fervent heat ; the earth and works therein shall be burnt up : thereby moving all christians , to have a singular care of holiness and godliness in heart and life . but least the friends of christ should be troubled at the terribleness , of his approach , he promiseth to them a new heaven , and a new earth , wherein dwelleth righteousness . thereby he revives their hearts , and presses them to improve savingly , what others abuse desperately . the patience of god , bearing so wonderfully with all , gives his elect time of returning home , and renders the rest inexcusable . this he uses as a strong incentive to re-inforce on them his former exhortation , whereto also his fellow-labourer paul had in his epistle cogently pressed them . his writings so divine , as all other scriptures , could not escape the abuse of wicked minds , and reprobate consciences . they were then , as still they are shamefully wrested by unlearned and unstable souls , to their own and others destruction . he therefore , with the more vigour , charges gods people to study and observe them with more diligence and sobriety , with more prudence and circumspection ; with more sincerity and self-denial . therefore ye beloved , saith he , seeing ye know these things , beware lest ye be led away by the errour of the wicked , and so fall from your own stedfastness ; but grow in grace , and in the knowledge of our lord and saviour jesus christ . thus you see the ushering in of our text , to give us an excellent counter-poison , against all sin and errour , suted to the complexion of these latter dayes , in a peculiar manner ; and that by way of epilogue and conclusion . iii. this epilogue or close , sums up all in an emphatical exhortation , by a pressing disuasive from evil , v. 17. and a pregnant persuasive to good , ver . 18. 1. the dissuasive expresses three main particulars . 1. the proper subject of damnable errors , viz. wicked , lawless persons . 2. the contagious danger thereof ; good men , themselves being too ready to be led away thereby , and so to fall from their own stedfastness . 3. the singular method of self-preservation from it , by improving of all divine warnings , to the faithful keeping of our selves , in our stedfastness . 2. the persuasive in ver . 18. exposes also three choyce things to our consideration . 1. the chief ingredients of our spiritual antidote , viz. the grace and knowledge of christ 2. the gradual compleating and fitting therereof , by growing therein . 3. the due application of the same in opposition to that infectious venom , by a proportionable improvement or this antidote ; implyed in the particle [ but : ] but grow in grace and in the knowledge of our lord and saviour jesus christ . these several points are to be more distinctly viewed , to our present purpose . 1. from that special attribution of errour , to wicked men , which our apostle pathetically expresses by the double demonstrative particle , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , whereby he emphatically denotes their property and interest in such a way of error . we may observe to good purpose that , doctrine 1. lawless wicked persons are exceeding subject to be carried away with destructive errours . the godly may accidentally fall into them : but the ungodly are peculiarly , totally and finally carried away therewith . 1. wicked ones are called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. lawless , or boundless ; ab 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 privative , & adversative , & 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 lex , law. they are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 opposite to gods law , as well as destitute of it . they love not , they know not , they own not gods law ; they observe it not , whereas the regenerate delight in gods law as paul ; though they look not to be justified by the works of it . gods law is the revelation of his will , concerning mans duty fully registred now in the scriptures of truth , the perfect rule of faith and obedience , summed up in gods statute-books of the old and new testament . errour is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 wandring from the truth , either natural , moral , or spiritual ; either in foundation , or superstructure . according to the import of the truth opposed , so is every error more or less dangerous . those errours are damnable , in the apostles phrase , which deny or destroy fundamental truths , as about the natures , person , and office of christ , mediator : the misery of man , his recovery by grace , the need of regeneration , resting on christ alone , &c. to be led away , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is to be carried by the force of a torrent and stream , or in a croud and hurry . thus lawless men are hurried away by the fraud and force of error into evil ; thence ver . 12 13. they are compared to natural bruit beasts , fiercely running to their destruction . it hath been too sadly confirmed in all ages , specially in our dayes . those grand seducers and their prime followers , which did so much pester the apostolical churches , are thus described , and we are told at large , what monsters of wickedness should follow their steps ; paul and peter , john and jude set them forth in lively portraictures , as christ himself had done before : scripture and ecclesiastical history do fully demonstrate it . in this very chapter and the foregoing , the direful characters given by our apostle of those impostors , that would successively disturb christianity : demonstrate it ex abundanti . such were simon and menander , ebion and cerinthus : basilides and priscillian of old ; paracelsus and david , george muncer , and john of leydon , with many more of later date . reason 1 , the reigning corruption of such lawless ones must needs incline them thereto . the spawn of all error is born and bred with them . mans dunghil heart is the fruitful womb of all such weeds . sin grows into strength , by custom therein ; it s more radicated and setled in them . as it rejects the bounds of divine and humane laws , so doth it carry the soul headlong into all by-paths of errour and folly . it endures neither physick , nor physitian , though never so choyce . such a heart is dry tinder to the devil , but wet to god. reason 2. the deceitfulness of error helps much that way , that seed of the serpent resembles him in this as in all things else . it disguises its foul face , under many fair colours ; it goes still masked : it baits every hook sutably to mans deceitfull heart , thence the scripture speaks so much of errors , methods , and crafts , devices and subtilties , snares and wiles arts and stratagems ; juglings and deceits . reason 3. the just hand of heaven , giving up such to blindness of mind , and hardness of heart , to be led away by sin and satan , because they received not the truth in love , but abused and corrupted it , and themselves thereby ; they harden themselves sinfully , then god hardens them judicially . vse 1. see the ground of so many errors among us , because iniquity so abounds in these later dayes , love to truth waxes so cold . most turn practical antinomians of the worst sort ; as they reject both god and his law : he gives them up to the law of sin and death . whence so many bedlams of all humours and complexions . so many turns from one sin to another ; sin being justly punished by sin . so many carnal hypocrites , and proud novices fall daily into the devils condemnation . 2. admonition to lawless men , it should convince such of their folly and misery . see what it s to break the banks , and to be left to a mans will. whether will ignus fatuus , lead , but to bogs and precipices ? such are next step to vilest errors ready to be drawn into the snare . all ignorant , negligent souls , that slight and oppose the law of god and man , should be throughly humbled . to shake off christs bands is a heathenish part : when the apostle speaks against the law , it s still against the abuse thereof , and resting thereon . for the law is good , used lawfully . 3. examination . what kind of christians are we ? like to escape the snares of error ? are not we lawless , but under the law to christ ? do we own and study , love and practise that law ; for sanctification , though not for merit ? is it written upon our heart ? is his spirit put within us , so as to cause us to walk in his statutes ; that we may keep his judgements and do them ? hath grace freed us from our sinful bondage ? hath the law of the spirit of life , which is in jesus christ made us free from the law of sin and death ? superiours and inferiours should view themselves in this glass of truth . doth the principle of his law within us , quicken us still to the careful observance of the perfect rule of his law without us ? 4. exhortation . 1. to sinners . learn the law of christ , see the need , and use thereof . be willing to know the wretchedness of a lawless state . it s sad to abide under the law of sin and death . to be the devils slave , and the drudge of sin . study the beauty and sweetness , the pleasure and profit of gods law. acquaint thy self with christ , and be at peace , &c. receive i pray thee the law from his mouth , &c. thus are you invited in the lords name . we are embassadours for christ . &c. christ must do all the work in you , and by you . come to him for all , 2. to saints ; improve your acquaintance . keep the law of christ , that it may keep you . look to your fence and rule , all neglect here is very dangerous . error is soon let in , before you be aware . god will keep you in his wayes , not in the devils wayes . if your compass be slighted , you must needs rove . if you attend not the shepherds voyce , how can you but wander ? walk therefore circumspectly , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 : see to it , improve the law of christ against all internal corruptions , 2. against all external temptations . bring all things to that touch , let nothing pass untried : if any notion come under a dress of new light , bring it to the law and testimony . satan comes often under a scripture-mask , pretending conscience , a●d pleading very fair . he must be sifted over and over , and his vizard must be pulled off . christ dealt with him thus . this gloss on scripture still spoils the text , either in the sense or application . doctrine 2. error will endanger christians stedfastness 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the verb 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , is emphatically to fall out , as a man out of a window , as eutiches ; or as a member out of joynt . the word , stedfastness , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , is metaphorical , denoting the settlement of the soul , in allusion to the strong composure of natural and artificial things , well grounded and fixed . the soul is then setled , when united to christ , by a lively faith , on conjugal terms , and harmoniously settled in his body mistical , in the place and fitness of an orderly member . the christian thus as a living stone , well cemented on christ , the foundation , is orderly knit to the whole building of his church political also . such a living twig , ingrafted into the stock of jesse , is thereby established in that root of david , to receive all its sap and strength from thence , by abiding in christ . this is further set forth by all politick frames and corporations . error is that grand evil , that endangers such a stedfastness , that disorders such a symmetrie , and discomposes the whole , by disordering the parts , putting them out of their prop●r seat , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , their own station and stablishment . it puts them out of joint , order and harmony . according to the comport of that particular straying from the truth , more or less material , the danger answerable appears , more or less dreadful . the sad experience of gods people in all ages of the church , both before and since christ , hath given to this day a woful test thereof . the poyson got into mens brains , doth easily slide into all inseriour parts and powers . fishes begin to stink in the head. vain notions soon breed vile affections , such ill humours easily disperse into all the joynts , to produce direful convulsions . christ gave warning of it ; so did his apostles again and again ; who were as careful to warn all christians , that they might be kept stedfast in his wayes . the sad revolts of so many apostates in all ages , who slighted gods word , and followed seducers practices , stand on record , as monuments of salt , to season the rest . reason 1. error loosens the christians hold. the looser he is from christ , the more unsteady , according to the nature and degree of error : so is the soul more or less loosened from christ , that divine anchor . the looser any member is in the body from the head , the less steady stil . error is that malignant humour , that dislocates and benums christs members , breeding sinful palsies and relaxations ; it works as poison in the body , as the fumes of mercury and orpiment ; that loosen the joynts , and breed tremblings , and distortions . it brings the soul into quick-sands by loosening it from the rock it stood on . it ruines the cement of the soul , and so loosens it from its foundation . 2. it impairs the christians strength , and thence his stedfastness . a limb weakened cannot be firm and steady . error infeebles and enervates the soul , devouring its vigour and liveliness proportionably to its degree . there is a secret malignity therein , which strikes at the vitals : faith and repentance are that radical moisture and native heat which preserve the soul in life and strength . error preys upon them a main , breeding varieties of feavers and rickets , wastings and languishings of every part . as in the building stones decaying , endanger themselves and the whole : so doth error , by wasting all the faculties and parts . thence such grow unstable and unsteady , ready to be turned by every wind of novel doctrine , and sinful temptation . rea. 3. error snatches him away with fraud and force from his proper standing . things disordered are much endangered . the father of lies comes with skill and strength along with his brood to deceive poor souls . strong insinuations and subtile perswasions come along still . they are principalities and powers , spiritual wickednesses in high places that we wrastle with , notable methods and arts , polices and powers do stir therein . vse . 1. see the source of our frequent apostacies . it s a revolting age : the back-slidings of professors are so many , so notorious , a great cause thereof is from errors prevalency . satan gets in by degrees into men , as he did with our first parents . his insinuations are carried on by plausable queries . he breeds doubtings and scruples , which soon grow up into pertinacious errors . his spawn is dubious and inconsiderable at first , but it thrives apace , like the weeds of the dung-hill ; strength being gotten , it preys for it self , being humorous and ambitious , it makes brawls and contentions , then divisions and separations . thence such lamentable departings from gods goodness and good men . hence such impostumes and inflamations , such tympanies and ruptures in the souls and societies of men . when the serpents head gets into the hole , the body will easily follow . thence such weakness in mens judgements , affections and practice . good men are not free from those many snares . what lamentations might we take up over such ! our hearts cannot but bleed in the thoughts thereof . oh! the sad revolts of this age. few keep their reason sound , their heart warm , their conversation clear , because iniquity abounds , the love of man waxes cold . 2. admonition to erroneous persons . your case is pittifull indeed ; so much the worse still , by how much the less sensible you are thereof . sleepy feavours are the most dangerous , because the less felt . lethargick and comatick bodies are for the most incurable . the lord awaken you that you may be dressed . error is your seeming freind , your real enemy . it s a bosom traitor , that corresponds with satan still to betray and ruin you . the poison is subtile , but desperate , though of various degrees . there is a latitude in such distempers , but the least is bad enough . the giddiness inclines to phrensie and faling sickness , diseases and errors admit of gradations . nemo de repentè pessimus . a bodkin may wound to the very heart ; so will an error with little shew and sence . the more erroneous , the more subject still to apostatize . spirits of error , will tear and range : fractions and factions are their proper effects : what a sad spectacle doth a hell set loose afford ! yet how many will plead for such mountebanks and cheats , who carry the poison sugar'd and gilded over into all parts ! will you still slight and abuse your physitian ? will you still run into plaguy company ? will you still scorn and reject the sovereign physick , that would sute your case ? christ himself the grand physitian of heaven came on this errand to physick his own , but they received him not . such is the lot of his messengers , his under physitians , both in church and state. that disease is sad and desperate , that makes the patient thus to rage and range . but it may be you pretend conscience ; so doth the devil often in his worse instruments . but shall sin be covered under christs royal robe , or possess his throne without disturbance ? what rule god gives against any error , his servants are duly to prosecute : you oppose christ in opposing them . 3. trie therefore thy soundness in the truth of christ , how far art thou from apostacy : how stands thy heart towards divine truth ? dost thou receive it in love ? is it mingled with faith ? dost thou long for it , and delight in it ? dost thou feel the want , and bewail the absence thereof ? art thou zealous for it in thy place and sphere ? art thou troubled at the troublers thereof ? art thou a studious scholar under christ ? dost thou observe the teachings of his spirit , internal and external ? dost thou learn for practice , and practise in learning ? are thy speculations brought into realities ? do thy heart and hands thrive as well as thy brains ? art thou fixed in christs ways , and settled in his word ? hast thou ceased to be a wandring planet , and a floating meteor in religion ? dost thou close with christ , and keep close to him in every ordinance ? doth thy spiritual health and integrity , appear by thy vigor and activeness for him ; thy hungrings after him ; thy fervent and constant following of him ? dost thou desire and digest the food of divine truth , so as to thrive effecutally thereby ? is thy judgement well informed and fixed ? is thy heart cemented to christ , and rooted in him ? dost thou observe him in all his prescripts , to give thee seasonable preservatives and help ? is christ thy strength , thy hold and support ? doth thou cleave to him , and rest still on him ? art not thou moved from thy place and station , by tempting notions ? whether in a superior or inferior charge ? dost thou stand firm against all assaults ? dost thou manifest both in church and state , that thou holdest christ for thy head in all things ? art thou strong in his strength and power of his might , against all spiritual enemies ? 4. christians be well advised , beware of errors , slide not on that ice , if you would shun a fall . avoid every kind and appearance of intellectual evils . tamper not with poison , if you love your health . one scabbed sheep may soon infect many . trie all things by gods touch-stone . receive nothing without trial . if you suspect poison , be the more carefull : if you deal with known cheats , beware of trusting . if mountebanks speak you fair and big , distrust them the more : beware of self conceitedness : be not wise in your own eyes : dread the smallest beginnings , of evil in opinion , affection or converse . the sums of this arsnick rats-bane and mercury will distemper you before you be aware . avoid the first step to avoid all the rest . beware of the brink , if you fear the precipice : if you keep ill diet , and feed on venom , wonder not at your wasting and decayes . remember ephesus , who sadly miscarried by neglect of this care . make sure of christ upon his own terms , and keep close to him . the noble bereans shewed their nobleness in trying daily the doctrine of paul by the scripture-rule duly examined : take heed what you hear , and how you hear it : so christ directs you : bring all things still to the lords touch-stone , to his rule and standard , to his ballance and test to move you consider : that , doct. 3. all christians , even the best , need still warning to keep themselves from error and apostacy . saith the text , keep your selves well that you may be kept : be very active that you may not suffer . this voice answers the hebrew hithpael ; keep your selves with all delight and diligence , let every power of soul and body be kept on the watch . all christians need this , yea , the very best . they must take warning from every part . heaven and earth do warn , and must be hearkened to . christ warns in conscience by his spirits motions in his word and providence by the same spirit . his motions are regular and harmonious still , they are seasonable and proportionable . he warns by friends , and sometimes by foes in adversity and prosperiry . satans motions are irregular , unseasonable and unproportionable . they are unscriptural in the scope and substance , though often disguised with scripture expressions , sadly perverted . all do need warning ▪ though but few take it . the best find most need and benefit thereof . peter warns the christian hebrews here , though well grounded and settled in the truth . warning never hurts , it cannot but do good , if it be well taken . the best retain much sin and weakness still . they cannot but feel their sinfull reliques . to prevent relapses and remove much evil , warning must be given . the physitians warnings are of singular use to all sorts of patients . none stands so fast , but he still stands on slippery ground . the world is a great ice , very dangerous . the enemy is subtile and numerous , vigilant and active . we cannot but find many lurking fiends in our own bosoms : our hearts are deceitfull and desperately wicked . we stand no longer then we keep our hold ; god indeed keeps his unto salvation , and therefore bids them keep themselves . he appoints the means as well as the end . as he keeps them by his own power , so must they keep close to him by faith . they shall never fall totally , nor finally , but they may often fall partially and dreadfully . if left to themselves , they would kill themselves ; they must therefore be faithfully warned . objection . but what needs all this , if the elects salvation be sure ? answer . 1. all are not elect that seem to be such , many are called ▪ but few are chosen . 2. though salvation be sure to the elect , yet must it be assured to them . warnings must be taken , that they may obtain such an assurance . they may have the grace without the comfort . all diligence is therefore required to make their calling and election sure . 3. though salvation be sure to the elect , yet must it be wrought out by them with fear and trembling , because its god that works in them both to will , and to do of his good pleasure . he will be sought and found in every one of his waies , that he may still meet them with a blessing . 4. though salvation be sure to the elect , yet because they are men mixed among men , he deals with them by men , after the manner of men . rational creatures must act rationally , and so be acted with . he changes not the substance , but their qualities in renewing them . they are so moved , that they are enabled to move themselves in following him . though the elect cannot perish utterly , yet they may fall very sinfully . warnings well taken are effectual means to prevent much shame , sorrow and loss . god warns his children that they may be taught good manners . conditional threats are intended to prevent the mischief treatned , and are effectually blessed to gods elect. 6. the assurance of the elect lies not in themselves , as it flows not from themselves : the fathers purpose , and the sons purchase : the spirits indwelling , and the covenant-promises made by the father in his son , through his spirit to them , are their efficacious grounds . in subserviency thereto all due means are therefore needed and blessed warnings among the rest . god neither promises nor commands in vain . his word is still sure , as all ages have found , psal . 93. 5. 7. there is a peculiar vertue attending the word and means of grace to all gods elect in due time and order . that quickning power raises a lazarus , leaving others dead , destitute thereof . that saving grace of heaven betters the good plants under every shoure , when the weeds grow worse . that discriminating influence from the sun of righteousness , makes the flowers fragrant , though is occasions the dung-hill to stink . thereby is gods word made a savour of life to some , whilst it proves a savour of death to others . who makes a man to differ from another ? what hath he that he hath not received ? must not the prime and ultimate cause resolve into gods will ? do not you else subject gods will to mans ? there can be surely but one independant , either god or man , which is to be chosen , let reason it self judge by scripture-light . consect . 1. se the usefulness of a gospel-ministry . christs officers are given especially : to that end the churches watch-men are called to this great work . he sets them apart by an orderly call , to be his heraulds and ambassadors , his criers and publishers . the father sets them in , the son gives them to the holy ghost , makes them overseers in the lords flock . they are especially charged to warn the unruly , to prevent error and revolt . therefore did christ receive and give so many royal coronation-gifts upon his triumphant assention , for the perfecting of the saints , &c. that we hence forth migh be no more children tossed too and fro , with every wind of doctrine by the craftiness of seducers , &c. the best need warning . christs sheep must attend their shepheards , who are deputed to office by that grand shepheard of their souls . such must be set a part thereto from age to age , as timothy was charged by paul to chuse and charge such , who should be able to instruct others : all indeed are bound in their several ●alces to instruct each other charitatively , according to their abilities and opportunities . but christs officers must do it authoritatively , ex officio . governers of societies must instruct their inferiors with civil authority , these with ecclesiastical . thus it was of old by gods appointment : the levits were to teach in all their cities . thus it s still in gospel-days , in this and other points by the same authority . the very light of nature hath taught all nations in all times and places to set some apart for a sacred use , who should officially act between god and man. none so barbarous , but do acknowledge a supream deity , and highly esteem of sacred persons , solemnly consecrated to him . heathens observe this as well as christians , finding absolute need and choice use thereof . satan indeed still appears gods ape , in counterfeiting ridiculously and impiously gods pure worship , by gaudy traditions and innnovations , of multiplicious sorts among all nations . that his malice and desperate rage to spoile the best things , and do most mischief by such corruptions . vse 2. it should convince negligent christians , that will neither take warning , nor keep themselves from such a danger . is not such a felo de se much to be blamed ? is not this evil very sad and common ? they must thank themselves , that contract deadly diseases through-wilful carelesness . if people will run to infected places and persons , they are like to smart . errors are most catching in this back-sliding generation . it s one of its characteristical notes , given by christ himself ; floods of heresies the dragon of old spued out of his mouth against the church in her flight : and is not he doing the like again upon her return ? is it not a dreadful sin to tempt the devil , that he may tempt us ? is it not woful , to see so many embrace such palpable delusions ? the lord awaken them , that sleep so securely , when destruction is so neer at hand . he that being often warned , hardens his heart still , shal surely and suddenly perish . spiritual ▪ judgements are the worst of all , which give up so many to brutish senslesness , and usher in stil temporal judgements . the seven asian churches , and all those flourishing societies in europe , africa , and asia , both major and minor , were made sad monuments of such divine justice . they slighted warnings given them from heaven , by word and providence , and were suasively exposed to the rage of sarracens and turks , tartars and parthians , persians and infidels , under which they do remain to this day . iim and jiim , satyrs and devils are now howling there : where so many famous churches resounded aloud the praises of christ ; go to that shiloh , and to the jewish , that you may behold , with a bleeding heart and relenting bowels , the direful fruits of slighting warning , and pampering errors . 3. bring our case to the test , have we learned to act as becomes christians ? do we take warning , do we keep our selves from error and revolt ? is it our desire to be admonished ? do we delight in the means of prevention ? is it our purpose to avoid the snares ? do we endeavour , with diligence the use of all fit means , to keep our selves and others ? are we convinced of our former neglects ? have we been humbled for our many revolts ? do we smite on our thigh , as ephraim did , because we have born the reproach of our youth ? do we make it our work , with all diligence and delight , personally thus to keep our selves , and relatively to keep those about us and under us , through the lords help ? do we improve our time and strength , our skil and credit , our utmost endeavours , to prevent and remove the errors of the wicked ? are we studious of that signal charge given and renewed unto all gods people with so much of power and caution , again and again ? the cananites and tories of our hearts , are stil remaining as pricks in our eyes , and thorns in our sides : external enemies are multiplicious stil to ensnare us into satans crooked paths . do we earnestly redouble our watch and guard , against such eminent dangers ? 4. be stirred up to take and improve warning . 1. take good warning and refuse it not , ye that incline to error and backsliding . the lord speaks to you ▪ as he did to ephesus and sardis ; remember whence you are fallen , and repent . have you sucked poison at unaware ? be perswaded by your physitians to see your danger , and take good physick ? will not you give your watchmen the hearing , on the descry of a dreadful enemy ? doth it not concern you to mind your shepheards voice , that warns against the wolves and foxes ? what if they be disguised under sheeps cloathing ? are you like to be the safer , or will you be the less vigilant ? it s your mercy , that god bears yet with you , he will not alwayes bear ; after many warnings he will strike at last , if you stil refuse the things of your peace , they shal at last be hid from your eyes . be not like jerusalem in sin , least ye be like her in sorrow also . the lord took much pains by the former and later prophets , all his fore-runners to awaken them ; himself in person came to them at last ; but they would not hear . therefore came wrath on them to the utmost . doth not he warn you for your good ? should not self-interest move you , if the publick do not ? will you gallop stil towards your own ruin ? you will repent it . when it may be too late . is there no spark of ingenuity left ? hath satan robbed you of your religion and reason at once ? bruits will take warning , are you worse then they ? have you been so deeply baptized into the spirit of error , as to loose your sense , wit , and good manners ? do not ye see so many before you going up the steps of the devils ladder , to execution ? are your eyes quite out , that you cannot discern the issue of all your high-flown notions ? have not the seekers and familistical revelationists turned to levelling , ranting and quaking ? is not james nayler with his prodigious crue : a fair warning to each of those , that slight the publike ordinances of christ , to follow their fancies in private ? cannot ye discern yet , that one error will lead unto more : one separation from the good old way will usher in another ; til you come step by step to the devils bottom ? ask then at last , enquire for the good old way , the new and living way ; that you may walk , and find peace therein . 2. improve the warning , and abuse it not . learn to keep your selves from backsliding errors . shew your christian care in all due means appointed by him , personally and relatively . 1. personally , look well to your own souls beware of error in its first motions . mind your guards , slight not your watch , in the several sorts of your internal man. keep well the out-works of your external senses . learn with job to make a covenant with them . observe well the in-work of your imagination , that it be well kept and fortified against the black regiments of hell. let not your phansie be a common road for every notion pretending to new light. observe well the great gate of your understanding , that no disguised enemy may slip in unaware . sift and search every thing by scripture-light , that ye may know the truth . watch narrowly the fort of judgement and conscience , that carnal reasonings may not get in , and thrust out spiritual reason . let divine reason by the scripture of truth fortifie the same , against all surprises of the enemy . yield up your selves therefore to the spirit of truth , for effectual renewing , that through the blood of christ you may have it purified and pacified . if error get once into your conscience , he will make sad work there . exercise your self therefore , to have it alwaies void of offence towards god and man. the cittadel of your will requires a special watch . keep your heart with all diligence , for out of it are the issues of life . have a singular eie to the ammunition of your affections ; if wild-fire get thither , it will make work indeed . see them all well ordered , and well guarded least any be mounted for error against truth , and for revolt against perseverance . your love and hatred , your desire and fear , your joy and grief , your anger and distaste , your hope and despair are guns of great use ; if well managed ; but if error get once the mastery , they will tear you and others to pieces . stand on your watch then , as christ commands all in these sleepy daies . watch and pray , watch and believe , watch and labour against such an enemy . the baits are specious that will entice you ; but dreadful hooks lie close under them . deadly poisons , desperate diseases will tempt you round , under fair disguises satans powder-plots are most desperate in these later daies . his venom is refined and sublimed to its height . his old stratagems are revived afresh with more plausibleness . unclean spirits struggle and rage most stil , when near ejection . the lord will keep you whilst you keep close to him in his word and waies . he is with you whilst you keep with him : if you forsake him , he will forsake you . 2. relatively , keep close to your work , in looking to others . all superiours have a special charge to keep their inferiours from these dreadful evils . study and improve your relations well , to this very end ; whether political , or ecclesiastical ; magistratical , or ministerial ; whether parental , or magisterial , take heed to your selves and to the whole flock committed to your charge . act gods part towards them ; and act like god , whom you represent . use all such means in church or state , as christ himself would use , were he in your place . if fair means will do good , so much the better ; but rather then fail , use sharper tools . if lenatives will not avail , corrosives must be used . when a limb is gangreend , and mortified , it cals for iron and fire . if the patient grow phrentick , he must be bound and kept very close and solitary . if the disease be contagious , company must be kept off . if the sore will not fairly resolve by proper discussives , it must be ripened , lanced & cleansed with stronger medicines . if a member be broken , disjointed or wrenced ; you can hardly cure it without pain and trouble , superiors are physitians in their kind : if your patients be froward , you need the more wisdom , care & diligence . you are shepheards and rulers of men , all your titles of honor will still mind you of your duty and burthen . dignity and duty are still inseparable . you are set over others for their good . keep off therefore these great evils from them , and keep them from these evils of revolting errors . the external man is within your reach , the internal man accounts to god alone . they that so honour god , he will surely honor , but they that dispise him in slighting his work , shall become vile and base . whilst you act like god , in acting for god , the glory will be his , and the comfort yours in the furtherance of the publique good . god looks now for such to stand in the gap , and make up the breach , to prevent a fatal ruin ; one man of note may do a world of good ; one moses , one phineas , one joshua , one nehemiah may be an eminent saviour under christ in this israel . who is on gods side now , against blasphemy and damnable heresie : against divisions and strong delusions ? act gods part now in your relations , with zeal and courage , with prudence and care , its gods own work you may well trust him for council and strength , support and blessing . the lord never yet failed faithfull reformers , who denied themselves for the publique weal . carnal policy will discourage you . divine policy will quicken you still . christ himself met with strong contradictions from all evil men , and evil spirits . your worst enemies are conquered ones , both in spirituals and in temporals remember and improve all your experiences , renewed so often for these many years . error discountenanced will soon wear away , whereas truth opposed will gather more strength . sinfull tolerations are the devils nurses in all relations , publique & private . be zealous for god , mind his interest , then shall your interest besurely settled . doctrine 4. the grace and knowledge of christ is a singular jewel . the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , grace , in scripture-sense hath divers acceptions , improperly and properly . improperly , it signifies in a larger sense , thanks , joy , liberality , gift , office , &c. properly and strictly , it denotes two things . 1 , gods special favour towards his elect. 2. his sanctifying work in the elect ; the former is favouring grace , this later is renewing grace . 1. it signifies gods peculiar favour towards his elect and that considered in the fountain and streams . 1. grace in the spring is called his pleasure , purpose councill of his will , amor benevolentiae , his love of benevolence . 2. favouring grace in the stream , signifies the various emanations of that eternal love in all the expressions thereof towards them , sutably to all their necessities ; thence the denominations of his predestinating and redeeming grace , his adopting and pardoning grace , his supplying and supporting grace , &c. which are in god one single intire act that is variously denominated from its object . this is amor beneficientiae , his love of beneficence , whence flows his amor complacentiae : his love of delight , embracing of them . secondly , grace signifies also properly gods sanctifying work of his spirit in his elect , called the fruits of his spirit the work of his grace , the gift from above , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 often the peculiar saving operations of his gracious spirit in them , and by them ; this grace is considerable in the root and branches in the habit and acts , in the principle and effects , in the seed and fruits , in the source and streams : in the beginning and progress thereof , being often called metonymically ; the spirit for the gifts thereof . 1. renewing grace in the root and principle , in the habit and source , in the seed and beginning is first given to the elect in their regeneration and conversion , to be the original of all actual graces in them ; this is called the new creature , the new man created after gods image , the divine nature ; the forming of christ within , &c. of this children are capable , if they be not of actual grace , which yet seems probable . this is inherent grace in the first principles and habits thereof , both gratis data and gratum faciens , in an orthodox , not in a popish sense . secondly , inherent grace in the branches and streams , in the acts and effects , in the fruits and progress , is variously denominated from the objects , subjects , manner of acting , &c. it s called faith , to express the motion of the renewed soul towards god in christ upon conjugal terms , believing his truth , closing with his person , trusting his promises , depending on his mercy , deriving from his fulness , observing him in all things which is called the life of faith . it s called repentance 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , as it turns the whole soul from all sin to god , both in purpose and endeavour through his spirit , this and all other graces are still concomitants and subsequents of faith in their gradual proportion . it s called love , to denote the affectionate embracing of god in christ , and in his people for christs sake , as the most amiable object . it s called obedience , as it acts the whole man to a free and full compliance with gods will , revealed in his word . it s called thankfulness , as it affects the heart with the sense of mercy received . it s called self-denial , as it moves the soul to prefer christ before all things else , and part with any thing for his sake . it s termed patience , in regard of sorrowfull evils which it learns to bear submissively . it s named humility , with respect to its low thoughts of self : submitted still to christ . it s nominated temperance , in regard of its care to avoid all excessive use of creatures . it s termed zeal , as it moves with fervour for good against evil . it s termed justice or righteousness , in respect of its readiness to give every one their due . it s called prudence , as it regards all due means tending to right ends . it s termed wisdom , as it s acquainted with the best things in their nature , cause and end . thus grace inherent hath its various appellations and distinctions , both habitually and actually ; being the grace properly meant in the text , as being that grace which is capable of growth . the knowledge of christ is taken also in a sense more large or more strict . 1. largely and commonly for a notional knowledge , void of saving faith and love , such as puffs up an empty brain . 2. strictly and specially for that saving applicative knowledge which includes all grace by an elegant hebraism , verbs of sense and knowledge , signifying both affectum & effectum . natural knowledge of things is acquired by sense , reason or authority . thus in spirituals , this knowledge of christs is spiritually sensible and rationally fiducial its a conjugal knowledge which implies . 1. apprehension of the truth of christs proper object . 2. credit and assent thereto upon his divine authority . 3. personal consent and particular applications in mutual acception and reciprocation . grace and knowlede in the text may be understood . 1. distinctly , conjunctly . 1. distinctly , shewing the excellent worth and needfull use of every grace , and of the knowledge of christ . 2. conjunctly by a figure called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , grace and knowledge , signifies gracious knowledge , as in that like phrase , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , grace and apostleship for gracious apostleship . so the sense will be very emphatical , suiting our purpose in characterizing this excellent jewel , so singularly transcendent beyond all other . this precious jewel is curiously set out in the golden ring of divine records , where you find it held forth in its radient lustre , whose glorious beams may be contracted for our clearer apprehension into plain description , you may then observe it to be a conjugal acquaintance with jesus christ our lord and saviour , wrought in gods elect , by the special operation of his renewing spirit , and effectually improved to gods honor and mans good in every relation , toward god and man. this is the choice jewel , whose eminent worth hath been in all ages so incomparably prized by the word and friends of god. every page of scripture sets forth the peculiar eminency thereof : every precept and promise ; every prefiguration and prophesie ; every president and performance points unto this . this was under the old testament more ceremonially vailed , and under the new , is more evangelically revealed . this is the centre ; wherein all the lines of scripture do meet . all the patriarchs aimed still at this ; abraham saw his day and rejoiced ; davi● is full of it ; job was divinely advised to such an acquaintance , as to the source and sum of all good ; paul accounted all loss and dung , in comparison of this excellent knowledge ; and rationally determined , to know nothing else . peter sums all up in this . good reason for it , if we consider the object and subject , the cause and nature ; the property and effect thereof , which are all hinted in the former description . reason 1. the proper object adequate of this gracious knowledge is our lord and saviour jesus christ ; a singular jewel indeed , in every consideration . the paramount and non-such , the chiefest of ten thousand , both in his person and office , in his progress and purchase , in his relation and influence . 1. the person of christ is a noble paragon considered , as god , as man , as god-man . 1. christ is god blessed for ever , the eternal son of his eternall father co-essential and co-equal with him ; the the brightness of his glory , and the express image , or character of his person , in whom dwells the fulness of the godhead , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 substantially , and bodily : the only begotton of the father full of grace and truth ; essentially one with the father , though personally distinct , by an eternal generation , unutterable to man : firmly to be believed , ( on gods testimony ) and piously adored , not curiously pried into . the wonderful wisdom of the father , who was his delight before time , by whom in time he made the world , and upholds all by the word of his power . essentially , he is god of himself ; personally , god the son of god the father . his proper name is the word of god , the wonderful councellor , the father of eternity . he that doth what ever the father doth , and to be worshipped , as the father is worshipped . he that sends the spirit from the father ▪ who being in the form and substance of god , thought it no robbery to be equal with god. to him be glory for ever , amen . 2. christ as man , is the rare object of this knowledge . for the word was made flesh , and dwelt among us ; and we have seen his glory . so the beloved apostle witnesses of him . he took on him , not the nature of angels , but the seed of abraham . thus the son of god became the son of man , being miraculously conceived of the holy ghost , in the womb of mary the virgin , ( over-shadowed by gods spirit , ) and born of her , in the humane nature , like to us in all things , except sin . thus was god the son made manifest in the flesh ; by assuming the nature ( not the person ; for then had he been two sons , and two persons , ) of man to himself . this man christ jesus hath body and soul , the two substantial parts of man , even as we have , as appear'd in his whole progress : both which he hath glorified , not nullified . this fatherless man is as wonderful , as the same motherless god , for who can declare his generation , as to the manner of it ? thus infiniteness confined himself . god eternal was born of a finite poor virgin. here is an object indeed for the best knowledge of the best man , god become man. 3. christ is god-man , emmanuel 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 god with us : the true ithiel , god with me ; the very vcal ; who is all. in him , by hypostatical union , the humane nature with the divine , do both subsist in god the son , the second person of the divine trinity . here is indeed a complication of ineffable wonders . as there one divine nature subsists distinctly in three divine persons . so here two natures , the divine and humane , subsist both in one person , each of them acting and remaining distinctly , conjunctly and inseparably , incommutably , and unconfusedly , as the fathers expressed it , to avoid errors on both hands . here is no mixtion , nor composition , no confusion nor conversion , but a mysterious and transcendant union , from whence flow the various expressions of scripture . 1. when that is attributed to each nature , which properly belongs thereto ; as suffering , to humane nature , and also , when that is attributed to the person , which therein belongs to both natures , as to be mediatour : this is most proper . secondly , when that which is common to the whole person , as to be mediator , is attributed only to one of the natures , suppose to the humane : this is more improper . thirdly , when that which is proper to one nature , is attributed to the other nature , in concreto , by a name denoting the whole person : in that sense its true that god purchased his church by his blood , and that the king of glory was crucified , by communication of properties . yet this acception is the most improper of the three ; being metonymical , as the second is synecdochical . in man two imperfect natures , soul and body , are coadunated , with reservation of proprieties , to the constituting of one suppositum and person , by the vertue of god. christs person in the divine nature , being most perfect , took the humane nature into the unity of one person , by his own vertue . so that its one and the same christ , visible according to the humane , invisible according to the divine nature . this hypostatical union was the work of the trinity , mediately ; of the holy ghost , immediately , and of the son , terminatively . the fathers compare this mysterie to the joint work of three sisters , making up one vesture , and putting it all conjunctly upon the second of them . it was necessary that christ should be god , 1. to impart an infinite value and vertue to his compleat obedience . 2. to overcome all sufferings and enemies . 3. to communicate all effectually by his spirit to his people . it was as needful that he should be man ; 1. because the godhead could not suffer ; secondly , because the same nature that had offended , was to satisfie , 3. that our nature corrupted by the first adam , might be restored by the second , christ jesus our lord. thus is christs person , the amiable object of our knowledge . secondly . christ considered in his office is a precious object , his chief business , as mediator , being to procure effectual reconciliation , to the saving of his people , by his perfect oblation presented to god , for them , and applied to them by gods spirit ; he assumed the name and function of jesus the saviour ; he was anointed as the christ of god ; with all suitable qualifications : and made lord of all , but especially made our lord and saviour , by personal appropriation , and effectual application . thus was christ voluntarily made of a woman under the law , subjecting himself , in that wonderful dispensation of his mediation , to receive from the father , his call to that redeeming function . there was no defect in god , but in us only , who wanted skil , power and will utterly , to the curing and saving of our selves . christ therefore was divinely anointed to be our soveraign , prophet , priest and prince , to effect all for us and in us needful to salvation . as a prophet he reveals the whole council of god ; as a priest he makes full expiation to god , and intercession for us : as a kingly prince , he subdues all spiritual enemies , and makes all things serviceable to the guidance and protection of his people , under his soveraign rule and government . all this he did and doth by his eternal spirit , as the scripture records , freely , fully , surely and singularly , being therein a glorious object of christian knowledge . thirdly , christ in his progress is considerable , under a double state of humiliation and exaltation . 1. his humiliation , appeared in all the steps of his conception and birth , of his life and passion , of his death and burial most wonderfully : this god head was then covered with the dark vail of his humane nature , mourning as it were in the sad habit of his infirmities , for his peoples enormities . he willingly then eclipsed his divine light within the dark lanthorn of this submissive state , he humbled himselfe to exalt us , he emptied himself that he might fill us . he parted with all , that he might give us all . he shewed himself to be the son of man , to the lowest degree , that he might bring all his into the state of children . had there not been an absolute necessity thereof , he had never done it . had not our case been so desperate ; could any other way have expiated and destroyed his peoples sins , christ had not come down from the height of glory to the bottom of ignominy . here is an object of admiration indeed , god humbled to a childs state , growing up by degrees in stature and grace , doing and suffering every moment for his enemies in rebellious arms . behold the son of man wrastling with earth and hell , yea with heaven it self , conflicting with mans rage , the devils fury , and the wrath of god! what think you of sin , the murtherer of this christ , and of that love which gave him to the death ? thus made he his soul a sacrifice for sin , that he might see his seed , and the good will of the lord prospering in his hands . he laid in the grave to confirm his death , and to air that bed for our repose . his god head held his soul and body asunder from each other , yet still inseparably united to himself . thus may you see a man drawing out his sword , holding in his hands still both sword and scabret , till it be put up again . thus it was needfull that christ should suffer , and so make entrance into his kingdom . secondly , christs exaltation is further worthy the best observation . therein his glorious person unvailed himself of all humane weakness , though he still retained the nature of man and its properties . he laid down his sable weeds to put on the roabes of immortality . his god-head did then raise up his man-hood in his resurrection ; and the son of man declared himself by his divine power , to be the son of god : the price paid for his people in his humiliation ; he applies by power through his exaltation , to them orderly and effectually . he is god-man still , and therefore tearmed the man christ jesus . thus his office was to be compleated by the compleating of his saving progress . he conversed then among his disciples , the space of forty days to confirm their faith ; and to instruct them in the affairs of his kingdom . thence his ascention was solemnly performed , followed with his session at the fathers right hand ; and intercession for his people . these are the four main steps of his exaltation to be singularly improved . he rose that we might rise from death to life : he ascended , that we might ascend ; he sits at gods right hand , that we may sit with him on his throne ; and he still intercedes to make all our intercessions effectual . who shall lay any thing to the charge of gods elect ? it s christ that died , yea rather , that rose and ascended , siting now at the right hand of the majesty on high , and ever lives to make intercession . thus is christs progress of chief worth and consideration . 4. christ is most considerable in his purchase also made for all his people , which hath both value and vertue in it . 1. the value of his whole obedience was of infinite worth , being the merits of god-man , giving full satisfaction to gods justice , for all the sins of all his elect , and making a full acquisition of all the good they were & should be capable of . this price of christs perfect righteousness , active and passive , was put into gods coffers , to be seasonably and effectually applied to all his people orderly and actually from their conversion to their utmost salvation by his spirit according to his eternal purpose . by the same value were all gods elect from adam to christs death , delivered from the guilt & wages of sin upon christs engagement of seasonable performance ; for he is the lamb slain from the foundation of the world ; intentionally in the divine purpose and promise . 2. the vertue of christs perfect obedience , extends to the effectual application thereof to all gods people . so the fathers purpose in electing , and the sons intention in redeeming , do run parallel . that value which christs merits presented to god , cannot but be attended with answerable vertue for the making good thereof to the utmost . the son of man came to seek & save that which was lost , and that to the utmost , seeing he ever lives to perform all . whilst therefore he was gone into heaven to act his part there , he was carefull to send his proxie , even his own spirit , that should make a through application of all his purchase by the conveyance of his saving grace to all his chosen . his oblation is living and lively still , even as christ himself who abides for ever . the ceremonial oblations had him shadow'd out , to represent the efficaciousness of christs oblation . a wise man paying a ransom or debt , as surety for another , will be sure to know for whom , and to see his purpose fulfilled to his power . the agreement or covenant made between god and christ ( distinct from the gracious covenant made conditionally with the visible church in christ ) imports as much . as the father required , that he should offer his soul a sacrifice for sin , which the son willingly undertook ; so was it engaged to him , that he should see of his seed , and the good pleasure of the lord should prosper in his hand . so that the vertue of his blood is still included in the value of it ; both being directed by divine intention , which terminates in the proper subjects thereof . therein concurs his threefold office , he being still a prophet and prince , as far as he is a priest unto any . the vertue of christs merits is indeed intrinsecally infinite like himself , and only limited with the value thereof by the divine pleasure . this purchase of his may be said occasionally and secundarily to comprehend the whole creation in subserviency to divine intentions , but directly and primarily the scripture limits it to gods elect , for whom he came , and lived , prayed and died , rose and intercedes still . it extends to the removal of all evil , both of sin and sorrow inchoatively , progressively and consummatively . it reaches also the import of all sutable good spiritual , temporal and eternal . all things are ours , and for our sake , that are truly his , and so far as we are his . is not this a choice jewel to be duly viewed ? doth not such a purchase challenge our best knowledge ? the possessive our gives rellish to all . it doth us little good to hear of indian treasures that are not our own . fifthly , christ is most precious in his relation , multipliciously expressed to his people , by allusion to all choice relations in things natural , civil and artificial . the perfection of all creatures is radically in him , originally from him , and reductively leads to him again . none of them can sufficiently set out his wonderfull relation wherein he stands towards his chosen ones ; he therefore borrows the cream and quintessence of them all to shadow out to our shallow capacity the marvels of his glorious grace . thus he speaks to his babes in their known dialect , that he may gradually and familiarly be understood of them . he calls himself their root , giving sap and life to every branch of his . he is the head that conveyes all motion and sense to all his members . he is the fountain-spring , from whom all living waters flow into the streams by his proper conduits . he is that sun , who carries light and life by his access unto all creatures . he is the father that tenders his children . he is the husband that cherishes his spouse ; the elder brother that looks to his adopted brethren : the master that hath the best care of servants . that foundation is he , on whom the fabrick stands ; that garment that must cover us , that food that must sustain us , that portion that must maintain us to saving purpose . look into the whole compass of creatures ; what ever good you can find therein is used by him to set forth his goodness . what ever defect you find in the creature , he is not capable of that is all goodness , all perfection . is not such a christ a singular object to exercise our knowledge about ? what his office called him to , his progress fitted him for , and his relation makes conveyance of through his holy spirit unto all his . sixthly , his influence is considerable for actual communication of all . each relation of his carries still with it a secret , sweet and sutable influx , which doth strongly and efficaciously operate on all his : thereby they are made more and more partakers of the divine nature , in escaping the pollutions that are in the world through lust . the apostle had found the precious vertue thereof , which made him so desirous to know him in the power of his resurrection , and in the fellowship of his sufferings , being made conformable to his death . this the converts at ephesus felt , who being made acquainted with this gracious knowledge of christ , were quickned by his power , and made to rise with him . yea , to sit with him at gods right hand . this influence is free indeed , this spiritual wind blows where it lists ; not being tied to any means , it works at pleasure with or without means , by weak , small , improbable or contrary means , yet ordinarily god works by his appointed tools ; he walks in his own road of providence , and leads his people step by step to the very top of jacobs ladder . in the course of things natural and spiritual , he limits us still , though not himself , and will be sought and found in each of his ways for the further knowledge of his divine influence . it s he that is the life of our life , the strength of our strength ; in whom we live , move , and have our being , both naturally and spiritually . how excellent then is that gracious knowledge , whose object is thus excellent in every consideration ? reason 2. the subject and recipient of this knowledge sets forth the inestimable worth of it . they are his elect , his chosen jewels , his peculiar people , to whom he imparts this jewel unto . them only doth he know for his of all the nations to whom he makes himself thus savingly known . as he makes himself the pearl or price to them , so doth he make them pearls of price thereby . blessed are the people who learn to known him , being first known of him . the rest are refuse stones , these are his living precious stones . others he knows with a general knowledge of intuition , but these with a special knowledge of appropriation and approbation . the rest delight not to know him , as he delights not to know them . he never knew them , and they never knew him in this choise manner . for his own he came to make himself thus graciously known to their souls in all the dimensions of his eternal love , surpassing mans knowledge , that they may be filled with the fulness of god. how precious is that knowledge that makes the subjects thereof so precious ! how admirable is that jewel that takes up the the sublimest contemplations templations of the most glorious angels ! those elect angels are still attending in his ordinances , to join with his elect , and learn of the church this manifold wisdom of our god. for those elects sake christ suffered all things meritoriously , and paul his servant providentially . those elect whom the lord did foreknow , he never casts away , but makes them up among his jewels , by making his christ so precious to them , in a greacious way . his choice love did freely choose them before time , and is fully assured to them in christ , being communicated through the precious operations of his spirit , to make them precious like himself in due time , unto eternity . reason 3. the cause of this gracious knowledge doth as wonderfully magnifie the same , considerable in the efficient , formal and final . 1. the efficient cause and author thereof is the blessed trinity jointly , yet distinctly , revealing and communicating jesus christ unto his chosen people . 1. the external operations of god towards the creature being indivisibly effected by the three persons , concurring in one , the son doing nothing but what he sees his father do , and working still , as the father works ; and the spirit proceeding from both , speaks not of himself , but whatsoever he hears from them both , that speaks he unto christs disciples . 2. distinctly , according to their distinct personal relations . 1. the father electing from eternity ; having chosen them in christ before the foundation of the world , that they might be holy and unblameable before him in love ; and therefore predestinating them to the adoption of children , by jesus christ to himself , according to the good pleasure of his will ; and making them , through his knowledge , meet partakers of his inheritance in light , by translating them into the kingdom of his dear son , who were chosen according to his foreknowledge through sanctification of the spirit . 2. the son accepting and undertaking , tendring and effecting , in and by himself the whole business of their salvation ; making known the same by his word and spirit , as also by his own person , in the dayes of his flesh . 3. the holy spirit by wooing of their souls , opening their eyes , and fitting them for the reception of this excellent knowledge , infusing the same into them , applying it particularly to their several dispositions and occasions ; removing daily the scales of their ignorance and sin , scattering the mists raised by the prince of darkness ; repressing the vapours steeming from their boyling lusts and dunghil hearts ; setting forth christ to their souls in his full beauty and loveliness ; and leading them into all truth , by taking of christ to impart unto them the gracious secrets of the fathers counsel . thus the glorious god works graciously in and by all means of his appointing , to the creating , encrease and perfecting of his singular jewel . 2. the formal cause is very remarkable in that peculiar saving application made of christ to his elect in their conversion , gradually carried on towards perfection by the spirits gracious operation . for then doth he stamp on that soul the glorious characters of christs image , and begets that new creature , which divine off-spring moves upward instantly , in conjugal reciprocations , dilating the soul in all her faculties to the further comprehension of christ . it may be parallel'd with that energetial power , whereby the rational soul , and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 animates the humane nature , into all suitable operations . what the soul is to man , in naturals , that 's christ to the soul in spirituals . the principle of all life , sence and reason thus spiritually applied to the regenerate , enables and excites , directs and strengthens them to the choice improvements of this conjugal acquaintance . christ on marriage terms by his spirit in his word , tenders and gives himself to be their husband . by this quickening touch , they are efficaciously moved to close with him , and keep close to him , by matrimonial reciprocations . thus doth the gracious knowledge of christ receive its first being and progressive operations from that light of life imparted to gods people in this conjugal union and communion . i will betroth thee unto me , saith the god of grace , in kindness and mercy , in truth and judgement , and thou shalt know the lord. admirable sure in this divine acquaintance , that is thus twisted by the lords own hand , and embraced by a gracious hand ! rare is that jewel , which is so curiously wrought for the workmanship of the god of heaven . therein do shine all divine attributes in their orient brightness , at the wedding feast of the king of saints . is not this life eternal , thus to know the father , the only true god , and jesus christ whom he hath sent ? doth not this sun of righteousness bring healing under his wings to all that fear his name ? is not he that living , that quickening light , that dispels all darkness and death , by his gracious visits and influxe ? do not his amiable aspects produce a joyful spring of all divine graces in the new world by his glorious light and efficacious heat ? doth he not ravish with divine embraces the new creature , with his all-searching presence , and his perfective influence , through all the beams of his transcedent communications ? do not his active rayes cherish , by all his renewed motions the principles of life given to all his ? this divine sun never ecclipsed but once for the salvation of his , though he seems often to be clouded , in his alternative access and recess . 3. the final cause of this gracious knowledge adds very much to the choyiceness thereof . we may consider it both as supream and subordinate . 1. the supream ultimate end of it is gods glory , which is also the end of all things else , which are all made for him . this relative glory of god , which was laid in the dust by mans rebellion , christ undertook to repair ; which he performed fully , giving satisfaction in mans nature , and so glorifying all the divine attributes . thus in the first building up of zion , as in the restauration and preservation thereof , he still appears in the glory of all his excellencies . his power and wisdom , his greatness and goodness ; his mercy and justice , his truth and holiness shine radiantly in every part of it . christ thereby read us our lesson , and writ a fair copy for our imitation , that we may glorifie god by the knowledge of him , in giving each of the divine persons their proper honor . 1. the father , for giving such a son for such enemies , and upon such terms ; all the honour of christ redounds to his father ; for the son doth nothing but what he hath seen the father do , and speaks not of himself , but the father by him . 2. the son by our embracing and publishing , desiring and esteeming the particulars of his infinite glory , whereof he is so full , that we have still cause to admire with all saints , the length and bredth , the heighth and depth of it , in the manifestation of all his excellencies . 3. the holy ghost by whose special favour and influence we are made partakers thereof . he shall take of mine , said christ , and impart it to you ; for all that the father hath is mine . what infinite condescension is it , for that glorious spirit to stoop thus to sinful dust and ashes , to reveal and apply the gracious counsels of god in christ ? yea , to bear with our ignorance and unbelief , contempt and neglect , abuse and affronts ? nay more , to dwell in such dunghils and receptacles of all filthy lusts ? what infinite mercy is that which carries on the work of grace through all opposition , and keeps a weak spark alive in the midst of an ocean ? what marvellous power is that which preserves a poor smoaking flax among so many storms ! 2. the subordinate and proxime end of it is mans good ; both personal and relative . 1. personally our own salvation , purchased and manifested by the author and object of this knowledge , is hereby assured and orderly confirmed to us , in all the wayes and means of his appointment , through his peculiar blessing . the perfect knowledge of him will compleat , as the beginning thereof begins our salvation . through the knowledge of him are given to us all things pertaining to life and godliness . as he came once in person , so hath he from the beginning by his spirit through the same communicated all saving good , and will still do it . that bosom friend of his leads us thereby into his very heart , there to behold and embrace the whole platform of our salvation , in all the steps of it , from election to glory , that by walking therein steadily , we may ascend to his father and our father , his god and our god , through the same ladder , even christ , whereby he comes down to us . christs deity surpassing the highest heavens infinitely , is the top ; and his humanity , fixed as it were on earth , is a sure step for us . the more careful we are to attain this end , the more certainly shall we promote that further end. god hath so wonderfully twisted our happiness and his honour , that we advance the one by furthering the other . one eye he allows us for the recompence of reward , that we may thereby effectually look through it , to his glory . is not this knowledge a jewel of price , which conveighs and assures all good to us ? the end of his electing and predestinating us , of his blessing and saving of us , is it not that we might be to the glory of his grace , whereby he hath made us accepted in the beloved ? christ himself desired glory for that end , that he might glorifie god. this excellent knowledge was never so dearly bought , to be a meer pleasing of our selves and sin , but to spiritualize us throughly , in all the powers and parts of soul and body , that we may be holy and happy , like unto him , in the honouring and enjoying of him . 2. relatively , the subordinate end thereof is the good of our neighbour ; that speaking the truth in love , we may grow up unto him in all things , which is the head , even christ . he gave all the means of knowledge , and all teachers ordinary and extraordinary for the perfecting of the saints , for the work of the ministry , for the edifying of his body . god hath so contempered his gifts among the members of christ , and his spirit doth so variously convey the same , that the one cannot say to the other i have no need of thee . he could in a moment , and immediately from himself , bring them to their full perfection . but his infinite wisdom hath thought it best , that his body should be joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplies , according to his several workings in the measure of every part , to make an increase of it self in love. he loves not , he allows not selffishness in any of his . by his own example and command he hath directed us to seek the things that make for peace , wherein we may edifie one another . convulsions in his members are most direful and dangerous symptoms , proceeding from ill humors , vapors and spirits . whilst the limbs fall a jarring , the body must needs decay . that wisdom from beneath , which cherishes contentions and envy , is sensual and devilsh . the devil hath no better sport then in such troubled waters . these confusions of tongue become babylon better then zion : must not the stones of gods temple be proportionably squared and fitted to each other , that his sanctuary may be erected ? should not they that believe in one god , are saved by one christ , justified by one faith , acted by one spirit , sealed by one baptism , supported by one hope , and ruled by one lord , walk in one love also , and be shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace ? there is too much of hell fire in unchristian combustions . such ignes fatui , and cheating meteors lead many to destruction . do not such wandring stars and blazing comets manifest divine wrath and portend woful judgements ? if our light and fire burn better then anothers , have we not cause to be more thankful and communicative ? what have we that we have not received to impart to others ? are not the strong bid to bear with the weak , and not please themselves ? our neighbours good is co-ordinate still with our own interest , for we should love our neighbour as our selves . is not this jewel a very precious one , which is of such import to the benefit of all ? reason 4. the nature of this gracious knowledge doth further demonstrate its excellency . there are three special parts that do make it up , being the choice ingredients thereof , apprehension , assent , and application . 1. apprehension of the matter understood , is found in every kind of knowledge , specially in this . a view of christs beauty and excellency is taken by the mind thus spiritualized . the lively picture of christs al-sufficiency is drawn in his gospel by the pencil of his own spirit . the lord himself opens his very bowels to the prospect of his peoples eyes therein . is not this a precious sight indeed , to behold such a saviour in all his proportions ? doth not the sensible sight of our vileness and sinfulness recommend such a merciful redeemer to our apprehension ? can we behold our own wretchedness . insufficiency and unworthiness ; and thence cast a glance on his sutable and sure redemption , without admiration ? doth not the survey of divine fulness , thus exposed to view , exalt the lord christ above all other lovers ? are not all his royal perfections , a magnificent sight to a gracious soul ? can there be any thing more swett and stately ? 2. assent and credit to the truth apprehended attends this knowledge in a singular way . the god of truth bespeaks this assent by the word of truth . salvation by christ alone for true believers upon conjugal terms , is the sum thereof . he that believes his testimony , hath set to his seal that god is true ; divine authority gaining thus credit to his assertion , sways the judgement to reason the case , and cast its resolve upon christs side . divine reason then perswades mans reason , that such a christ is worth the accepting upon his own terms . the soul thereby judges all capitulations and reservations to be sinfull , dreadfull , irrational . mans reason is then brought over to such a subjection as christs reason demands without delaies or exceptions . it sees that in christ , which is better then all , and suits its wants in every part thereof . it sees no help from any creature to be looked for , and judges all to be but vanity and lyes that hinders from christ . the soul then learns feelingly to cry , none but christ , none but christ , as the martyr did , with due conviction of sin and righteousness in order to judgement through the spirits help . the soul thus weary both of self and sin , readily assents to that truth of god which presents christ for a faithful and loving husband , for saviour and lord : and is not this of singular worth ? thirdly . application and hearty consent is the main ingredient of all conjugal knowledge , especially of this . the soul is hereby effectually yielded into christs own hand upon his own terms . the will in this act accepts of christ , and renders up it self to his disposal . conjugal acception is thus reciprocated , that the whole man may yield unto him all loyal obedience of faith and love. this great wheel thus moved , all the affections turn accordingly christ ward , heaven-ward , that before still moved self-ward and earth-ward . the soul being thus surrendred to christ , depends on him , and derives from him still grace for grace . all other things then become serviceable to the honor and service of christ . this marriage-union brings with it a free and full , a singular and sure communion . then saith the soul , my beloved is mine , and i am his . i have all from him , and all for him , all in him and all through him . and is not this a very rare jewel , that makes a match between heaven and earth ? is not this knowledge of singular worth that marries sinfull man to god almighty ? is not this thing of a rare value , whose nature appears so supereminent ? reason 5. the properties of this knowledge do much commend its excellency also . they are expressed by a pregnant word , full of sense and vertue , being called a gracious knowledge . 1. in regard of gods favouring grace , whence it flows , which it manifests , and whither it leads . the glory of divine grace doth so admirably and so wonderfully shine forth therein , that its preciousness is as remarkable , as the noon-sun in a summer-day . 2. in respect to his renewing grace , this knowledge is truly and incomparably gracious ; being attended with all the gracious train and fruits of christs spirit . so far as the lord is duly known by his people , so far is this knowledge attended with a proportionable measure of saving grace . 1. it s a fiducial knowledge that knows christ with conjugal faith , discerning of him , looking up to him , closing with him , following after him , trusting in him , feeding upon him , drawing all from him , and returning all to him . 2. it s a loving knowledge that embraces christs love , and retaliats love for love , loving his person first , and then his goodness . that soul that knows christ , loves him sincerely and self-denyingly , fervently and constantly . that soul hears and speaks , prays and acts in love to him , loving his word and ways , his name and honor , his service and servants , out of love to him . that soul for his sake , loves his saints with a love of delight , and sinners with a love of pitty . the more she knows of him , the more is her heart melted into his heart , to be cast into the mold of his love. what 's recorded of famous ignatius , † is verified of such , the name of christ is engraven on their heart by the finger of his own spirit . 3. it s a penitential knowledge that melts the soul with godly sorrow , as looking on christ pierced by him , and for him . the sight of such a saviour so unkindly requited cannot but make sin out of measure sinfull to such a tender heart . the sweetness of christ must needs embitter every sin to such , who have tasted how good the lord is . such do hate sin with perfect hatred , knowing the baseness and unreasonableness thereof . christ clears their eyes to descry and detest the least appearance of evil . the more beauty is discovered in him , the more ugliness do such observe in sin , his grand opposite . they take most pains to mortifie those lusts which are most opposite to christ . 4. it s an obediential knowledge , carefull to observe the lords will made known . if any say that he knows him , and keeps not his commands , he is a liar , and the truth is not in him . if we know that he is righteous , we know that he that doth righteousness is born of him . this knowledge is not notional but practical . it rests not in the brain , but conveys influence into the whole life . it s not idle , but very active . it studies his will to fulfill it , and fulfills it in studying thereof . it s obedience is neither blind nor lame , but a spiritual sacrifice , a rational service . the whole man in heart and life compleats this oblation of loyal observance . it minds the precepts as much as the promises , and desires holiness as much as happiness . it would act like christ , in acting for him . 5. it s an humbling knowledge that puffs not up , but laies the soul low . the more any know of christ aright , the more still do they know of their sins . the best of christ being duly known , makes them to know the worst of themselves . christs eye-salve doth so clear their eyes , that they see easily those sinfull motes of lesser faults , which by their moon-light of notional knowledge they could not discern . their beholding of christ in their gospel-glass , with open face thus , shews more of this shame and of his glory . thus job was more humbled by seeing of god in a clearer light . abraham acknowledges himself dust and ashes upon familiar conference with christ . their affronts put on him in their time of darkness , humble them soundly in this season of light. they learn daily as socrates said , to know their ignorance . as simonides the more they study the knowledge of god , the more amazed are they with his glorious unsearchableness . 6. it s a grateful knowledge , that cannot endure sinful ingratitude . they know thereby the worth of mercy , and the high price , paid by christs blood for every favour afforded to his . the bounty of christ so magnificently multiplied on them still renders them thankful debtors , mindful of their bonds . their insolvency they more throughly know , which makes them the more beholding to him . what others enjoy by common providence , they receive still by a gracious promise . ingratitude , the sum of all evil , they abominate as the devil himself . their homage and rent do they bring to him , whom they well know to be their chief lord. returns of duty they labour to make in some proportion to their receipts of mercy . 7. all other graces do beautifie this , attending on christ in following his train . patience and prudence are found in their rank . zeal and diligence will not be backward . meekness and sweetness will not be strangers . courage and fortitude are ready at hand . sincerity and self-denial are inseparable companions thereof . the knowledge of christ then is a choyce jewel , that is so well set and accompanied . nothing is wanting for knowledge or comfort , so far as christ is known or enjoyed . reason 6. the effects of this gracious knowledge do add very much to the price thereof . it works effectually upon the whole man , in every relation towards god and man. there is no condition , nor occasion here , wherein its influence is not manifested . it s a precious root , that bears much fruit , solid , substantial , and still seasonable . it renders a man fit for every good , and is a preserver from all kind of evil . it makes a man still to look to christ , and to seek for him in every ordinance . the matter and means of divine worship with the manner and solemn time thereof it spiritually minds . in every providence christ is also acknowledged by such , in every duty towards their neighbor . as the first table of christs divine law is unto them the standard of worship ; so is the second table of his decalogue their constant rule of officious duty towards every man. that order and safety setled by gods word , for beauty , strength and use in this worldly fabrick , the knowledge of christ teaches how to preserve with all possible care . the chastity and propriety of body and goods , as well as of souls , it looks after . the credit and content that concerns all men in their respective places is much furthered , and duly preserved by this gracious knowledge . it s good physick to purge out ill humours , for the curing of all distempers . it affords choice food for old and for young , for strong and for weak , in all necessities . what the rabbies soy of the material manna , is truly verified of this spiritual meat : that its relish suits every palat , and may satisfie every desire . it s a cordial against all faintings , to revive the feeble in their agonies . armour of proof it furbishes for war , against all enemies inward and outward . it is the key of christs magazin and of all his stores , opening the treasures of our all sufficient god , our el shaddai . if you can conceive any thing of worth either in heaven or earth , this knowledge of christ will both match it and get it for you , so far as may tend to your real good . it s in a word the true elixar , and philosophers stone , that turns all to gold , and puts a choice vertue into every thing towards felicity . vse . this knowledge appears a singular jewel upon good reason : good use thereof should be made also . the best things are made for the best use , and appear best therein . as christ himself is of infinite usefulness , every kind of way ; so is his grace participatively and communicatively . this may be improved then , 1. in a word of information , 1. see hence by way of corollary , the singular method that should regulate every mans study . men are naturally desirous of knowledge , by an instinct suited to their rational being . mans soul was at first made after gods image in perfect knowledge . what sin lost and defaced in adams treason , grace only restores . the knowledge of christ affords a tree of life ; but most follow the serpents advice stil , in longing after another knowledge , both of good and evil . the sinful issue of sinful adam do stil love to tread in his steps , hearkening to satan rather then to god. they are still learning to know good and evil by sad experience . this tree of life is little observed and less improved , mens palats are so far degenerated . most are still scrambling about that tree for fruit , which can yield nothing but sin and sorrow . the best of its fruit like to sodoms apples , look very fair but by the least touch turned into ashes . most men break their necks in clammering about and climing of that tree whose fruit brings death . if that fruit seem hard , it s but a shell ; if it appear soft , it s through rottenness . in every condition , men study something , but most mind least this choice tree of life . christ is divine wisdom , essentially and personally . in him are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge . he keeps open school , and sends his spirit to be his usher . he teaches within , by motions of conscience ; and without us in his word and providence . the volumes of his truth , and of all his works he gives us to read , that the former may explain the latter . he is the best master for skil and sweetness . yet few do learn to any purpose , because they slight the knowledge of him . men study pleasures , profit & honor in the world below , which are to be had only from him . arts and sciences others would attain , but they miss their aim im●missing of him . some gaze at the stars , and stumble in the dark , like the blind philosopher for want of christs light. many study words to tickle mens ears , neglecting christs word that would teach the heart . some mind the law of men so disorderly , that they attend not to the law of christ . the bodies of men are studied by many , whilst their own poor souls are wholly neglected . the care of souls is professed by some , who yet little mind this saving knowledge . divers , parrot-like , do speak of christs knowledge , not by experience , but only by roat . too many are found studying how to sin , without trouble and sence , without stop and remorse . not a few tempt satan to tempt them , and study how to act a satanical part of tempting of others . til christ be the rule of all our studies , they will be fruitless , being without rule . till he be our end , they will be sure still to prove endless . til he be the ground and the strength thereof , they will prove groundless and supportless still . if we learn him well , he will teach us all that we need to know . if we know him not , we shall learn nothing , that 's worth the knowing . knowledge is excellent , when it s orderly learned and improved but it proves mischievous , when it s once corrupted and abused . such men like toads , carry a stone of worth in their heads , being full of poyson in their heart and life . like monstrous syrens , they have a fair face , but a shameful tail. the tinkling cymbal , and the sounding brass is the fit emblem of too many now . the lord teach us to study christ stil , in all , above all , that we may know all in him and for him . second vse is for reprehension , both to the graceless and to gracious souls . 1. it justly reproves the graceless and unregenerate , that still many wayes stand against this truth , as 1. all ignorant ones , that do not know and will not learn christ . such live in the dark , as moles under ground , and owls or bats in the open ayr . they are born blind , and will continue so , not looking for cure . it was so of old , and it s so stil ; my people parish for lack of knowledge , was the lords complaint . a people of no understanding shall find no mercy from him that made them . consider it well ; gross wilful ignorance will aggravate , not lessen your sins . under gospel-light such ignorance is very dreadful . this is a sad condemnation indeed , that seals up the full measure of all other sins . men think they see , and therefore remain blind . none are such fools as the conceited wise . my people is foolish saith the lord ; again , they have not known me . they are wise to do evil , but to do good they have no knowledge . men pretend business , they have not leisure , like the duke of alva , who had so much to look after on earth , that he had no time to look after heaven . but is not this egregious folly , to slight the jewel , and mind only the cask ? if you have not so much time as others , why do not you redeem what you have ? should not you rather spare it from your sleep , work , or recreation , then from this jewel , so much concerning both gods honour and mans good ? is christ so little worth knowing and owning ? will not you rue it to eternity ? is not sinful darkness the beginning of hell and utter darkness ? is it not the womb and nurse of all sin ? if papists be content with picture-teachers , and blind obedience , slighting and slandering the word of god ; should their folly be followed among us ? is the light of christ so to be disowned ? if the servant that knows not his masters will , shall be beaten , though with fewer stripes ; what will become of him that would not learn to understand his will ? 2. all negligent ones , that will not take pains to attain unto this gracious knowledge . such may possibly enjoy special helps ; they may have pregnant parts , profess fair , and seem to desire good ; but they are sluggish , they improve not all means , and prove lazy in their enquiries after christs wisdom . this is a sad and common evil . many such shall seek to enter in , and shall not be able . he that asks lazily , teaches denyal . the lazy servant that hoarded up his talent smarted sore for it . none can be excused for such a neglect . is not christ well worth the taking pains for ? who looks for a conquest without trouble ? who expects a crop without care & cost ? who can drive a trade without pain and venture ? is not this the best trade and husbandry , the best warfare and surest venture ? who gets acquaintance with the lords wisdom , without crying , waiting and searching ? why art thou content with a velleity , and a woulding will without endeavour , like the sluggards wish ? why art thou pleased with barren desires , and fruitless resolves ? if thy seeming longing make thee not active and inquisitive , impatient of delay , and unsatisfied , it s a false longing . if thou be not better then the stony ground , lasting but a while , and soon blasted , what will thy end be ? dost thou not hereby reproach christ sadly , by preferring creatures before him ? thou wilt repent when it s too late , if ephesus warning do not rouz thee up . be convinced then of thy laziness ; be ashamed and weary of it . it concerns thee to see thy folly and thy misery . 3. this truth looks wishly upon formalists , that have indeed a form of godliness , but deny the power thereof . a bare external painted form they have , a shel of duty and carkass of religion , but without the life and inward vigour . such are pharisaical monkish hypocrites ; varnished potsheards , garnished sepulchres . christ was troubled with such , and so are we still . profession is grown into fashion , shifted by many as men shift their cloaths . they make use of god to serve their own turn , and enjoy their lust . such are on a round of duty like a mill-horse in a course , perfunctorily . religionis their task and burthen . they post from one ordinance to another as to a stage , longing to be rid of their trouble . used to a road , as a carriers horse they carry their load , and take their turns . but this gracious knowledge they are strangers to . their worship is much like the mongrel samaritans , that knew the lord in a mixt formal way , but knew him not aright . is not this a woful condition ! thinkest thou to baffle christ thus ? will this foppish way of dead performances be pleasing to him who is a spirit , and will be worshipped in spirit and truth ? did not paul himself see the vanity of his utmost pharisaical holiness , wherein he rested before his conversion ? hast thou not much more need to bewail thy coldness and deadness , thy cursoriness and heartlesness ? a sacrifice without a heart , was alwayes ominous , as it proved among the romans . wilt thon put off god as heathens serve their idols , with a liveless worship ? if thou offer the lame and the torn , is it not evil ? how far art thou from knowing of christ , that knowest not thy self , but art well conceited of thy good meaing , and thy good duties ? who hath required these things at thy hand ? will not the lord rebuke thee as he did israel in the like case . 4. it justly reproves the justitiary legalist , that seems exact in his way of good works , and rests thereon . he is not so bad as the worst , and therefore thinks himself as good as the best . his seeming justice , equity and charity beguiles him as much as the formalists painted holiness . he hopes to be saved by his good deeds , and good intentions , as the papists do ▪ thinking that christ will make up for him what is defective . alas wretched soul , wilt thou patch up thus a linsey woolsey garment of thy own righteousness , mingled with christs merits ? will thy fig-leaves cover thy nakedness ? will thy crack'd peny make amends to god for millions of pounds due to him from thee ? canst thou do any thing without sin ? art thou not bound to be wholly his ? canst thou satisfie his infinite justice , or deserve his infinite mercy ? did christ merit that thou mightest merit ? is he a remote saviour , that thy self mightst be thine immediate saviour ? canst thou climbe to heaven with a ladder of thy making , or waft thy self over into the indie's in thy own nut-shel of self-righteousness ? civil morality is good in it self , but not to justifie thy person ; as a piece of brass is good for something , but not to pass for gold , nor to pay an infinite ransom . god gives indeed a reward to his according to their works , but not for their works sake . thou canst not be saved without good works ; and yet not by works . if thou knewest christ graciously , thou wouldst know thy self to be unworthy and insufficient still . see thy folly and thy misery , in trusting to self ; thou loosest and slightest the only pearl of price . 5. this point casts a very ghastly glance upon all profane licentious persons , that turn christs grace into wantonness , and delight in a sinful liberty . consider it thou swearer and drunkard , thou lyar and unclean wretch ; thou scoffer and malicious ; thou proud and wanton ; thou slanderer and riotous liver . why dost thou profess the knowledge of christ to abuse him thus ? art not thou much worse then pilate or judas , then the jewes and romanes in affronting and murthering of christ ? dost thou not give him ten blows for one good word , destroying thy self in disgracing him ? dost thou presume on his mercy still , whilst thou delightest in the devils work ? doth the name and baptism of christ give thee a protection from divine justice , whilst thou remainest still in open rebellion ? dost thou hope still to pacifie him with a few faint words of lord hove mercy , i am sorry , and such like mock-speeches ? is repentance in thy own power , or thy life and means , that still thou puttest off ? wilt thou lay the whole burthen on the tyred horse , and wave returning till thy elder age ? wilt thou give satan the creame , and christ the refuse of thy time and strength ? canst thou hope for christs salvation in the high road to thy damnation ? wilt thou still delight in the devils work , and yet hope for wages from heaven ? is not thy case very desperate , to follow the devil into every sin ? couldst thou but see thy infernal guide , that leads thee captive at his will , what a dreadful sight would that prove to thee ? hast thou lived so long under the gospel , as the smiths dog under the anvil , to deafen and harden thee ? will not thy later end prove most desperate , that hast made so much haste in the broad way to hell ? if grace prevent not miraculously , thou shalt know that christ to thy confusion , whom thou wouldst not know to thy conversion . 6. this truth looks wishly on carnal notionists , who pretend much to the knowledge of christ , and yet remain destitute of his grace . they have learned to prate about christ , and to use his name for a sanctuary to sin . from vain notions they speedily run into vile affections , and their devotion lies most in their fancy . their tongue is tipped with the language of canaan to deceive the simple in deceiving themselves . this age abounds with such , the lord awaken them , who are lulled asleep in the devils lap. alas wretched soul , what will be thy end , and what is thy case in such delusions ? if thy head swel much with giddy notions , doth it not betoken a woful disease ? whither will satan transformed into an angel of light lead thee at the last ? how sad is it thus to poyson thy self & so many more , in mingling fancies with gods holy word , perverted by thee , to dream thy self into a fools paradise , whilst thou slightest christ & his ordinances , how woful is it ? thou playest like a gnat and moth about the candle , till thou be consumed by the heat thereof . golden imaginations do tickle thy thoughts whilst satan is leading thee captive at his will. are not such spiritual judgements the worst of all to be given up thus to strong delusions , to believe such lies ? is it not because thou receivest not the truth in the love of it , that god gives thee up to thy own hearts lusts ? how far art thou from a gracious knowledge , that turnest his grace into wantonness ? didst thou know christ aright , thou wouldst know thy self better , and wouldst see thy new pretended light to be but old darkness . thy pretence of christs name will do thee little good whilst thou slightest his word and ways , his sabbath and worship , his service and saints . satan may cease troubling of thee , and fill thee with false joyes ; but thy carnal raptures will soon end in wo , like the crackling of thorns . 2. the most gracious may find just cause from this very point to humble and judge themselves for the remaining of so much sin in them . the most are totally guilty , and the best in part of too much darkness and dulness , selfishness and sinfulness against this precious jewel . that christ is no better known unto thee after so much of his glorious discoveries , what a shame is it ? that there is yet so little of grace , and so much of corruption in us , should it not deeply humble us ? that we savour so much of self , and so little of christ : is it not matter of sad lamentation , that christ should be slighted and abused , forgotten and forsaken in such a manner by his very friends ? is it not wofull ? the more precious christ is unto us , the more vile shall we be to our selves ? saith not christ to us , as david his type to his bosom friend that wretched anitophel ? is it not dreadfull to be abused by our nearest and dearest relations ? hadst thou struck thy best friend in the dark on mistake , how would it break thy heart ? 3. this truth will afford a needfull test for a due examination . hence may we trie our state personal and publique to frame a prognostick of our hopes and fears . in this ballance of the sanctuary our case should be weighed . deceit is common and very dreadfull . false christs and false prophets variously delude themselves and others too . bring then all to gods touch. 1. by the due review and application of all the former particulars : do we know christ thus in his person and office , in his progress and purchase , in his relation and influence ? are we the subjects so wrought upon by him ? are we thus acquainted with the cause and nature , with the properties and effects of this gracious knowledge ? are we not still in that unregenerate state of reigning ignorance and neglect , of formality and self justifying , of profaness or notional delusions ? is the spiritual change yet wrought within us by the special hand of christs renewing spirit ? our nature of it self is as bad as the worst ; is it now savingly transformed in the spirit of our mind ? how far is this change wrought in our selves and others ? mind it exactly by the standard of truth . 2. how this change was wrought , is as considerable . what method and means did gods spirit use , and in what manner did he prevail with us ? were we effectually convinced by him of sin and righteousness ? were we made to see the worst of our selves , that we might embrace the best of christ ? have we felt at the heart such a clear discovery of our emptiness and sinfulness , of our wretchedness and unworthiness , of our insufficiency and nothingness , as to be wholly weaned from self , and carried out to him ? have we duly observed the unability of all creatures to afford us help ? hath the sight and sense of our wofull state so opposite to god , made christ truly precious to our souls ? are we more troubled at the pollution then at the punishment of sin ? doth it grieve us to the very soul , that we have grieved such a dear saviour ? have we beheld our state in the glass of his law , and of his gospel to make us sensible efficaciously both of our malady and of his remedy ? hath he made his word so to work on us , as to break our hearts and melt them kindly ? have we found that hammer and fire of his killing our sins and quickning our souls ? hath he made us thereby cheerfully willing to give up all to him , and prefer him above all ? hath he blessed the means so effectually , as to make us feel him in and through them all ? hath he made every sin more bitter to our taste , then ever we found any sweetness therein ? hath he knock●d us off from all other props , that we might rest upon him alone ? 3. consider also how this change works now to clear this inquiry with impartiality . doth his holy spirit operate on us by this gracious knowledge , as the soul doth upon the body through its variety of intermediate spirits ? observe it we may in the resemblance of that three-fold life , which mans soule doth communicate to its proper subject . a vegetative , a sensitive , a rational life is afforded thereby : doth christ do so to us spiritually ? 1. a vegetative life is for nutrition , augmentation and propagation . 1. for nutrition , whereto serve the several faculties attractive and retentive , concoctive and expulsive : doth this knowledge of christ act thus within us ? 1. do we draw and attract spiritual nourishment to the supply of our renewed wants ? do we suck his breasts as new born babs , and desire that food that may sustain us to eternal life ? is it done in season and order , in quantity and quality meet ? 2. do we retain and keep the same with all diligence , lest at any time we should let it slip ? is it laid up in our hearts , and industriously kept , that it may keep us . 3. do we concoct and digest it well by spiritual fervour , to be distributed unto every part ? do we shun and abhor crudities , cloyings and oppressions that might hinder it . 4. do we expel all sinfull excrements that continually do breed within us ? do we loath , detest , and cast out duly all filthiness of flesh and spirit , and all superfluity of naughtiness from every part of us ? 2. for augmentation , is our spiritual life , like the natural , still upon increase , spreading it self into every part , that our growth may be proportional , universal , and perpetual ? doth this knowledge dilate all faculties in mind and judgement , reason and conscience , will and affections ? 3. for propagation , doth our spiritual life , as the natural , labor still to beget in us , and produce in others more fruits of the spirit , more issues of grace to perpetuate this divine off-spring ? is nothing more active and communicative ? doth it diffuse its species round about , as being the issue and image of him who is the chief and most communicative good ? 2. a sensitive life is for sense , motion and appetite ; so it our spiritual life : doth christ do so to us spiritually ? 1. doth he give us sense external and internal , as in nature , so in grace ? 1. external sense is five-fold , by sight , and hearing , smelling , taste and touch. 1. do we spiritually discern and delight in the beauty of christs divine holiness in all his perfections , in all his ordinances , and in every providence ? do we thereby see all other things , and reflect on our selves as becomes us , that we may not behold vanity ? 2. is our hearing spiritually employed in listning after the fathers commands , christs invitations , the spirits motions , in his word and rod , within and without us ? is our ear opened to our beloved , and boared to the posts of his house , that we may not hearken after any tempter ? 3. have we a spiritual smell after the perfumes of christs precious garments ; the droppings of his graces and benefits , and the fragrancy of his divine spices : do we odorare the sweetness of his garden , and prefer it before all the rankness of sin , self , of the world and satan ? 4. is our taste spiritually active to relish the dainties of christ , the pleasures of his table , the choiceness of his feast ? do we prefer his flaggons and apples , do we relish him in his sweetness and comfort before all the worlds chear ? all , and all in him ? do we therefore abhor the bitterness attending every sin , though sugard with pleasure , profit or honor ? do we taste and know how good the lord is ? 5. is our touch also spiritually employed to feel the difference between heat and cold , between good and evil in the things of christ ? is this sense as others , so well exercised to avoid all evil , and embrace the good ? 2. the internal sense receives from those cinque ports and gates , all sorts of objects to be orderly view'd and compar'd , laid up and improved by the faculties called common sense , phantasie , and memory . are we thus spiritually sensible through this gracions knowledge ? 1. by common sense and general perception of the species of things , with their circumstantiated differences of motion , rest , magnitude , number , &c. to give thereof a definitive intimation unto the phantasie . doth christs spirit thus help us to discern of all things presented for a spiritual use , to be faithfully reviewed and transmitted for orderly improvement ? do we keep watch , and take due account of all sorts of passengers and guests coming to visit our internal man , that they may be punctually discerned and orderly dealt with ? 2. phantasie or imagination entertaining those various objects , compares , divides and composes them much like a printer , doth order his work with multitudes of variations and flowrishes . have we a like spiritual skill faithfully to compare the things that differ , to separate the good from the evil , to compose all things to spiritual advantage ? 3. memory laies up what is thus ordered , and laieth it out again , as there is occasion , in the na●ural man. is it so with us in the spiritual man ? do we remember well the things of christs glory , and of our own peace ? do we so record what he teaches us , as to improve it in season and order ? do we so lay up as to lay out in the best manner ? are we carefull not to forget him , or any thing of his ? do we therefore beware of oblivion-water , that we become not like wretched israel ? 2. sensitive life acts by way of motion , upward and downward , to the right and left , forward and backward , in pulsation and respiration . do we move thus spiritually ? 1. do we move upward towards christ and heaven , aspiring still after eternity ? is our center above , and our load-stone there where christ sits at the right hand of god ? is there a divine fire within us , bending still heaven-ward to its first original ? 2. do we move downward against every sin ? do we labor still to tread self and satan under foot , with all sublunaries , as christ and his spouse eminently do ? 3. do we move to the right in compassion and brotherly love , friendly assistance and christian forbearance , as christ and his apostles teach us practically ? 4. do we move to the left by pittying and bemoaning sinners , praying for them , reproving of them , and directing and exhorting them that yet remain in the gall of bitterness , and in the bonds of iniquity , plucking some as brands out of the fire ? christ himself did so in the days of his flesh . 5. do we move forward still , toward the price of the heavenly calling , looking at jesus , & c ? do we so press forward towards the mark , forgetting the things behind , that we may lose no time in this race of ours ? 6. do we move back sometime to hasten our pace , that we may leap better , in considering our ways with remorse of sin , and strong resolves to be more diligent in learning wisdom from former follies ? 7. doth our pulse beat spiritually with freeness , strength and orderliness , to signifie the due composure and harmonious accord of all our vitals in the ways of christ ? doth our heart keep a right circulation of spiritual blood from the center to the circumference with renewed reciprocations ? do the various communications of his spirit ( set out by the title of seven spirits , to denote perfection , variety and sufficiency ) manifest themselves in the constant tenor of of our spiritual pulse , by returning still to christ what we are still receiving from him ? are we sensible of any change there in weakness , inaequality and disorderliness for speedy remove of all obstructions disturbing the same ? 8. do we move also in spiritual respirations ; 1. inspiring the fresh gales of his reviving spirit ; who blows where he lists , and breaths into us by internal and external motions to temper our spirits , and to revive them ? do we therein imitate david and all the friends of christ in their spiritual pantings and longings ? 2. expiring the fuliginous vapors of our sinfull hearts , and breathing forth the desires of our souls to be rid of those fumes that are so noisom to all our vitals , and still breeding feavourish heats in our internal man ? do we long to eject these unwelcome guests , who still like that serpent in aesop , will be sure to sting and poison their host , when they recover heat ? 3. sensitive life acts by appetite . doth spiritual life act so within us , both concupiscibly and irascibly ? 1. the concupiscible appetite acts the affections of love and hatred , joy and sorrow , desire and disdain . is the like felt in us spiritually ? 1. do we love christ as the best object for sweetness and beauty , excellency and sutableness , the incomparable paragon of all ? have we none in heaven but him , and none upon earth in comparison of him ? do we love all his for his sake , in subordination to himself ? do we therefore love all the ways and means wherein his love is shewed towards us , that our love may reciprocate towards him again ? 2. do we hate sin and all christs enemies as he hates them upon his account ? do we abhor and detest whatsoever is contrary to that lovely object , as contrary to our very being also ? hatred extends unto all the kinds . doth our spirit thus abominate all sinful habits and acts , inclinations and allurements , provocations and examples , yea every appearance of evil in our selves and others ? 3. is our joy spiritually delighted in that soveraign good presented to us , to be certainly and intimately enjoyed , both in free and present fruition ? do we rejoice thus in the lord always from the possession of that kingdom of christ , which is peace , righteousness , and joy in the holy ghost ? doth the pledge and earnest of his eternal glory given us thereby , fill us with that joy , both unspeakable and full of glory ? is this joy of the lord our strength , to quicken and supple all the wheels of our souls ? 4. is our sorrow spiritually active in grieving for all sin , original , habitual and actual ; for the great dishonor still done to christ , the contempt of his gospel , abusing his mercies , breaking of his laws , slighting his warnings , hardning under his judgements ? do we mourn for the failings and distempers of his people , and make their case ours among his mourners , marked for safety ? 5. doth our desire move spiritually with unsatisfiableness after that good not yet attained , setting an edge upon all endeavours , sweetning all troubles in the way , facilitating all difficulties , spurring on sluggishness , and teaching all improvements of what 's received in order thereto ? 6. doth our disdain act spiritually to scorn all sinfull baseness , which might hinder us from the good desired ? doth it make us flie from whatsoever might keep that from us by keeping god at distance ? doth it make us disown what might grieve christ , and offend his spirit , whose acquaintance is our chief desire ? 2. the sensitive appetite moves irascibly against all difficulties by the affections of hope and despair , fear , confidence , and indignation . doth this knowledge of christ act thus within us ? 1. doth our hope stir spiritually towards the full enjoyment of eternal good , though surrounded with discouragements from earth and hell ? doth it cast . anchor within the vail upon the rock of ages to stay our souls in the midst of all storms ? is it that helmet which safeguards our head in all conflicts with many legions of sins and devils ? 2. do we spiritually despair , not of christ , but of sin , of selfe , of all creatures , expecting all good only from christ in the use of good means appointed by him , but not from themselves , much less from self or sin ? 3. is our fear spiritually active , lest we should displease him , and frustrate our own good by neglecting our duty , or doing any thing contrary to him ? doth this filial fear move us with noah by faith to prepare all things , and repair to the ark , casting out all slavish tormenting fears ? 4. doth our confidence appear spiritually in christian resolutions against all christs enemies to the discharge of our proper duty he calls us to ? are we bold with a generous audaciousness to follow christ , the captain of our salvation through all impediments ? 5. doth our spiritual indignation move in holy zeal to the removing of all obstacles that lie in the way of our allegiance to our soveraign christ ? are we enflamed with that prudent zeal which consumed the very heart of christ , for the purging and settling of his house ? is our fire kindled against sin , whilst our heart melts for the sinners good as far as possible ? it it not a blind , but a well-guided zeal ? not a wild fire , but duly ordered . iii. natural life appears in the rational faculties , by the several acts of the mind and judgement , conscience and will , memory and affections ; doth our spiritual life appear therein also ? 1. doth our mind act spiritually in understanding of spiritual matters , and apprehending the mind of christ made known to us by his spirit , word and providence ? 2 doth our judgment act in discerning of things that differ , and reasoniug of things , answerably to his divine reason signified to us , either expresly , or consequentially ? do we judge our selves first , and our own sins , that satan may be judged in us and by us ? 3. doth our conscience move spiritually in a due reflection on self , with subordination to gods judgement ? doth it speak for god as becomes his deputy and substitute ; in teaching and ruling , in witnessing and recording , in judging and executing according to gods will ? is it not blinded , bribed and feared ? is it not benum'd , deaded and gangrened by self-love and corrupt opinions ? 4. doth our will spiritually stir in chusing true good , and refusing true evil ? is it brought over to subject freely and fully to the will of christ ? hath the key of heaven opened the great spring to lift up these everlasting gates to the king of glory ? is thy heart of stone turned into flesh , and this iron sinew melted into gods mould ? 5. doth our intellectual memory spiritually act in laying up those things which those faculties have committed to its charge ? doth it recal such things to remembrance by its peculiar acts of reminiscency , and recovering those many useful things , which accidentally had slipt away ? doth it carry it self like a good steward indeed , bringing out of its store good things , new and old ? 6. do our rational affections move spiritually towards good against evil , under the guidance and rule of these superiour powers , which are stil to follow the dictates of heaven ? do these wheels and weights stir regularly ? do these wings and feet carry our souls orderly ? do these sails and oars convey us safely through the current of all our relations to the service and enjoyment of god. thus may we take a due estimate , by this scantling and abstract of our spiritual acquaintance with god , according to our measure of this gracious knowledge , variously acting toward christ and from christ ; for him and through him by his spirits energetical motions . he that hath the son , hath life ; he that hath not the son , hath not life . vse 4. this truth speaks singular consolation to the real friends of christ . choyce is the jewel afforded to them , as former particulars do fully evince . this precious cordial will be of excellent use against all corruptions and temptations ; against all afflictions and desertions : there will a season come for the benefit thereof to all gods people . it concerns all to make the best of it . objection . this is good indeed , may the trembling heart say , but it s none of mine , that am so far from the knowledge of christ . i fear i am a stranger to him yet . answ . it s bad indeed to be far from christ , but its good to be sensible of it . the knowledge of thy disease is a good step to the cure . there is hopes of good in sensible sinners ; nothing but wo to sensless perfectionists . answ . 2. but what makes thee fear thy estrangedness ? is not thy desire to him , and delight in him , thy design for him , and endeavour after him ? if so , thy fear is the fruit of his spirit , so far as it drives thee not from him , but draws thee to him . answ . 3. what makes thee complain of thy ignorance ? is it not thy esteem of the knowledge of christ ? art thou weary and ashamed of thy ignorance ? art thou still wrastling against it , for attaining of knowledge ? ar thou diligent in all the means he affords thee , to dispel darkness and get light from him ? dost thou bewail thy deadness and dulness , thy sloth and selfishness , thy formality and hypocrisie , thy worldliness and unfaithfulness ? is it thy greatest trouble and grief , thy shame and sorrow ? dost thou act the more humbly and self-denyingly , the more watchfully and industriously in thy general and particular calling ? if so , the comfort is thine , and thou wilt know it in the best time . answ . 4. there are divers degrees in the school of christ , and divers manners of his dealing with his disciples . thou must not measure thy condition by others so much as by his rule . the least degree of his grace deserves thanks , though we must not rest there . there are many little weaklings in his house which must not be slighted , nor mis-judged of , because they are not so strong and healthy as others . the smoaking flax , and the bruised reed , are neither to be quenched nor broken in his house , till he bring forth judgement into victory , according to truth . vse 5. this point should be improved in a pressing exhortation to all nominal and real christians . doth it not concern every sort of men to look after such a singular jewel ? doth any need incentives to move thereto ? is there not matter enough already expressed to inflame all our hearts after it ? is not this knowledge the most profitable , the most pleasurable , the most honourable that can be conceived ? is it not still of absolute need , and singular use ? is any good to be had , any evil to be avoided without it ? is not this the field that holds the treasure , and the pearl of price ? doth it not bewray an ignoble spirit to neglect and slight it ? is not this jewel the quintessence of good , that will sanctifie all conditions to any of us ? be we all pressed then to make it our business to look after it , as the wise merchant after the pearl of price ; he seeks and finds it , he sels all for joy and buys it out right . do you so likewise , that you may be enriched thereby . two sorts are specially invited hereto , the nominal and real christian . 1. the nominal christian that hath but the name , without the grace of christ . sinners of all sorts still unregenerate , are comprized here . such of all ranks are called to christ , though they will hardly give him the hearing . we speak to all indefinitely ; christs spirit will speak to his peculiarly . we offer to you a singular jewel , to be obtained upon christs own terms . come and view it well , turn it every way ; there is no blemish in any part thereof . doth any of you see the worth thereof ? be then willing also to part with all for it . thy natural , sinful and religious self thou must deny , that christ may be thine . the destruction of thy sinful self , is the only way to thy salvation . thy sin is thy disease , thy poison and plague ; art thou unwilling to be rid of it ? thy natural self will be bettered , by putting of it into his keeping , who will be sure to mend it for thee . thy religious self in thy best duties , cannot be useful but by being put into christs own hand . but where is the price to buy it withal ? it s in christs treasury , not thine own . thy souls empty hand must be reached forth to receive at once the price and the pearl . come to christ then , that thou maist get christ , and through his spirit maist close with his father . the worst of thy sins shall not keep thee off , when thou once comest on conjugal terms . wilt thou be moved thereto cordially ? hear the embassy sent to thee from heaven ; we are embassadors for the king of saints , to beseech sinners to be reconciled . consider how much is laid up in this to draw home thy soul most effectually . mind then 1. the person offering , the lord of glory , thy soveraign , the almighty god , all-sufficient saviour , provoked by thee to the utmost ; that needs thee not , and can in a moment crush thee to nothing . it s the god of all grace , full of mercy and truth : the fountain of all good , most precious , most sweet , a most suitable match ; wilt thou refuse him ? 2 , the matter offered , is the only jewel , the sum of all good , god himself to be thy portion ; fulness of grace to pardon and purge , to quicken and save ; treasures of mercy most free and full , most singular and sure : it s a match with heaven ; an extract of blessings suiting thy state most exactly . here is wisdom to teach , righteousness to absolve , holiness to renew , redemption to save thee : what can thy heart wish that is not laid up here ? wilt thou refuse it yet ? 3. mind his manner of offering , with intreaties and invitations ; he waits , he knocks , he expostulates again and again : mercy kneels to thee , beseeching , pleading , tendring all with open arms ; bearing with thee , forbearing of thee , attempting all means of doing thee good . should not this prevail ? 4. consider the person offered to , thy wretched self , a forlorn sinner , a rebel in arms , a desperate enemy , full of venom and deadly poison ; a miserable worm , sinful dust ; a traitor at the bar under condemnation ; an abuser of every favor , unworthy of the least good ; a vile bankrupt ; a riotous prodigal utterly undone ; a starving beggar , a drowning wretch , a servant of sin , a slave of hell , satans prisoner , empty of all good , full of all evil . is not this thy picture , thy name and state , and ten thousand times worse ? what madness keeps thee from coming to him that would help all this ? quest . what if i come not ? answ . then will thy case prove despenate indeed . justice will speedily send thee to thy place . infinite wrath shall be thy portion , thou shalt fare worse then sodom and gomorrah in endless , easeless , remediless torments . all thy mercies shal prove thy judgements ; thy own conscience shall be thy witness , recorder , judge and executioner . this very word shal rise against thee and stop thy mouth to eternity . thou wast fair offered once , and wilt know it when the time is past . quest . what if i come ? answ . then thy case is happy ; all good is thine , thou shalt be as welcom as the lost son to thy fathers arms , meeting thee half way with tears , with joy , with a feast , with a royal robe . thou shalt be married to the kings own son , and heaven shall rejoyce at the repentance of such a sinful wretch . object . but i doubt i am not elected , and then all is in vain ? answ . how knowest thou that ? who hath told thee so ? findest thou thy self excluded by name ? no , no such matter . secret things belongs to god ; revealed things to us . come , and thou shalt know thou wast elected . exclude not thy self before he excludes thee . object . but all are not saved . many do perish . may not i be of them ? ans . what then ? should it not quicken thy pace to christ , that thou maist be saved ? dost thou not see how many as bad as thou canst be possibly , have been welcom to him ; what thinkst thou of mary , of paul , of manasseh ? object . but if i be a reprobate , i cannot be saved , the labour is lost ? answ . were thou a reprobate , thou wouldst not be so inquisitive after christ and heaven ; their heart never yields unfeignedly to christ as thine seems to do . thou canst not be sure thou art such a one . yea thou maist quickly be sure thou art not such by coming to him . but if thou refuse stil , and harden thy heart , thy case then will be very suspicious . object . but is it possible , that such a wretch as i should obtain mercy ? answ . yea , it s possible , its probable , it may be certain quickly if thy heart be but yielded to him . object . but this is but a may be ? answ . a may be is sufficient inducement to put thee on trial . remember the leprous men about samaria , a may be saved them . mind the syrian ambassadors , and the jewish case . if thou try not , thou art certainly lost . object . i have often tried , but to little purpose . answ . thou didst not try aright , blame thy self , not god. is it not well worth the trial again ? observe wherein thou missest , to amend the fault . possibly thou wast too cold and formal , too hasty and unmannerly ; too self-conceited and not throughly humbled . thou didst not know the worst of thy self . thou wentest in thy own strength . thou wast not wholly taken off from self , and weaned from every creature . the lord hath been preparing of thee by all his put-offs , to spur on thy desire & pace . try once again , come to better purpose . object . alas i cannot come , my heart is dead and hard . answ . that 's bad indeed ; but hath he not a quickning spirit ? is not his word a word of life , power and salvation ? hath not he promised a heart of flesh , in taking away of the stony heart ? is it not he that quickens the dead ? is not he come to give life to that world whom he cals his sheep , and to give it them more abundantly ? object . i am not sure i am one of them . answ . neither art thou sure thou art none of them . his sheep hear his voyce with attention and affection , with submission and application ; dost thou not desire and delight , dost thou not design and labour to do so ? is not the hour come , wherein such a dead lazarus as thou , shouldst hear the voyce of the son of god and live ? object . but i have no free will of mine own to spiritual good . answ . thou hast a moral will ; capable of the means , and doing thy duty , though in a weak manner . bestir thy self therefore , and whilst thou art making use of that , christs renewing grace thou maist meet with to spiritualize it , and make it free from its sinful bondage . his truth will make thee free . object . but none comes to the so●● but such as the father draws . answ . is not the father drawing of thee now ? are not his ordinances , mercies and offers strong cords of love , and the bands of man to fetch thee home ? is not he drawing thee internally also by the motions of his holy spirit upon thy conscience ? resist no longer , burst not his divine tresses , but yield and follow . object . but i. answ . no more buts against god and thine own good , thou must yield now . christ is resolved on it . he will have thee home , thou must come , it s in vain to struggle ; all sufficient grace will be all-efficient . dost thou not feel him turning of thy heart , silencing thy doubts , stirring in thy bowels , opening thine eyes , and drawing thy will to embrace his own terms ? are not these sure signes of his saving grace ? come on then , come home to thy christ . quest . how shall i come , that i may be welcom ? answ . 1. come instantly , without any delay ; demurs are dangerous . this may be thy last moment of life , and his last word to thee . strike , whilst th' iron is hot ; come whilst there is hope . seek now the lord whilst he may be found ; cast in thy mettle whilst hot , into his mould . yield thy softned wax to the seal of his spirit . his spirit will not alwayes strive with man. 2. come self denyingly , not in thy strength , but in his : follow his effectual drawing , from the sence of thine unability . let thy heart still say with the spouse , draw me , and we will run after thee . know still thy unworthiness and insufficiency , laying thy self with recumbency upon his merits ; not on any thing else . 3. come self-resigningly , on conjugal terms , to be wholly given up to him . make no capitulations , no reservations of any sin , of any creature , though as dear to thee as thy right eye , right hand , or right foot . be content to be wholly his , as he is content to be wholly thine . thy skil and power , thy will and comforts , thy time and credit , thy soul and body , thy interest and friends , must be wholly given up to him . nothing is his , if all be not his ; a ●eart and a heart , he cannot endure . 4. come sincerely and cordially , without dissembling without base designs . come for his person first out of love to him , not meerly to his goods . come chiefly to partake of himself , and to enjoy him , though he should seem to withold all things else . come to a husband , not to a fair. come for marriage , not for a bargain . chuse him for himself , and all his goodness must needs be thine too . 5. come understandingly , not in a blind manner . know what thou art about , and be well advised . consult and reason the case to the full . cast up thy accounts , what it may cost thee . canst thou be willing to live and die with him and for him ? view him throughly in all his perfections , and in all his precepts too . be well acquainted with his marriage covenant , engaging to duty , by engaging mercy . he is a jealous god , as he is gracious . 6. come fiducially , not distrusting him . study and apply this promise of marriage so variously and so frequently expressed to thee . that promise is set out both absolutely and conditionally . suck those breasts still , and draw with comfort the water of life out of those saving wels by the bucket of faith , let out by the cords of thine affections ; when thou canst not find in thee the condition required , then press that word upon him and thy self , which freely promises to give that condition . do as david , begging for a new heart from him that had faithfully promised it , and therefore required the same . there is no precept nor condition in gods word , that hath not a promise to answer it . do as jacob did , to make use of all . 7. come penitentially with a bleeding heart to a bleeding saviour , looking upon him whom thou hast pierced , mourning over him , and judging thy self for abusing him . come from the sensible sight of thy sinfull revolts , condemning thy self as unworthy to be his servant . come as abigail did unto david , as the prodigal did towards his father . his infinite kindness must needs aggravate thy horrid unkindness . he forgets thy sins , but thou must remember them . he forgives thee freely and fully , that thou maist forsake them accordingly . come then with a tender heart to such a tender christ with lively repentance , never to be repented of . such musick on these waters will be found most sweet . 8. come obedientially because he commands it who is thy soveraign . come to do thy homage in loyal allegiance to him that is thy god , to worship and serve him . it s a loving and faithfull obedience he expects from thee as his proper due most dearly bought . thou art ransomed with a divine price that thou maist be his wholly and eternally . if any part of thee be at any time given up to sin against thy husband , what treasonable adultery will it prove ? come then to thy lord to be ruled by him in every ordinance , in every providence . come to thy fathers house to shew all loving dutifulness there , not to be lawless or a servant to sin . his royal law cals to perfect liberty , that thou maist be as free as the children of the most high god. 9. come lovingly with fervent affections to this royal feast of christs own wedding , that so nearly concerns thy self . let the joy of the lord be thy strength herein to tune the whole man to the highest strain of heavenly delight . is not this solemnity so incomparable to be observed with sutatable enlargements ? stir up thy soul in coming to christ , that the vigor of all thy faculties may sweetly embrace the great king of saints . purity and fervency meet here admirably at the celebration of this wonderfull match . christ comes to thee , and all over with zeal ; thou must meet him in the like apparell . observe the brides attire in that glorious type of solomons marriage answerable to his , that thou mightest learn how to come to christ thy divine solomon . 10. come gratefully to thy benefactor with hearty thanks for his unspeakable gifts . cast thy crown at his feet , and give him the glory of all his mercies . let him wear the crown who hath done and suffered so wonderfully for thee . begin betime that angelical duty , which shall be thy task and thy happiness to eternity . triumph in thy god that makes thee to triumph . let thy soul be harmoniously set to sing forth his praises in the sweet consort of all thy powers and parts . in all things give thanks to the wonderfull dispenser of all things . bless him continually who thus blesses thee . 11. come diligently in the use of all means appointed by him . seek him in all his ways , attend him in his road , hearken to his spirit , study his word , seek his face often , think much of him , inquire of others , neglect no help , and rest on none but on christ himself . thus nominal christians should be perswaded to make sure of christ in closing with him upon his own terms , to make them real partakers of christ and possessors as well as professors . secondly . real christians should also be pressed to make use of this gracious knowledge , by keeping close to christ in the spiritual improvement thereof . each of us should strongly be quickned thereto by all the former considerations . this singular jewel is given for use , not meerly to gaze at . the best find much need still to be quickned to their duty herein , that this choice mercy may be well improved . 1. personally in our several places ; our fruitfulness should demonstrate still that we have learn'd to know jesus christ in a saving way . this gracious knowledge must have influence into every thought , every word and work . in every duty to be performed , in every mercy to be improved , in every sin to be mortified , in every grace to be exercised . remember christian who ever thou art that hast been effectually taught in the school of christ , thy constant work must be to practise the lessons got there . action is the end of contemplation . thy speculations must never be idle . thy general and particular calling will still find thee matter for the spiritual use of this gracious knowledge . mind christ still then in every duty towards god and man. 1. in thy generrl calling look for him , attend him in every ordinance , the charets and walks of communication between him and his . 1. observe him in his word , speaking to thee that thou maist know his divine oracles , hearken to this voice , who speaketh from heaven by men and means to us . hath not he promised that all his people shall be taught of god ? hear him then in hearing his servants , appointed and duly called to his work , that you may not teach one another still pharisaically , as the sect-masters did ; hearken to his orderly appointments , that you may receive his anointing from above to teach you all things gradually , so as you shall not need to be put a fresh to your first elements , to spell the principles in a childish manner . minding of him will put you further towards perfection , that you may be able to teach others also . read often those precious love-letters sent unto you from your best friend above ; and search the scriptures for the records of him who is the treasure of those golden mines . behold in that gospel-glass of his his glorious image , that thou maiest be transformed into the same . 2. visit him often in spiritual prayer , secret , private publike . this is the line of communication between heaven and earth , whereby christs souldiers keep correspondency with each other , as with their general . this fiery chariot may carry thy soul eliah like to thy dear saviour in abrahams bosom on any occasion . it s a sure and a speedy post for any dispatch . it s a choise key that will unlock all the stories of his al-sufficiency . it will avail much if it be fervent ; for what ever thou askest in his name , thou maist be sure he will do it in the best way and season . he is the god that heareth prayers , that will be sought and found in every thing . 3. in meditation , retire thy self into a private walk , that thou maist enjoy him the more freely to renew thy acquaintance more familiarly . thus a man having sequestred himself from the croud of creatures , seeks and intermeddles with all divine wisdom . this choise duty is the souls withdrawing room wherein christian sincerity appears most in its purity , nothing so subject to hypocrisie as other services . attend christ herein as isaac did , retiring thy self in the most convenient season , to exercise the noble faculties of thy rational soul in the noblest way of intercourse between christ and thy self . 4. look for christ also in christian conference which he hath promised to honor and further with his singular presence and blessing . he loves to see his members helpfull to each other this way . the one cannot say to the other , i have no need of thee . the meanest may be of great use therein . thus iron sharpens iron , and the sticks together do burn much the better . two are better then one , and a three-fold cord is not easily broken . a sadder wo there is to him that is alone . christ loves to meet with his friends this way . 5. in the solemn seals of his covenant , christ will be peculiarly observed . those sacramental institutions are the choice remembrancers of him . behold and attend him there with a spirit sutable to the nature of such ordinances . 6. in praising of him and sanctifying his holy sabbath , in spiritual fastings and feastings , in every institution of his thou wilt still find the sweetness and strength of this gracious knowledge , that christ may still be thy all in all. 2. in thy particular calling , each relation towards thy neighbour , whereto providence calls thee orderly , will require a spiritual use of it , according to the variety of his dispensations towards thee . in all thy ways acknowledge him , and he will direct thy paths . in prosperity and adversity christ is still to be experimentally known . every smile and frown of his , every check and stroak comes as a messenger with a special errand . all his providential administrations will declare much of his conjugal care towards thee . thou maist learn thence to carry a counterpane in thy heart and life proportionable to the several motions of his hand . in every condition and occasion thou wilt find hereby cause to observe all his ways to be mercy and truth towards such as know him . the checker work of his providence will hereby appear to be most beautifull in the result , when all things shall work together for good , though some particular passages may seem harsh and disorderly . 2. this gracious knowledge should be improved relatively in a christian way of communication , doing good to all , especially to the houshold of faith . every one in his place should therein labor to resemble the god of all grace , who is always streaming forth goodness round about . it s our honor and happiness to be faithfully active therein , for him , and like him . by faith and prayer , advice and counsel , the meanest may improve opportunities of serving his providence for others help . but superiors in their relations , civil and military , oeconomical and ecclesiastical , are especially called thereto by the lord himself , whose substitutes they are . each of them in their places will find most comfort in the promoting and improving the gracious knowledge of christ . encouragements and directions he affords very plentifully to all magistrates and officers , as also to all his ministers and governors of families , to advance the same in its power and purity , that the earth may be filled with the knowledge of the lord as the waters cover the sea . his spirit and providence will seasonably remove all lets and obstacles . blessed shall they be whose prudent zeal and faithfull diligence shall be still found subservient thereto . to know jesus christ , and him crucified was the scope and sum of the great apostles preaching and practice ; let it be so of ours that our conjugal acquaintance with him may effectually be demonstrated to his honor and mans good . this precious jewel is daily endangered by variety of close and open enemies . many false lights are daily setting up by the strong factions of the prince of darkness to counterfeit and disgrace divine light. the publique interest as well as our private is wrapped up together and shipped in one bottom with christs interest . our best politicks do wholly depend on the right use of this gracious knowledge . doth not the lord speak again to each of his people , especially to our noble worthies , what he solemly expressed by the royal prophet to his famous son , and thou solomon my son , know thou the god of thy father , and serve him with a perfect heart and a willing mind ; if thou seek him , he will be found of thee ; but if thou forsake him he will forsake thee . the like charge he pressed in effect upon all gods people in that great convention of state . to further it , mind that . doctrine 5. growing in the gracious knowledge of christ is a special gospel-duty . it becomes christians to be still growing in that gracious knowledge . the apostle sums all up in this , as the great work of every christian , from which none are exempted . improvement of that singular mercy , must needs be a singular duty . this spiritual growth is variously expressed in scripture-dialect , being compared to the growing of corn , the encrease of light , the spreading of a tree , the augmentation of the body , the fermentation of leaven , the ripening of vegetables , &c. all sorts of things natural , civil , artificial , all vegetative , sensitive and rational beings contribute towards the illustration and resemblance thereof . growth still attends life , the principle of it . christ himself grew in grace and statute before god and man ; so doth the knowledge of him in every gracious heart ; its thriving still . the most spreading plants are used still in scripture to set forth this spiritual increase of divine plants . they grow as the mustard-seed from small beginnings to a huge increase , especially in that country . they sprout as the lilly for suddenness , beauty , uprightness and use . they spread as the vine for abundant fruitfulness , as the oak for strength and durableness , as the cedar for taleness , straightness and medicinableness , as roses for choiceness , pleasure and cordial vertues . thus being planted in the house of the lord , they flourish in the courts of our god , and most in their old age . it s a choice duty , obliging all sorts in their several capacities , which the gospel-commands and commends frequently and singularly ; the neglect whereof is as largely reproved , threatned and visited for . the variety of ordinances and spiritual provisions which he affords , so abundantly demonstrate the same . he compares them therefore to the tree planted by the water side , whose leaves flourish , and whose fruit comes still to solid , savory and ripe fruit . christ the tree of life by his own growth , teaches them thus to grow , affording still the sweet streams of his gracious influence , in each relation from his person through his offices , that the fruits of his progress and purchase may be brought forth in them those eminent places in ezekiel , and other scriptures hold this forth to the life by the increase and improvement of the sanctuary-waters . a fruitfull parable the lord himself spreads before us to express this emphatically by a large and pregnant allegory , whose divine branches have been elaborately trimmed to this purpose by a very worthy pen. the god of all grace likes not to see his gracious off-spring wasted with rickets in a decaying posture . his messages from heaven to the seven churches of asia testifie the same , and hold forth a lively resemblance of his various dealings with his people from that time hitherto , according to the various proportions of their growth or decay . reason 1. their nature requires it ; full of spirit and life they are , and must needs grow . the more of life in any thing , the more of growth . the more of spirit , the more of liveliness . grace is spiritual life , the seed of glory , and eternal life . it s the life of christ , the operation of his holy spirit , as far as man is capable thereof . the best of a mans natural life is but dull and dead , in comparison of this gracious life . union to the living god , and communion with him in christ through the spirit , is the principle of this supernatural life . the new creature must needs grow that partakes so much of the divine nature in similitude , though not in sameness ; in quality , though not in equality . want of lively principles , makes so many glorious professors to wither and waste so miserably . they were but seeming branches , & as cions meerly fastened about the stock , but never incorporated therein intimately . they that have their root and life from earthly nature , still may for a while flourish , but will soon be blasted . the root and life of the new man is above in gods bosom , in the heart of christ , still supplied by his spirit to safeguard them from all winter-blasts of renewed temptations and corruptions . reason 2. gods honour cals for it . all things are made for him , as they were framed by him . of him , through him , and to him are all things , as in nature , so in grace peculiarly . this people hath he formed for his praises . they are the plants of his setting , the work of his hand , that he may be glorified . and herein is their father glorified , that they bring forth much fruit . the growth of his garden is the glory of that divine husbandman . the thriving of his children must needs commend his fatherly care . his love and service cannot but press thereto . if his children be so unlike him , they can neither honour nor serve him aright . he hat much work for all his servants in every relation and occasion . if they be sickly and wasting , what are they fit for ? must not his people be lively like him , that they may be stil faithful and successful ? the more christ is known in a gracious way , the more doth sin waste , and grace flourish . the vigor of a christian is still in his christ . the love of christ must needs constrain him to live more to him , in being more like him . much strength and spirit is still required in every part of the lords service . he would have us fervent in spirit , as paul himself was therein , which doth require a spiritual growth to make us vigorous . reason 3. mans interest challenges it , their credit and comfort , their honour and happiness depend upon their growth . their profit and pleasure , their helpfulness to others still attend the same . a wasting sickly life is as uncomfortable as unserviceable to our selves and others . rickets and consumptions render our children useless and burthensom ; spiritual decaies are far more offensive unto gods children . they can neither help themselves nor others , that are thus pining and consuming . the life of our life is in our health and strength : without it we cannot receive nor do good to any purpose . a diseased life is but a living death , and a dying life . christ must be known more graciously stil , that we may enjoy more of his comforts , and be more useful to all his members . the more any limb receives from the head , the more assistance may the same afford unto its body . we must still be deriving from christ , what we are stil to communicate to our fellow members . christian sympathie and communion will still challenge serviceableness from every part of his mystical body . vse 1. see the necessity and benefit of a perpetual ministry and ordinances . they are the special means appointed and blessed for the promoting of this spiritual growth . he gave apostles , prophets , evangelists , pastors and teachers for the perfecting of the saints , for the work of the ministry , for the edifying of the body of christ , untill we all come into a perfect man in him , to the full measure of his stature ; that we henceforth be no more children tossed to and fro with every wind of doctrine , but speaking the truth in love , may grow up into him in all things , who is the head , even christ . the slighting of christs institutions makes so many to decay apace in their profession and affection , in their parts and practice . they are the food and refreshings of gods house , suited to the case of all his children and servants therein . the neglect , abuse and poisoning thereof must needs be very sinful and woful . how can they but languish and perish , that scorn and defile , that spoil and pervert the precious means of their life and growth ? providence ever knits the end and the means . what the lord appoints , he doth surely and seasonably bless . out of his road he will not be look'd for , nor assure his grace where he records not his name . his general presence fils all places indeed , and rules in hell it self judicially . but his favourable and fatherly presence , is to be sought and found in his gracious ordinances . what can rebels expect from a soveraign whose orders they stil oppose and reject ? who can look for the blessing of heaven in following the waies of darkness ? what hope of growing in any good things , without answerable supplies and relief ? we waste a pace and need refreshing still , that we may grow in the knowledge of christ . vse 2. it may convince and humble all ignorant and negligent christians . it s our sin , let it be our shame and sorrow that we grow so little under such helps in the lords husbandry . this evil reigns in most , it remains in the best . most continue in the love , under the power thereof , making a trade and a sport of it ; the best find much cause to be still judging themselves for the sad reliques of these unhappy weeds . the dunghil abounds continually with filth and vermin , so doth mans unrenewed heart . the best garden will ever be troubled with some trash or other to be look'd after . their case is saddest that are most sensless of it , and secure in it . the soundest bodies retain some ill humors , that will augment too much putrefaction if not timely removed . thence the cause of so many diseases that hinder the growth of the inward and outward man. but how dreadful is their condition that stil feed their disease , and love nothing but what increases distempers ? corrupt nature stil will bring like to like , and undo it self by pampering self . god provides us very wholsom food in his ordinances ; but like foolish children we frowardly dislike it , and prefer any trash rather . we feed on crude and corrupt matter which breeds choler , phlegm and worms a pace . thence an increase of putrefaction , which spoils our appetite and taints our palate . want of exercise and orderly care in the wayes of christ , makes us such weaklings , and such punies in his grace and knowledge . how doth it trouble us to see our children wasting with rickets , worms and feavers through their own folly ? is not our case much worse under our many spiritual consumptions , stil contracted by our negligence ? let is humble us and make us ashamed , that we grow so little in that which is good , and so fast in that which is evil ; is it not our folly and our misery ? should not it be our shame and sorrow ? vse 3. examination . doth your spiritual life appear to your self and others by your growth ? is it universal , proportional , and continual ? living things do grow in every part stil , with proportion and continuance . do you thus spiritually grow in the gracious knowledge of our lord jesus ? observe it in the particulars . 1. is it an universal growth , both internally and externally ? 1. internally , do you grow in every faculty and power of the inward man ? doth your mind and judgement , your reason and conscience , your will and affections , your memory and sense grow more spiritual , solid and substantial ? are you better acquainted with his person and office , progress and purchase , relation and influence ? do you feel thereby more vigor and strength flowing into your soul out of his fulness ? do you find his spirit quickning your spirit by every ordinance and providence of his , to an higher degree of grace and knowledge ? are you more sensible of your need thereof as of your own insufficiency to support and supply you in every relation ? do you long for it and delight in it , grieving for the want , striving after it , restless without it , refreshed with it ? is christ sweeter , and sin bitterer to your soul more and more ? 2. externally , do your leaves , buds and fruit encrease in loveliness towards god and man ? do you grow , as christ did , in grace and favour ? is it your study , design and labour to perfect holiness in the fear of god , by putting away every filthiness of flesh and spirit , through the improvement of his precious promises ? is your growth uniform in its universal augment ? do you abhor sins of omission , as much as you do sins of commission ? have you an eye still to the second table , in minding the first ; and to the first , in minding the second ? do you make conscience of the least precept , in improving every promise ? doth not your interest encroach upon christ , or your neighbours various concernments ? are you more sincere and ▪ self-denying , more couragious and zealous for truth and for peace ? do you grow in patience and prudence also , as in diligence and dependency ? are formality and hypocrifie more loathsome stil to you as to god ? doth your hand grow stronger and steadier in all offices of justice and charity as of piety and true devotion ? is your speech active and lively ? is your life speaking ? 2. is your growth proportional ? doth it answer the measure of every part ? it s a monster that grows not aright in nature and grace for quantity , order and quality . observe how plants spread with fit proportions , and sensitives in every member ; mind the very growth of your own & others bodies , to compare your spiritual case therewith . do you grow downward in self-denial and humility , as well as upward in knowledge and comfort ? is there no disproportion between your profession and conversation ; your parts and practice ? are not you sick of spiritual rickets that puff up the head and waste other limbs ? do your sence and motion grow spiritually , orderly and fitly ? are you not like mushroms , of a sudden monstrous disproportionable growth ? hath every faculty its proper increase for the service of all other parts ? do you digest well spiritual nourishment , which every part must assimilate into its proper substance and use ? doth your increase of gifts and knowledge , make you to grow in all judgement of christian helpfulness towards every relation above you , about you , under you ? do all the parts of the new creature keep an harmonious symmetry and orderly motion within you ? is there no excrescence , or exuberance , no dislocation , or disruption there willingly suffered ? are not you like hydropical bodies , puffed up with wind , water and humours ? is your judgement sound , and affections warm ; your will supple , and conscience tender ; your tongue seasoned , and your whole man strengthened daily , by this gracious knowledge ? doth your growth answer christ provisions ? 3. is it continual ? is it stil your desire and delight , design and labour to be found ripening towards gods harvest ? is your way stil as the morning light , which shines more and more to the perfect day ? do you hold on in that gracious course , waxing stronger and stronger , as he that hath pure hands ? do you abhor sinful remissions and intermissions in your self and others ? observe the growth of all living things , how they hasten stil after their proper 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and perfection ? is it so with you on a spiritual score ? have you learned with paul to forget things behind , and stil press forward ? do you therefore labour to cast off every weight that doth hinder you , and the sin that so easily besets you ? the lord is continually dropping down fatness from heaven upon you ; do you return thither , answer your receipts thence ? are you like a plant in the lords garden , spiritual and civil , in church and state , ripening still towards a better state ? do you mark and bewail your failings & neglects ? do your fals and slips quicken your pace and your watchfulness ? doth others folly teach you more wisdom , to walk more steadily in this slippery age , whilst the seducers do wax worse and worse , both in deceiving and being deceived ? are you stil striving to grow better and better ? are you not like the high way , stony , or thorny ground , which are but for a time ; but like the good ground fruitful to perfection ? do you resemble those true believers who through faith & patience inherited the promises ; rather then judas and alexander , anannias and saphira , with thousands more that failed half-way ? do hymeneus , philetas and demas awaken your care , and quicken your diligence , that you may not prove like to them in forsaking christ ? do you give your lusts neither peace nor truce in your warfare against spiritual evils ? doth your profiting in this knowledge of christ appear unto all in all occasions ? vse 4. be we stirred up to obey this divine charge of growing in grace and in the knowledge of christ . are not we all nearly concern'd therein ? doth not our profit , delight and credit challenge this from us ? is not gods interest of greater moment to prevail with us ? should not our relations to others put as upon it ? are not christians spiritual merchants ? shall we not improve then such a precious jewel ? should not we still be trading with christ in the great commodities of heaven ? strong encouragements we have from all parts thereof , if but duly weighed . the trade , the factor , the commodity , the venture and gain are beyond compare . men improve their grounds , and manage their state to the best advantage , that they may live well . should not we then improve this stock , and husband this portion upon better ground ? it is a field that will never fail ; the more we till it , the more it will yield . as christ himself , so the knowledg of him , are richest mines still full of treasure : springs of all good still inexhaustible . the more you draw the more will follow it ; like the womans oil that will never stop , but for want of vessels . this improvement will improve all things else ; and without it nothing will do well . this speak to dead and living . 1. death christians should be excited , that they may get life , else they cannot grow . you must get the stock before you can trade . your heart must be renewed that it may be bettered . former directions will stand you in stead if duly minded and observed . you must be convinced of your spiritual death , to feel the need of the prince of life . seek then to him as blinde bartimeus , cry hard after him , let him have no rest til he give you life and light at once . he never yet rejected any soul that unfeignedly did attend on him . if you wait long at bethesdas pool , it s for your good , and he will be found in the best season ; if he put you off as he did that famous woman of canaan , it is but for trial and to quicken you . if you cannot go ▪ send your heart and friends , your prayers and tears to give him a call . be sure to observe what he saith to you in his word and providence , as by his spirit . as you desire life , neglect no means helping thereto , looking stil to him for his blessing in all . retain no sin , and slight no duty voluntarily ; give him your bad heart to mend it for you . feel your deadness that he may quicken you . know the worst of your self by inspection in his glass , that you may learn to know the best of christ . beware especially of your darling lusts , your dalilah corruptions , whether sinful pleasure , profit or pride . know your wretchedness and emptiness , your insufficiency and unworthiness : that christ may be your all , for wisdom and righteousness , sanctification and redemption . 2. living christians must stir up themselves encrease this life . rouz up the grace of god that is within you . blow up those sparks , and make it your work to grow stil in grace and in the knowledge of our lord jesus christ . food and exercise , physick and diet , temperance and vigilance will be found special helps , as for bodily , so for spiritual improvement of life . there is an instinct in every creature , for self-preservation and increase , which moves stil towards proper objects in all due means . 1. look well to your food then of a spiritual nature , to shun what is evil , and improve what is good . you must therein mind the quantity and quality , the order and season of receving it for due concoction . the scripture word will afford you still the living bread , and the living water ; the flesh and blood of christ to feed on by faith. its milk for babes , and strong meat for adult christians . let it not be mixed nor adulterated by humane additions or detractions . hunger and thirst stil after the word and righteousness of christ . take what suits your case , and observe what rules himself gives you . plain dressing thereof will be still best for your profiting . feel the need of it , and long after it ; cry and seek hard for it , make good use of it . you must feed well that you may thrive well . 2. see to your exercise ; that it may be moderate , suitable and seasonable ; so will it be of singular help to discuss ill humours , and to augment your native heat , by fit distribution of food and spirits . in all the waies of god exercise your self unto godliness as the apostle did for himself , directing timothy and all others to the same . such an exercise hath the promises of this life and of that to come , being still profitable for all things . beware of straying into the devils paths , and training in his military yard . you must wrastle against sin and self , against spiritual enemies of all sorts . your sinful body must be kept under , that you may be nimble and swift in your race . the whole armour of god is furbished to your hands , that you may put it on and use it with success . be thus strong in his strength and in the power of his might , that you may prevail in all your conflicts . 3. mind seasonable physick which you will often find the need of to purge out your peccant humors that are increasing and putrifying still . your growth will be stopt if these sinfull stoppages and putrid matters be not duly removed . advise therefore with the best physician for prescripts and medicines sorted to your case . deal very freely and fully with him without dissembling and reservation . give him exact account of what you do know , that you may be dealt throughly with for good ; observe his directions with puncutual care in receiving good , and eschewing evil . his skill , power and will are incomparable and unquestionable . his blood and grace by his holy spirit he mingles in his word to destroy your sins , and to save your soul . if his pils appear bitter to , your taste , they are the fitter to kill your corruptions : your eure is certain if you be but ruled under his preparing , purging and dressing . no disease ever proved shame to him ; trust him , obey him , and your case is safe . 4. keep a due diet as he doth instruct , who orders all things to his peoples good . to abstain from evil is still as needfull as to be doing and receiving good . observe then what things are most offensive to your constitution , that you may avoid the first beginnings and appearance thereof . some are more bent to pride , others to passion , some to vanity , others to wordliness , some are more lazie , others more wanton , some grow more secure , others more foolish . error will tempt you under various shapes , putting on often the garment of light. ignorance and pride will still cherish it ; self-conceit and folly will still be its nurses . meddle not with pitch to avoid its filth . trie all things aright , that you may suck no evil . advice from sure hands will preserve you much from the common wo of this erring age. improve your own and others experience , confirmed to you by scripture-records . 5. forget not temperance , the nurse of vertue and the ruin of vice . let your moderation appear to all men , the lord is an hand . sobriety in all things lawfull must attend abstinence from things unlawfull . the supream physician directs often to this , both by his own mouth and his servants pen. intemperance is the womb and breast of all sinfull evil that would weaken you . you may soon surfeit with worldly creatures , if you be not singularly carefull ; that you may grow apace in the things of christ , be very moderate in all other things . nature is content with little , and grace with less , where inordinancy hath not burst the bounds . know well what becomes your complexion and condition , that you may still cut your garment to your cloth , and to your wearing . he is rich indeed that hath learn't contentment , the choice jewel which christ alone gives . paul studied long and hard for the same , being instructed in the school of heaven . follow his steps to attain his end : so shall you know how to want and abound . godliness with content will be your great gain ; the blessing of the lord will make you so rich , as to add no sorrow thereto . sixthly , be very watchfull ; this is christs own rule , often inculcated to spur on our dulness . we naturally are very drowzy , much inclining to sloth and slumber . in this sleepy age the wisest virgins contract infection among the foolish . they all slumber and sleep through their own default , the bridgroom tarrying for some longer space then some expected . watch and pray , watch and be sober , lest ye be surprized ere you be ware . you are surrounded with mortal enemies , very numerous , cruel and cunning : look well to your guards , inward and outward ; your danger within is often greatest . redeem the time well , walking circumspectly , not as fools , but as wise in these evil days . watch unto all good against every sin , so shall you be ready for your masters comming . the lazy servant shall see him with horror , whom the diligent shall welcome with joy. the night of ignorance , error , and all sin , is the season that requires this most . troubles of all sorts will attend the same if all due care be not rightly used . christ comes as a thief unexpectedly , both on the former and this latter world , whilst robbing spirits are catching abroad . blessed is he that watcheth , and keeps his garments . if any of us be stripped by their wiles , we shall be found naked to our open shame . seducing spirits do haunt every place with their cheating drugs and mountebanck tricks . look well to your selves and to all under you , that ye be not poisoned by their artifice . they can cog the dice , and shuffle their cards with all nimbleness and secret methods . the prince of this world is still teaching them to abuse scripture , and corrupt its sense by wresting its words . watch therefore to improve the knowledge of christ with more vigor , zeal and diligence . be moved thereto by further viewing the following point , as the remedy against such maladies . doctrine vi. spiritual growth is a soveraign antidote against error and apostacy . this clearly appears from the respective aspect of this text upon the context , as is implyed in the particle but. error is a subtile and a strong poison , as doth appear from the former hints . it blinds the judgement , and misleads the soul into satans road of falshood and deceit . spiritual errors are most dangerous in the great matters of our salvation . scruples and doubts are more unsettled ; error grows fixed , and radicates it self . in circumstantials of religion there is less danger among sober and humble christians . if this disease grow to greater height , near the foundation and the noble parts , t' will be worse still . if once it strike at fundamentals , its intolerable , not to be born with . the venom thereof is set out in scripture by the most poisonous creatures that can be . minerals and plants , vermin and serpents do all come short in setting it forth . the vilest excrements and the worst disease cannot sufficiently express its deadliness . it s the sad abstract of all kind of evil , wherein sin and sorrow do fully center . all sorts , even the best , being subject thereto in different ways , should be made carefull to provide against it . as countryes vary , so do their poisons ; as bodies vary , so do their diseases . this poisonous disease doth likewise vary on divers accouts to be distinctly known towards a cure . apostacy and revolt from god is a pernicious evil , and the common attendant of error , which still endangers a christians stedfastness . the word signifies a turning aside , and setting mans back against the living god. every sin is gods enemy , and turning to sin is running from god. in the first adam we revolted all , and corrupt nature is still bent to sin , through the sinfull venom received from him . christ the second adam came into the world to save his people from their sinfull death by a gracious covenant published in the gospel . some do embrace it but externally , others cordially . satan is still attempting to turn every man from it by various errors and methods of his . he prevails with-most to their undoing , and gains too much credit with the best . this apostacy and turning from god is total , or partial . total apostacy raigns still in all the unregenerate that do shake off the good ways of christ . partial apostacy often distempers the regenerate to a high degree , though it never proves total nor final . they turn as far from god as they turn aside into crooked ways , being disturbed with the fumes of corruption and temptation . they turn from one truth , and then from another by following satan and his counterfeit lights ; from one disease they contract another , by the putrifying of their ill humors to more malignity . these dreadfull evils need a soveraign antidote , and a sutable counterpoison , that they may not turn all into confusion . all societies civil and spiritual , are very much endangered thereby as well as mens souls . spiritual growth is a choise remedy fitted by the lord for such a disease . in every country providence affords some preservative against all diseases and poisons that infest the same . wise physitians know this very well , though they make use of forraign drugs also ex abundanti . god hath shewed no less care of the souls of men then of their bodies , having sent his own son to be the saviour and lord of his people . he is held forth indefinitely to all that will hear , and is peculiarly given to such whose heart is by special grace renewed efficacioussy to the embracing of him . by his spirit he draws home his elect from among the rest to a conjugal acquaintance with himself . this gracious knowledge is to be improved for a singular antidote against sinfull errors . it hath appeared to be so in all ages , and will still be so upon solid grounds which divine reason suggests to us . reason 1. because it removes and prevents the causes thereof , external and internal . the cause removed , the effect will cease . 1. the external causes , called evident among physicians , are all such as from without endanger men , as ill company , disorders , infection , wounds , &c. from sin and satan ; thus spiritually many external causes do still assault us , which the knowledge of christ prevents and removes . a well grown christian hath his senses exercised to discern aright between good and evil . the spiritual man judges of all things , comparing of them spiritually . he is not easily caught into the snare , but wisely foresees it and escapes . he believes not every spirit , but tries them all by the lords touch-stone . he is forewarned and forearmed still against infectious temptations of all sorts . 2. internal causes are either antecedent and remote , or continent and proxime , which are bred within by congestion and defluxion of several ill humors , putrifying gradually and variously to the distempering of the several parts , and of the whole also . thus sinfull corruption doth spiritually disorder mens souls . spiritual growth affords christs own help to the purging out of such ill humors , vapors and spirits . it kils the worms , takes away stoppages , cleanses the parts by all convenient helps , internal and external . it purges the whole , and then the parts in a due method , using revulsions and derivations with all sort of evacuations . so far as grace is grown up within by the knowledge of christ , so far is corruption purged out gradually . he that knows him purifies himself even as he is pure . christs own physick dispenced daily in his word and providence , is through his spirit improved that way . he that is born of god doth not so sin , as he did before , neither can he so sin , either totally or finally , because the seed of god abides in him . as he finds corruption breeding afresh within , it s his desire and design , his delight and labor to crush the cockatrice in the shell , and suppress the first beginnings . he hath a tender heart , sensible of the first stirs , of the least vain thoughts , and keeps himself that the ev●l one touch him not , as before . reason 2. because it corroborates and fortifies the noble parts , and thereby all the rest against all internal corruptions and outward temptations . thus health and strength are procured and improved against the malignity of all spiritual distempers . corroboration is a singular help , as in the bodies , so in the souls of men against all diseases . ill humors do leave in the parts affected an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , a discomposure which enfeebles it , and by a ferment and a sickly spawn , makes it prone to new disorders . error and sin work in the like manner upon mens souls , striking chiefly at the vitals and chief . the knowledge of christ duly improved , doth orderly eradicate and extirpate it by communication of his divine strength to vivification of every grace , and mortification of the old man in all its members . the more a soul lives in him and by him , the more of his renewed supports and supplies come in , which compose the christian into spiritual health , rectifying every part . all the faculties are secured and fortified thereby against relapses and struglings of sin . such can do all things through christ strengthning them . the sense of their own insufficiency drives them still to his al-sufficiency , that his grace may be sufficient for them , and his vertue perfected in weakness . reason 3. because it derives still a specifick vertue out of christ himself , whose soveraign property mingled with all due means of his appointing , affords still a sure preservative : physicians observe the specifick vertue of natural medicines , simple and compound , which renders the whole effectual towards bodily cures . such a signally peculiar force is found in the lords choice antidote , dispensed to his patients . the knowledge of christ duly improved , fetches out of him that wonderfull grace which he mingles with all the medicines appointed for their good . his blood is that aurum potabile and panpharmacum , that catholicon and elixer of life which sanctifies all things effectually to his peoples good . the more any soul grows up into acquaintance with him , the more use is made of that soveraign balm of gilead , flowing from the physicians very heart . the pelican is said to cure his little ones with his own blood . christ to be sure makes this good to his . his grace is the basis of every dose , of every topick , of every means appointed by him . the strongest poison is quelled thereby , the stoutest humors are subdued , the sorest obstructions are removed , and the worst maladies cured by the same . he healed all manner of diseases and sicknesses among the people in their bodies and souls , in his progress on earth , and he doth so still by his spirit from heaven . his word and ordinances are the proper means used by him for application thereof . he employes his servants of the magistracy and ministry to observe his will in the right use thereof by all fit helps spiritual and civil . his providence points out the case to be dealt with all spiritual skil . our antidote improved affords every christian to manage all aright . his special blessing he affords in all according to promise . the reason is good ; make good use of it . vse 1. corollar . 1. hence may we view the ground and cure of our spiritual distempers in all relations . 1. the ground is much from want of spiritual growth in the best , as from want of life in most . were christ known to better purpose , both church and state would not be so sickly . but the most are ignorant of him , and the best much too blame . thence so many diseases and sores in all relations and societies . every person , every family finds cause to complain , because the lord christ is so much slighted . no wonder if the sickness increase , and the venom spreads , when such a physician with his antidote are so basely used . wise men easily see whence this evil comes and is aggravated . gross wilfull unbelief is the forest disease that aggravates the case , making it desperate . this was the case of gods people of old in the wilderness and canaan , again and again . they slighted christ and his messengers , till they were grown beyond all remedy . it may give us warning . 2. the cure and method of relief is hence observable ; the lord hath not left us yet remediless . there is balm in gilead , and a physician there with soveraign vertue to cure our israel . the method thereof appears clearly from what hath been said . this gracious knowledge will afford us the sure medicines for a distracted church and a discomposed state. any diseased soul and disordered family may hence take receipts with the best probatum . politicians would prove far more prosperous , would they study christ more , and machiavel less . did ministers know him more graciously , they would meet surely with better success . did all superiors attend his prescripts , every business would find under them much facility . did private christians observe this better , they would sure enjoy much of truth and peace , both for the internal and external man. the lord thy physitian , is his title of honour , which christ sets up by his great herauld , and proclaims to his people for speedy help in every trouble . vse 2. it should admonish all carnal and notional christians , under the total reign , or partial remainder of spiritual errors and revolts . what pity is it that such a choice help so freely tendered should be so basely slighted and abused ! doth not this point then justly reprove . 1. such as are under the total reign of sin and error , all sinners in grain ? is not your case very woful indeed , that wilfully abide in a christless state , by still abiding in a sinful state ? sin is your plague and you know it not ; error rules in you and you feel it not ; why are you sensless in such a danger ? because sin is there in its element . your disease is a sleepy feaver , or a phrantick madness ; else you would never slight christs physick no more then his person . you feed upon ashes , a deceitful heart hath carried you aside that you cannot see the lye in your right hand . it may be you think you reject not christ : why then do you reject his terms , and prefer your own ? why do you stil love what he loaths , and loath what he loves ? why do you then continue stil in the love and trade of your darling sins , secret or gross ? why do you stil provide for your lusts , and plead for them , covering of them , mincing the matter and returning still thereto as the dog and swine ? why do you stil then loath his ordinances , his word and sabbath , his service and servants ? do you pretend allegiance to him , and yet continue stil in rebellion ? do you profess to own his marriage terms , and yet remain stil wedded to the world , to your gain and will , to sensual pleasure and windy honour ? do you profess to believe in christ , and yet will not do what he bids you , nor forbear what he forbids ? this is to mock , not to honour christ ; he knows you not , that wilfully and constantly work iniquity in opinion , affection , or life . 2. under the partial remainders thereof will regnerate saints be found , though not all alike . the best therefore may justly be reproved for their sinful estrangedness from christ . is not this the cause of so many errors and revolts , our not growing in that gracious knowledge that would prove our soveraign antidote ? why do we study the lord christ so little and the world so much ? is not our ignorance and self-conceitedness , our sloth and neglect about this main thing , the great cause of our sad distempers ? factions and fractions we justly bewail in every relation . most carry fire and fuel to the common incendy to encrease it stil ; few mind the water of the sanctuary for to quench the same . do not the best find upon due search much of selfishness in all disputes and controversies ? do they not also find in their private affairs how much self is preferred before christ ? should not this great evil humble our souls deeply , that we thus forsake the fountain of living waters , and dig unto our selves broken empty cisterns that will hold no water ? is this our kindness to our dearest friend ? is this our loyalty to our dread soveraign ? is this our love to our selves and neighbor , to despise thus the only way of cure ? be we ashamed of this vile neglect , that christs truth and waies have suffered so much through our great folly . are our experiences of so little worth , and our acquaintance with christ so inconsiderable , that we slight all , and yield to every assault of temptation and corruption , drawing us aside ? vse 3. enquiry and search into our spiritual state ; our complexion may be hence observed , that the tokens of our personal and publike constitution may be duly brought to divine test . 1. hence may every one personally view his case and state towards eternity . we are all by nature deadly sick of sin , still subject to error and apostacy of the basest kind . our hearts are full of mortal poison , carrying still within the seed and root of the worst disease naturally and spiritually . what antidote have we got against all such dreadful evils ? have we learned christ in the truth of him , that our gracious knowledge might stil be growing ? are we thereby fenced against the sinful causes of error and revolt ? are we daily mortifying sin , dying to the world , resisting tempters , denying our selves through the knowledge of christ ? are we still fortifying our souls with his precious grace , that all our faculties may be preserved in spiritual health against sin and error ? do we rightly apply the vertue of this christ in each of his specifick properties , whilst we attend his will and blessing in the diligent use of all the means appointed by him ? do we still mind his word and blood , his grace and favour in every ordinance and providence through his spirits help ? 2. may we not hence also take a publick estimate of the state of affairs in this place , in this land , in this republique , yea of any place whatsoever ? the true prognosticks of present and future weal , or wo , will be hence made perspicuous . away with star-gazers and carnal wisdom , that we may consult with gods own personal wisdom . how far are we then in a publike posture acquainted with christ ? how far is that acquaintance improved ? resolve these queries , and the case will be as clear as noon-day . god may save us with a notwithstanding miraculously , at his own pleasure . but we must judge of persons and things by the known rule of his word , compared with providence . so far as we slight christ publickly in any concernment of his , so far may we rationally expect that he should slight us in our concernments . let every one make due application as he shall see cause in all publike affairs , whilst god is shaking and overturning all things in the nations , and will do so still , til christ come to his right to fill his house with glory . vse 4. may be for counsel to all christian professors ; prize and desire , embrace and insure , keep and improve this precious antidote . it s an infectious season , it concerns all to look to themselves , and therefore look well after this antidote , to prevent and remove all sinful diseases . that it may be yours effectually thus , 1. prize it , undervalue it not ; consider its worth and singular use . it s christ himself with his saving grace that is to be duly known and improved . let no creature then come into competition . christ will endure no corrival nor superiour . let not any darling sin be cherished now to undervalue christ . if he be not infinitely better , mind him not at all ; if he be , mind him above all . 2. desire it , disdain it not . so lovely , so needful an object should set all your affections on flames . you have disdained him too long already ; is it not high time to long for him , to breath and pant , till you obtain him ? what would a dying man give for a sure cure ? a condemned man for a pardon ? a drowning man for help ? let your heart give that , and all to this christ . 3. embrace it , reject it not ; accept of him if you love your self , upon his own terms . if you capitulate , or reserve any thing , christ will none of you . this offer may be your last . let your whole soul now close freely with him in a conjugal way , by mutual consent . receive and take that you may be one , and may know him thus and your self aright . 4. insure it , neglect it not ; you have his insuring office to make all clear and firm . his spirit within by his privy seal ; his sacraments and ordinances without , by a broad seal ratifie his gracious covenant . observe and grieve not that spirit of adoption , that must witness within by evidencing grace , and operate without in all the means of grace , for the obsigation and security of your interest . 5. keep it , los it not ; so rare a jewel , so choice an antidote should be laid up with all possible care . precious stones are found to be specifick cordials against various diseases and poisons . this choisest jewel should be chiefly set in the golden ring of a gracous soul , to be worn and kept against all danger . beware of sullying , breaking and hurting so curious a piece . 6. improve it , abuse it not ; this precious knowledge was never intended to feed vain notions , or vile affections : but to fence you against every evil , and help you effectually to all true good . improve it therefore unto such ends , wherein you may be sure of gods blessing . there was never more need of such an antidote , to preserve christians from epidemical sins . this gracious knowledge of christ well improved hath vertue enough to fortifie you against all the wiles of the wicked , and all the deceits of your sinful hearts ; make use of it then against every temptation and corruption , especially against errour , the woful disease of this sinful age ; there was never more need of christs help against so many unclean spirits , ensnaring many simple hearts . prudence and zeal are here most needful , to discern aright of persons and things . some good men are drawn in on mistakes , as the four hundred that followed absalom in their simplicity . some errors are more superficial wherein christians must bear with each other , walking together as far as they agree , waiting for the lords further discovery . many errors are so fundamental , that they are inconsistent with the hope of salvation , and must be earnestly contended against , by due improvement of this antidote ; all of them militate against christ , either directly or reflectively , in opposition to all that is near and dear unto him , variously assaulting . 1. his deity ; which the arrians , and sabellians blasphemously denied , making him but a deus factus ; and the socinians after them , following therein both the socinus's , uncle and nephew ; whose italian venom carried so much infection into poland ( lately revived by too many among us , as by paul best . biddle , &c. ) as it hath been scattered in transilvania , and neighbouring parts by divers such instruments . turks and jewes agree with them therein . for the prevention and cure of this deadly plague , spiritual growth in the grace and knowledge of christ will be a special antidote faithfully improved ; fortifying your soul with his truth , making you to feel the power of his godhead through the beam of that sun of righteousness . reason and experience thus spiritualized will demonstrate to you and to others by you , the record which god bears of his son , in whom dwels the fulness of the godhead bodily , or essentially as the greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 imports . the same titles and attributes , the same worship and works ascribed to god the father , are also ascribed to god the son. the wretched arrians called christ in scorn 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , a diminutive god , and would grant him to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , of a like substance , but denied him to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the same substance . were he not god co-essential and co-eternal with the father , how could he be one with him , as himself affirms ? how could he have made infinite satisfaction and procured infinite salvation ? how could he have born gods infinite wrath for his peoples sins ? what shall we think of those quaking impostors , that own no christ above , but what 's in them , that renew the ranters blasphemy of gods being all things , their being christed , & c ? do they not affront the god of glory ? the god-head of christ takes up man to god , conveying from god all good through his manhood . there must be our strength against every sin , that christ our surety is the blessed god. 2. his humanity variously assaulted by notionists of an old and new stamp , by many behmenists and the swarms of quakers , who have con'd too much of their mysterious absurdities . this poison once got into mens brains casts them into strange dreams about christs manhood ; which they fancy to have been but a fiction and figure , a phantasm and apparition , that vanished after a while , to represent that within them which they call christ . to repress those pestiferous fumes from intoxicating your head and heart , your antidote will inform your judgement with the truth , and warm your heart with the substantial goodness of his human nature . it will shew you out of scripture , that he is truly the son of man , who took on him the seed of abraham , was made flesh , in all things like to us except sin . without controversie , great is the mysterie of godliness ; god manifest in the flesh , justified in the spirit , seen of angels , believed on in the world , preached to the gentiles received up into glory . had he not been a real man , how could he have suffered on his peoples behalf ? how could he have made his soul an offering for sin ? his sufferings were most real sure , that forced from him such a bloody sweat , in the open air of a cold season , and that in the night ; that made him cry out so lamentably , my god , my god , why hast thou forsaken me ? that spent him wholly to his last breath , with a most cruel and painful torment . they might as well deny the sun-light at noon-day , who deny this truth . to turn plain scripture into allegories , is to turn substance into a shadow . it cost origen a self-mutilation , for mutilating divine writings thus . he was called centaur , for monstrous opinions , flowing from allegorical strainings of scripture . christs manhood should be so precious to us as not to endure affronts put on it . therein god and man do most sweetly meet ; which will help weak faith in every time of need . 3 ▪ against both the parts of his humane nature , his soul and body , many also fight : apollinarius denying him a human soul ; as if the godhead had supplied the want thereof . eutyches destroyed both , by his pretended swallowing of them up into the divine nature . the manichees and valentinians allowed him but an aery phantastical body , running through the womb of mary as through a pipe. mahometans fain it to have passed through maries paps , and by the smell of a rose . divers novelists are daily broaching strange conceits about it . the vbiquitarians give him a monstrous body , immense and filling all places ; the papists as monstrously would have his body to be distinctly in many places at once ; to be without quantity , without extension , without sensible accidents : to be made a new daily at the priests will : to be broken and not broken by himself , and by all their priests , &c. many such contradictions against scripture and sence , reason and all sciences they are forced to for their fictitious transubstantiation sake . all such malignant vapours which infest many , will be effectually dispelled by the right use of your spiritual confection . christ was and abides ever a perfect man , consisting of soul and body , both subsisting in his divine person , being united to the divine nature therein . it will shew you , that his soul was sorrowful to death , and was made sensible of all humane affections , though without sin : as clear chrystal water moved without any mud . it will teach you that his body had flesh and bones after his resurrection as before , which a spirit hath not . that the same body did visibly ascend into heaven , before the disciples eyes , and shal return thence in the same manner . that the heavens must hold him , till the restauration of all things . that the glorifying of his body hath not , could not have annihilated it , or changed the substance , though it hath bettered the qualities thereof . it will help you to know the flesh of christ spiritually , though you learn to know him no more after the slesh carnally . it will teach you that his bare flesh , and the fleshly sence thereof , profits nothing a capernaitish soul , being destitute of his spirit : but that it s his spirit that quickens us , giving life to his flesh and to his word , that both may be spirit and life to us in a spiritual and lively improvement . christs manhood is that precious golden ring , that sets forth the jewel of his godhead to us . it s a curious vail of his contriving , that his glorious face may through it be beheld . it s a chrystal glass of the lords framing , to reflect thereby his image upon us . out of christ god is a consuming fire , but thereby he becomes a reconciled father . if christ were not man still , there were no hopes for man ; if we know him not thus , we know him not at all . it s not a figment of our own divising , but the man christ jesus that must be our saviour . he cannot be ours unless wholly ours . 4. against his person , appear , nestorius dividing it into two persons , sabellius , arius , all antitrinarians , denying his distinctly eternal personality from the father ; the socinians and notionists that fancy the distiction of persons in god to be but nominal according to various dispensations , witness hob's leviathan , among many other poisonous books , so commonly scattered abroad . to queneh the force of these pernicious errors , your counter poison will season your soul with the scriptural description of emmanuel , our 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , god with us . it will prove him to be god-man , having both natures , divine and humane , subsisting in his person , the son of god , the second person of the divine trinity by hypostatical union ; it will clear him to be the brightness of his glorious father , and the express image of his person , being that one mediator between god and man , and therefore god-man , that he might conquer by suffering , and make his suffering infinite for vertue and value , for satisfaction and acquisition . it will shew you that there are three in heaven , the father , the word and the spirit , and that those three are one . that this mystery is not against reason , though above it in its common shallow apprehension ; that the son sends the spirit comforter from the father , and is therefore distinct from them both , yet that he and the father are one in essence , though distinct in person . that gods reason is the rule of ours , being revealed to us in his divine monuments , that we may assent to his assertion , though we cannot fathom the explicitness thereof , no more then bruits can fathom our rational expressions . that the person of christ coming out of the water , must needs be distinct from that person of the spirit , who came in the likeness of a dove , lighting on him at his baptism , and from the person of the father , whose voice from heaven said , this is my beloved son , hear him . thus the grace and knowledge of christ , will teach you , that he who thought it no robbery to be equal wtth god , ( being in the form of god substantially ) made himself of no reputation , that as god-man he might restore man to god in the gloryfiing of all divine attributes . our faith is not true if we do not own the true god truly , as he holds forth himself in three distinct persons . those divine persons are not meer modes , or manners of attribution or manifestation , but real subsistences . the father is not the son , the son is not the spirit personally , though they be one god essentially . the person of the son alone was incarnate , not that of the father ; he could not be son ; not that of the spirit ; there had been two sons then . the word became flesh , not the father nor spirit . divers emblems are used to set forth this glorious mysterie ; but scripture-language describes it best to a sober faith . the word person is a scripture word very proper and significant . they that deny this right use thereof , make way for further denyal of truth . the person of christ is then to be owned by all that intend to be owned of him . 5. against christs spirit stirs first macedonius , denying him to be a divine person distinct from the father and son. secondly , all antitrinitarians , who oppose the distinction of divine persons . thirdly , the greeke , who deny the procession of the spirit from the father through the son. fourthly . the several blasphemers that vaunted themselves to be the holy ghost , as simon magus , montanus , david , george , &c. fifthly , all enthusiasts who father their lies on gods spirit , &c. to quell this wofull poison , your preservative will set your judgement right by the grace and knowledge of christs spirit . thereby you will surely understand that the holy spirit hath in scripture ascribed to him the same titles and attributes , the same divine worship and works which are ascribed to the father and to the son , and therefore must needs be god , blessed from ever and for ever . that the working of all scripture miracles , the penning of all those divine writings , the wonderfull quickning of dead souls and bodies , and the daily experience of all spiritual christians do fully demonstrate it . that therefore the fanatick illusions and delusions of revelationists , being so opposite to gods truth and holiness , must needs proceed from that lying spirit , who perswaded so many of ahabs prophets , and still possesses the false prophets of our days , to speak and act against the dictates of christs spirit . the malicious opposing of the truth confirmed so undeniably by the miraculous operations of the lord ; the spirit hath therefore the most desperate aggravations even unto death , attending the same , because god the father and son both are thereby also desperately opposed . 6. against his office and function of al-sufficient and only mediator , for his peoples salvation , move first , all the former hereticks in denying his deity or humanity , his parts and person . secondly , all such who mangle the said function as the socinians , who deny the need and use of his satisfaction for sin . thirdly , all such who divide his mediation work , ascribing part thereof to saints and angles , as the papists with fond distinctions . fourthly , all such as put the said mediation into the virgin mary's hand , calling her queen of heaven , entitling the psalter to her , placing her name instead of the lords name in the said psalter , giving her authority over christ her son in heaven , promising and expecting more from her often then from christ , as much at least , and telling doctorally that god hath divided his mercy and justice , giving her the throne of mercy , and reserving himself the throne of justice , &c. as the said papists . fifthly , all such who pretending to sinless perfection and selfish righteousness do frustrate and nullifie so far his mediation , as the quakers , and such monkish pharisees . to suppress the violence of this poisonous stuff , the grace and knowledge of christ improved , will shew us clearly still the necessity of christs satisfaction and al suffiency of his mediation , that without the shedding of this blood there can be no remission of sin . that no righteousness but that of god-man could satisfie divine justice . that without satisfaction there could be no reconciliation of god to man , that without imputation thereof to many there could be no discharge of mans debt . that no purchase could be made of eternal life and divine favour , but by that infinite price paid by emmanuel . that without such purchase orderly applycable , there could be no salvation for lost man. that christs mediation alone is al-sufficient to all those purposes , and needs no partners in any share thereof , either for impetration or application . that to give the least part thereof to any meer creature , whether in heaven or earth , can be no better then idolatry . that no palliation or shifts by distinctions of dulia , hyperdulia and latria can cover this blasphemy , no more then adams figs leaves could cover his nakedness . that there cannot be on earth in any meer man a sinless perfection , and if it could be had , yet it could not satisfie for the evil past in the least . that the best are but unprofitable servants . that the payment of a farthing due , cannot satisfie a thousand pound debt in arrears . to signifie emphatically the due application and imputation of christs righteousness unto believers , the scripture cals * him jehovah-tsidkenu , the lord our righteousness , repeating that name again in the great promise of restauration to be afforded to his israel by vertue of that righteousness made theirs , whence christs name is synecdochically and metonymically ascribed to the new jerusalem . to that import the lord jesus incorporates his name with a christians propriety into one new name , framed by his own spirit , which paul expresses by his being made unto us of god , * righteousness and redemption , and our being made * the righteousness of god in in him , as he was made sin for us , who knew no sin , which must needs be understood by way of imputation , there being no sin inherent in christ . 7. his priesthood is opposed . first , by all the formerly named errors . secondly , by the papists , in making new priests daily , and a new propitiatory sacrifice , called incruentum , to be offered by them for the living and dead . secondly , in joining mans merits to his , and thereby patching up a mongrel righteousness for themselves and others . thirdly , in pretended works of supererogation which are imputed to others by way of indulgence out of their churches imaginary treasure . fourthly , in denying the imputation of christs righteousness for the pardon and justification of his members . fifthly , in giving to mans righteousness , dip'd in christs blood , a meriting value and vertue to satisfie and pacifie gods justice , and to procure his mercy . sixthly , in making christs merits to be but the remote and mediate cause ; but mans merits to be the immediate proxime cause of the pardon . thirdly , by such who sever his habitual and his active obedience from his meriting oblation , given to god for his people , and imputed to believers , reckoning only his passive obedience to be so meritorious and imputative for the reconciling of man to god. fourthly , by quakers and others , who find no need of , and little regard an high priest in heaven . against such mortal wounds , the balm of our christian gilead will afford healing vertue from the due review of his grace and knowledge . we shall find thereby , that christ jesus by his personal righteousness , by that one oblation hath for ever perfected those that are sanctified , once for all . that a new order of priests brings a new law , and nuls the former . that it was an imperfect priest and sacrifice typically ceremonial that needed renewing . that to give to a meer man , suppose a masse-priest , the power of making and renewing a propitiatory oblation at his will upon his intent of consecrating , is to set him in christs room , yea above christ , and to deny christ come in the flesh by unavoidable consequence . the oblation of christ had not been compleat , if it had not been active as well as passive , and habitual as well as actual ; heart-obedience being the root and life of all other . redemption is indeed frequently ascribed to his blood and death , but it s by a synecdoche , including the rest of his whole obedience whereof his death was the complement and utmost . his whole life was a continual passion , and he was most active in his most passive obedience . he laid down his life of himself-freely , and shewed his active power in his giving up the ghost . that perfection of his merits excludes the least ingrediency of mans merits . our obedience is required indeed and rewarded of grace , not for its worth or proportion . the childs duty is required , not to merit his inheritance by , but to shew his ingenuity . the beggars reaching of his hand is a condition , yet no merit of the gift . 8. his prophetical charge is undermined . first , by the errors forenamed . secondly , by the popish pretences of infallibility in their church , pope or councel . thirdly , by the immediate revelations and infallible oracles of enthusiasts , quakers , behmenists , pretending extraordinary acquaintance with god and spirits , besides , above and against his word . fourthly , by the perfectionists of divers sorts , who pretend to a sinless state , wherein they need no further teaching . fifthly , by such as despise christs prophets and apostles , pastors and teachers , extraordinary and ordinary messengers of his . against such a disease , improve this antidote to vindicate the lords infallibleness , and to detect the cheats of all impostors pretending thereto . you will see thereby that christs spirit alone is the supream infallible judge , speaking to us by his written word , è cathedra coeli . that we need no other infallible judge on earth . that every christian in his place , whether private or publique , civil or ecclesiastical , hath a judgement of discretion to regulate him in his own acts by the scripture rule . that churches and counsels have an authoritative judgement of direction to the several members under their respective charges , still in subordination to christs writen word . that yet there is no need of any infallible , immediate and sinless assistance , or spirit in any mortal man now since the canon of scripture our perfect rule was compleated by john the beloved apostle . that all pretenders to such infallibility since the apostles days , have successively bewrayed their notorious impostures and contradictions , both notionally and practically . that popish bishops and councils , enthusiastical behmenists and quakers , have hitherto been found guilty of such absurd falshoods and blasphemous extravagancies , that they sufficiently confute themselves . that paul himself after all his raptures knew but in part , complaining stil of his own and others weakness and insufficiency ; that peter himself failed , and was reproved by him openly . that there is indeed a perfection of sincerity and truth begun below in the regenerate , and a perfection of growth , which is comparative & progressive : but that a sinless perfection of fulness is reserved for the glory of heaven , not enjoyed before mans dissolution . that christ therefore is the grand prophet , who teaches his people stil by his word and spirit , the will of god for their salvation gradually . that being taught all needful things by his anointing , who writes his law upon their heart , they need not to be taught by any sect-master in a pharisaical way , so as to pin their faith upon any mans sleeve upon his own credit ; but must attend christ who teaches from heaven by men and means . that no meer mans word is to be believed upon his own credit , but that all doctrines must be examined by the scriptural teachings of christ . that those spirits and persons who pretend to bring infallible oracles and a new gospel , are cursed of the apostle , for shaking off christ and his gospel . that all christs servants are to be heard so far as they keep to his scriptural commission but no further . that christ himself is received or rejected , so far as his embassadors , following his instruction , are owned or slighted . it s the common and ominous symptom of error to despise the ministers of christ , though godly and learned , and prefer their own imaginations before the plain word of god. the gospel is to us the only glass of heaven , wherein the glorious revelations of gods image are made out , to transform us into the likeness thereof gradually through his spirit . 9. the kingship of christ is much abused , 1. by the errors forenamed . 2. by libertines and ranters of all sorts . 3. by the pontifician supremacy , pretended to be over all things and persons in the pope , as peters successor . 4. by quakers and others slighting the christ above under pretence of a christ within . 5. by sensual pretenders and abusers of a fifth monarchy . against these rebellious tenets , the grace and knowledge of christ will satisfie us , that christ jesus is the king of kings , and lord of lords , who must reign even in the midst of all enemies , till they be made his footstool , that he will destroy all such who refuse to stoop to his golden scepter , but chuse to live in the kingdom of darkness under the rule of sin and satan . that conscience is his seat royal in mans soul , which is by sin , satan and self usurped from him . that he will surely recover his right , if not in mercy , yet in his just wrath . that pretence of conscience to shake off his rule , is the highest treason under his pavilion . that to shelter any sin or error under that covert , is but to cloath traytors in his robes of state . that he will not save where he doth not rule , and will not be our priest if he be not our king. that to desire or plead liberty to sin , is to set up hell in rule among men under the habit of heaven . that the more of christ is in any soul , the more obedience in true faith and love is given to him . that to set up a pope or any other meer man for a supream head over the conscience , is to set up a sinful wretch in the throne of christ . that his jealousie will not endure long such a rebellion . that peter never had any supremacy of power or authority , what ever priority of order and age may be granted by some . that peters being at rome is very uncertain , and yet to be proved , though many affirm it . that if his being there were fully granted , yet his fixed charge and continuance there shall need as much proof . that upon supposal of his setling there , yet must it be shewed that he acted there such a supremacy . that if that also were clear , it must be shewed also , that his full power was made over to his successors there , more then to any other minister of christ at antioch , or elsewhere . that in case that should be proved likewise , they must demonstrate a clear succession from that time till now , which is impossible . and if that could be , yet they must evince their succession in doctrine also ; else all the former will only prove papacy to be the man of sin got into gods temple : the grand antichrist , and the scarlet whore riding on the beast by this usurped supremacy . when all that is dispatched , we shall have more work for them , to clear their antichristianism in ruling by their own , not by christs scepter ; by their will , not by his : which they have taught their mongrel brood quaking among us , to spread under disguises , their chymical sublimations of old rotten errors . as for the fifth monarchy , it s a point needing much sobriety in the sence and use thereof . christ indeed hath a kingdom in this world , though not of this world ; and his work is to reform rulers and people , not to confound his own ordinances . 10. christs humiliation state is opposed much , as 1. by the former , so 2 , by many novelists who make light of it , accounting it but a type and figure of what was to be done within them . christs incarnation , life and passion are with them but stories and shadows ; the life and substance is all within them . there say they , lies christ very deep in every mans heart , covered with earth , to be born and raised up , to live and die , to do and suffer . as for the christ that died at jerusalem , many do slight him , and many that seem to own him verbally , yet renounce him effectively . 3. by our late quakers who have revived those rotten drugs from the familists dunghil , adding a new dress and access thereto , as paracelsus and david george , swenkfield and battenburg , manno and jacob behmen with their german followers ; so do our modern enthusiasts rake up the kennels of old fanatick dreamers , with disguises and additions of their own . against this venom , spiritual growth will help , that we may know christ , as the great apostle did labour for , in the fellowship of his sufferings . it will inform us of his wonderful abasing of himself in every step from his first conception till his resurrection . it will shew us the absolute need all his elect had of his miraculous incarnation and birth , life and death , burial and abode for three daies in the grave . it will make us feel the effects thereof in our very souls , that his transcendent love in stooping so low , and parting withal , may direct and press returns of the like to him and for him . that experience will engage our hearts to that christ above , who died once for sin , but can die no more , living unto god , that we may likewise reckon our selves to be dead to sin , but alive to god through him . that knowledge of christ will teach us aright how to distinguish of the person of christ that once suffered for us : and of the grace of christ , which is by his spirit formed within us in regeneration . christ personal , is the god of heaven , that eternal creator ; but his grace in us which seems sometimes to be called by christs name , ( as the church is also by a metonymical metaphor , and synecdochically , ) is but a finite creature , a spiritual quality , not subsisting by it self , but inhering in a subject humane . scripture saith indeed that christ is within us , dwelling in us by his holy spirit . but may not he work within our heart by gracious communications without a personal fixation there ? the sun conveys light and life by his beams to all parts , yet his substance abides stil in heaven . there is indeed a spiritual relative union between christ and the regenerate , set forth in scripture by divers emblems . the natural union between the head and members ; the civil union between husband and wife ; the artificial union between foundation and building set it forth . but we must not strain figurative speeches beyond their scope . this union is real , yet mystical , full of mysteries . there is no confusion nor composition , no transmutation nor annihilation here . our persons are stil distinct . christs godhead is indeed a circle , whereof the center is everywhere , the circumference nowhere . he fils all places , comprised in none . hell it self feels him , though with little comfort . but his manhood is not infinite , being a creature , though wonderfully glorified by assumption and hypostatical union unto the godhead in the second person . christ as saviour must stil be considered in both his natures , divine and humane , subsisting in his own person . thus considered , he dwells not in us personally . the person of the husband is one with the wife relatively , not personally . christs manhood cannot be personally within us . the heavens must hold , as they received him , till the restauration of all . he dwels in our hearts by faith , and we in him mutually , as the root in the branches , and the branches in the root by relation and communication . his whole humiliation was for us , and his spirit enables us gradually to conform thereto by a fiducial improvement thereof . thence he is said to be formed within us , to be in us , ( or among us * ) the hope of glory , to live and act in us , &c. hence the sufferings of paul are called christs sufferings , not personally , but causally ; because they are for his sake through his grace undergone . it s a sad abuse put on christ and his word , thus to slight and destroy christs personal humiliation whereon depends all our salvation . if christ suffered not , then he rose not again ; and then are we still in our sins , and of all men most miserable . but christ is as effectually risen as he effectually suffered . that effected redemption by price in impetration , this by power in application . thus it became him to suffer , and so to enter into his kingdom . how far the justice of god , absolutely considered , may be thought to require such satisfaction in order to pardon , we need not controvert . it suffices that upon supposition of his purpose and engagement , this way is of absolute need . by this all his attributes harmoniously concur to the perfecting of his peoples salvation . 11. christs exaltation is also much abused , as 1. by the former errors : so 2. by our modern sadduces , denying the resurrection of the body , as some did at corinth . 3. by the quaking rabble , who own no christ but what is within them . 4. by our novelists who deny his ascension , and his session at the fathers right hand . 5. in effect also by the papists in their impanation , transubstantiation , and such monstrous doctrines . 6. the vbiquitaries trespass too much thereon , in divers fond conceits , broached and encreased after luthers death , by brentius , osiander , &c. 11. against such opposers the knowledge of christ is of soveraign force . thence we learn to believe according to scripture , the several steps of his resurrection and ascension , of his session and intercession . it teaches us to improve the many arguments so cogently pressed by paul on the corinthians as on the romanes . thence we learn to know christ as the apostle did , more experimentally in the power of his resurrection , being made conformable to his death . so it became christ to suffer and enter into glory . as by humiliation he wrought out our salvation by price in way of impretation ; so by his exaltation he works it out by power in a way of application . the many cavils objected against it , paul fully confuted over and over . the popish pretences for their transubstantiation , have been from scripture sufficiently taken off by many choice pens . that capernaitical conceit christ himself took pains to refute . it much wrongs the glory of christ to bring him again from heaven to earth , daily to mangle and abuse him by the hand of their mass-priests , and expose him to shame and suffering again . though they call their mass an unbloody sacrifice , yet do they make themselves the butchers and executioners of christ , in pretending to offer his corporal flesh and blood . scripture indeed cals the bread and wine his body and blood , so doth it call christ the door , the vine , &c. by the like metaphors ; yet is not christ turned into a door nor vine ; no more are the elements turned into his body and blood. christ explains the meaning of those phrases , & so doth his apostle to the full . as for the vbiquitarians conceit , to make christs body present corporally with the elements and everywhere , the absurdity thereof abuses grosly christs exaltation in his humane nature ; and their consubstantiation is refuted with that scripture reason that dispels the popish impanation . their straining of figurative speeches beyond their scope , fetches blood out of scripture by dreadful violence and absurd consequence . yet will they admit figures in many other places not controverted . 12 , the word of christ suffers much likewise , 1. from the forenamed tenets . 2. formal antiscripturists , old and new , quite denying the need and use thereof ; and questioning the purity , sufficiency , clearness and divineness of it . 3. by papists , charging it with obscurity , corruption , insufficiency , defectiveness and needlesness . they keep it from the peoples common use , unless licenced , teaching that ignorance is the mother of devotion . they prefer their vulgar latin version before both originals . they equalize their unwritten traditions therewith , and the church commands : yea prefer them often before it . they bind all to receive its interpretation only from their mouth . they patch to the canon many apocrypha's and spurious books , stored with lies and contradictions , absurdities and fables , ascribing thereto the like divine authority . 4. the quakers join with them in slighting scripture , equaling their pretended revelations therewith , abusing the words thereof to contrary sences , wresting it to the disguising of their gross errors , giving to their pretended light within that infallibility which the papists give to their pope and council ; 5. the behmenists and notionists that turn it into allegories and uncouth eictions ; changing realities into shadowes , and the substance of scripture into chymical fumes , witness paracelsus , wigelius , behmens several books , which are stored with non-sence and vile blasphemies ; bold intrusions into hid mysteries ; all under specious colours with bombastical words . against these woful drugs , the knowledge of christ will be successfully improved , shewing us the excellency and necessity , the sufficiency and purity , the clarity and utility of scripture . it will take off all the mistakes , objections and cavils made against the divinity and right use thereof . it will clear it to be the sole and sure standard and rule of religion ; being the full declaration of gods will and mind , the fountain of all goodness & truth . it will shew the need that all have to study it day and night , and observe it in all things . it will detect their folly who add thereto their unwritten traditions , additions and revelations besides , above , or against it as abominable to god. it will discover their madness , who pretend to speak and write as good scripture , and will not own the bible to be the word of god. it will shew that all scripture was written by inspiration from god , and is sufficient to compleat the man of god to every good work . that it came not by the will of man , but that the men of god writ as they were moved by the holy ghost . that the abuse of it by some must not prejudice the right use thereof ; corruptio optimi pessima ; that if he be hid , it s to them that perish . that the word is light , and gives light. that the spirit of christ still speaks in his word whether to life or to death , being inseparable from it . that its never a dead letter , though it be sometimes a killing letter . that translations are but the taps of scripture , to broach those full vessels , which therefore should be fitted to the use of all , and are so far to be owned as they agree with the original sense . that the sense of scripture is scripture , though it may be variously expressed . that no mans interpretation is to be received further then it agrees with the whole scripture . that all seeming contradictions therein are easily cleared by comparing of scriptures , minding the context and scope in a sober humble manner with studious diligence . that the sense of scripture translations when dark , must be brought to the original light. that all things absolutely needful to salvation are clearly laid down in scripture . that scripture consequence is scripture . that some things are obscure therein to exercise our sobriety & industry . that it s so fitted to every mans condition , that the simplest may reap the benefit thereof . that christ bids all search the scriptures , and sends them to the law and testimony for decision and prediction stil . that the wisest christians are most studious of scripture , finding stil most need of it , being most sensible of their remaining ignorance . that pride and blindness make men to conceive so highly of their knowledge , as to think themselves wise enough without it , or as wise as it . that they are foolish self-seducers , who thus think and say . that god indeed spoke to our fathers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in divers parts and manners , by piece-meal as it were ; but he hath now contracted all , in speaking to us by his son. that therefore having closed the canon , and sealed up those records by his sons apostles ; who ever adds to or detracts from it , is liable to that sentence there denounced by the lord himself . that the lords will revealed in scripture obliges all , being the beck and hint of our soveraign , who can becken us all into nothing at his will. that since the compleating of scripture , immediate inspirations are expired , being needless , the divine rule of all being perfectly given out . that all pretended enthusiasms not agreeing with the word , must be suspected to be from evil spirits . the several errors of the apocrypha are discovered by scripture light , and have been abundantly confuted by many worthy hands . the abuse of scripture by feigned allegories , is thereby detected also , when men will be wise above what 's written , giving heed to jewish and chymical fables , yea to magical notions and fictions , as paracelsus , behmen , &c. they are justly given up to believe those lies , deceiving , and being deceived . the scripture indeed sometimes allegorizes and teaches the use of tropes and figures by the best rhetorick . we must therefore be sure to keep close to it , least we turn substantial truth by chymical evaporations into notional smoak . too many of late have followed those woful courses of enervating scripture by allegorical strains , till they had lost reason and religion at once . such paracelsian fumes quickly intoxicate mens brains , breeding the giddiness , and then convulsions to extremity . 13. christs ordinances , by his word appointed , are not spared , but are opposed too . first , by the forenamed deceits . secondly , by our modern seekers and familists , as by the old gnosticks , accounting them but childish weak things , fit only for inferior christians in their lower form . thirdly , by many luke-warm laodiceans of this age , of a neutral indifferent spirit towards christs instituted worship . fourthly , by all papists and traditionists , who set up wayes and parts of worship of mans devising : as religious use of images , prayer for the dead , invocation of saints and angels , veneration of reliques , sale of pardons and indulgences , fictions of purgatory and limbus patrum , & infantium ; prayer in an unknown tongue by roat upon beads , vain babling and tautologies repeated over and over ; superstitious uses of crosses and crossings ; altars and tapers ; vestments and dressings ; mimical gestures and ridiculous stage-playes in worship : corrupting of every ordinance by many foppish additions and tricks . fifthly , by ranters and quakers , who jeer and blaspheme christs institutions , as our sad experience testifies in all places . against such gross evils , the right knowledge of christ will arm us , and prove that they are but fools who think themselves too wise for christs school . that the highest christians have alwaies used them , and pressed all others thereto with all diligence . that they are the charets and conduits of communication between the lord and us . that they are all suited to the case of all gods people on earth . that we should live above them in the use , not in the neglect of them . that our bodies shal cease from needing food , when our souls shall cease to need ordinances . that christ promises his presence therewith to the worlds end . that he meets his people with a choice blessing , where ever he records his name , and therefore bids them seek his face evermore . that therein our homage is paid unto him in a special manner . that the lord will be sought and found in all his ways . that his familiarity is to teach us manners , not sauciness . that to be neutral and meteor-like in the lords worship , is sad and sinfull in a high degree . that prayer and singing are jointly prescribed and directed to for spiritual use . that the abuse thereof by any , should not , cannot excuse us from our duty . all are bound and bidden to use them , yet none can use them spiritually but by a special grace . that a moral performance of duty is better far then non-performance . that men are to serve god as well as they can , still learning of him how to serve him better . that god is ready to give more still to such as improve what they have received . that its better to serve christ outwardly , then to serve sin and satan by omitting good , or committing evil . that the preaching and hearing gods word , requires of necessity meditation and repetition , reading and studying thereof . that christ will be honoured in every relation by every one , without exception , as in publique and secret , so likewise in our several families . that he threatens a curse to such nations , and such families as know not , and call not on his name . that his morning and evening mercies challenge good manners in duty from us . that christ himself taught how to pray and praise on the solemn use of the lords creatures . that to rest on duties is idolatry , and to neglect the same is rebellion that all mixtures of humane inventions do but soil and deface the lords pure worship : that therefore all romish innovations are sufficiently confuted by the bare rehersal . that will-worship can never please him who will be worshipped in spirit and truth . that the heathens pleaded the like excuses for their superstition and idolatry , as the papists do for theirs . that a great part of the pop●sh trash is but borrowed from pagans with disguises . that in many things they renew those rites , which by christs coming were to have an end : that vows contrary to scripture-duty , can shew little savour of scripture-verity : that the ready way to obscure our light , is to besmear and and paint our windows . that scripture-simplicity loves not the dressing of a pompous whore . that a fair complexion needs no painting , and truth hath most power when most purity . that antiquity pleads not at all for their grossest tricks . that in the things wherein some of the fathers seem to plead for them , there is much mistake and much forgery . that however , truth is the eldest , and he wants no antiquity that wants not scripture-truth . many words were innocently used by the fathers as merit , altar , &c. which are turned quite into another sense among papists now . 14. christs holy-day , his sabbath of rest , suffers peculiarly , as , 1. from the foresaid enemies of truth ; so secondly , from too many seeming friends , some wholly rejecting , some mangling of it , and some indifferent to this or to that . thirdly , by quakers and all enthusiasts , who slight all , or most of christs ordinances , and this especially . against such mistakes and abuses , the knowledge of christ will teach and enable us to observe his day as becomes a sabbath . it s called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the lords day , to express his special property therein , and sanction thereof , as the eucharist is called the lords table and the lords supper 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . the command enjoining it , is placed in the heart and center of the decalogue ; with a signal memento prefixed . it s largely expressed , both positively and prohibitively . in the precept and close he names the sabbath , though in the amplification he mentions the seventh day , or a seventh day . he adds strong reasons to enforce it from his propriety , example and blessing , as also from the equity thereof . by this one command , he often expresses his whole worship , he couples it sometimes with one precept of the first table , and after with one of the second table to signifie the great influence it hath into the observance of both . it s abundantly confirmed , enforced and renew'd in every part of scripture , old and new . the reason that enforced the use of the seventh day sabbath extends as fully to the first day sabbath . that was the lords rest day from his creation-work ; this is his rest day from his redemption-work . the change of the day in its quando , made by god himself , alters not the force of the comand , but ratifies it . he only could do it that is the lord thereof . there is no change made in the quamdiu and continuance , nor in the quoties and frequency of the same . the whole precept being moral , in part naturally , in part positively , is perpetual therefore , and not to be altered by any creature . that some special time should be observed for gods solemn worship , is moral natural . that it should be such a proportion in such a revolution , is moral positive . that the duty should be moved from the seventh to the first day of the week , makes no substantial change therein , but only directs to the season thereof upon pregnant ground . paul clears this by a large demonstration . the first day sabbath was eminently typified in the most notable providences of the old testament . on the first day light was created , noahs ark rested , circumcision was first ordained , israel was redeemed from aegyptian bondage ; on the same day christs law was first given by himself to israel on mount sinai ; the cloud of his special presence first rested on them , the tabernacle with his pertinances was rear'd , aaron and his children first executed their priesthood . on that day his fire from heaven first came down to consume the sacrifices to make them acceptable in christ by his spirit . the israelites were first solemly by the lord himself blessed ; their princes first publiquely offered to the lord. so for the new testament , christ thereon first shewed his miracles in cana , he first rose and appeared to his disciples ; the saints that slept then rose out of their graves ; the holy ghost came down upon the apostles solemnly met , and thereon still they met for divine worship . when the jewish sabbath ended by reason of its typicalness expiring with christs death , then began the first day to be the christian sabbath , christ sanctifying it to that end by his resurrection , honouring it in a special manner , which is the ground given by god himself for the keeping of a sabbath . so carefull were christ and christians of it , that he bids them pray , that their flight be not in the winter , nor on the sabbath , lest it should distract their bodies and souls . prophaning of the sabbath hath ever been threatned and punished signally , as the due observance of it hath been choicely encouraged and rewarded in all superiors and inferiors . it s the lords court-day wherein he expects due homage and rents from all his tenants . it s his muster-day for all his christian souldiers . it s his solemn feast-day to welcome all his friends . it s his weekly market for the getting in of all heavenly provisions . it s his chancery-day for the sealing and grant of his deeds of favour . what enemies are they to his honor and mans good , who slight and abuse that heaven upon earth ! it s the beginning of an eternal sabbath . all cavils against it have been fully dispelled by many choice pieces . when paul condemns the distinction of days , his meaning is cleared by the context , to speak of jewish ceremonials , not of christian morals . the neglect and abuse of the christian sabbath hath been observed formerly and lately to be still the inlet to all other errors . englands prosperity began in queen elizabeths time , when the sabbath began to be duly maintained by authority . the troubles of england began afterwards , when the sabbath was publiquely by authority profaned , and by the same party . * the famous kings and witagen mots among the saxons , still ; renew'd strict laws for due observance of the christian sabbath . 15. the law of christ is variously abused , 1. by the the foresaid errors . 2. by antinomians , denying the obligation of a christian to the moral law. 3. by papists in mangling of it , and dispencing therewith at pleasure many ways . 4. by quakers , and other innovators , joining too much with papists . 5. by socinians that rest thereon , teaching people the like , and so making it their satisfaction to justice and their salvation . against such evils , scripture-knowledge of christ will help us to see the need and use of that law of christ . as he printed it on mans heart at first , so doth he by his grace renew it there gradually . he published it himself from mount sina to his people , adding the ceremonials and judicials afterwards , as fit accommodations of that moral law , suited to the jewish church and state. the decalogue then is the sum of that law , which obliges all men without exception . the sevetal explications and applications thereof we find through the old and new testament . christ ratified the same from mount zion also , in taking away the pharisaical rubbish , which their false glosses had cast about it . the apostles further clear and confirm it in their several epistles and writings . where the scripture seems to speak against the law , the sense is cleared by viewing the context . 1. they speak against the justifying power of the law , through mans weakness since the fall , none being able to keep it without fault , or to make amends for his breach thereof . thus by the law can none be justified , and the regenerate are not under it to get pardon and salvation by a law of works . the pharisees thus pressed and owned it , and were confuted by christ and his apostles . thus also do they sin , that do rest upon any gospel-duty , making it to themselves thereby a law of works . secondly , they speak against the condemning effect of the law , which the regenerate are freed from by christs righteousness imputed to them . they are not under the curse of it , having their sins pardoned by christs satisfaction , made theirs actually through faith in his blood ; though their sin deserves the curse , yet that reatus and guilt doth not redound upon their persons , being taken off by christ . thirdly , they speak often of the ceremonial law as not obliging any christian since christ , though it was used indifferently for a while to bear with tender converts then unsatisfied about the abrogation thereof . fourthly , they still own the royal law of liberty , that moral law which is the transcript of gods holy will for the rule of mans duty in conformity to gods image . it s called therefore the law of christ , the perfect law , and the law of truth , which men do well when they observe , and ill so far as they neglect it . god indeed writes his law on his peoples heart , but gradually and variously ; that is , to them an internal principle of obedience , which is still attended by the law of their members in opposition thereto . this principle moves them still to observe that law which god hath given to be their standing rule , perfect and unchangeable . men are as far from his grace as they are from observing his law. god never leaves his children without rule . he that breaks and nuls any one part willingly , is guilty of all . the papists guilt is great in hiding the second command from the people in their vulgar liturgies , leaving it out , and making a gainful trade of dispensing with incest , undutifulness of children , fornication , &c. how great is their guilt then that take away all the commands at once , leaving man to his own deceitfull heart under pretence of a light and law within ? to be lawless , is to be godless , ; for what 's gods law but the declaration of gods will requiring mans duty ? who ever opposes the princes order , doth so far oppose the prince himself . atheism is the source and sum of such antinomianism . 16. the lords covenant in christ is assaulted also , first , by the former errors . secondly , by socinians , papists , novellists , who deny his gracious covenant with abraham , renewed with israel in horeb , in moab , and so successively till christs personal coming , who published a new edition thereof . thirdly , by divers anabaptists , and other week christians , who mistake and miscall that covenant many ways , not distinguishing the substance from the manner of administring it , confounding works and grace , law and gospel thereby . against that distemper , our antidote will give a sure remedy , shewing the right nature and use of that gracious covenant made of god in christ with his people in all ages ever since mans fall . god made first an overture thereof to our first parents in the promised seed . it was further cleared to noah , and sealed to abraham and his seed . at their coming from aegypt he renewed it by the mediators voice and hand . gods mercy engaged , engaging mans duty in christ and through him , is the sum thereof . gods mercy is expressed in every promise , mans duty in every precept . the ceremonials and judicials were the several garments of that covenant , suited to their condition both in church and state. by this covenant they had all good , and were freed from evil temporal , spiritual , and eternal . it was a parental and conjugal covenant which the godly did embrace spiritually , and other professors but externally . god owned them , whither jews or proselytes for his children and spouse , so far as they owned it either externally or internally . because this covenant was much mistaken and abused in their latter times , christ came in person to renew it evangelically . thence the gospel is called a new covenant , because the old renew'd in a fairer print . thus the old command of love being renew'd is a new command . thus the old moon renew'd , is called the new moon . thus an old lease revived , is a new lease . it s the old substantially , it s a new one circumstantially . the former edition was more dark , this more clear ; that straighter , this larger ; that heavier , this lighter : therefore the gospel-covenant is comparatively said to be better , made on better promises , and more lasting , being unchangeable till christs last coming ; whereas the former is said to be grown weak and antiquated . thence the gospel-ministry is comparatively called a ministry of life of glory , of the spirit , and abiding , whereas the former dispensation was more accommodated to that infant age of the church , and is said to have more of death , of the letter , and less glory . thus the scripture speaks often positively of things understood comparatively . my doctrine saith christ , is not mine , john 7. 16. h. e. comparatively , not barely mine , but his that sent me . that this covenant must needs be substantially the same now , as then , though now more plainly dressed , appears in the author and mediator , the substance and scope , the parties and parts , the terms and conditions which are still essentially the same . it s still of grace and from grace , for grace , and through grace in every branch of it . all cavils objected have been abundantly refuted by others . these hints may suffice now to point at those things which have been so fully and so frequently cleared by so many champions of divine truth . 17. the seals of christs covenant are also abused : as 1. by the foresaid evils ; so 2. by the papists defiling , mangling and corrupting them : adding five sacraments of their own invention , viz. penance , and order , confirmation , marriage and extream unction . 3. by quakers and notionists , who slight and contemn them . 4. by the anabaptists who deny baptism to christs infant members , the believers seed . against those maladies we find soveraign help from the grace and knowledge of christ improved . thence we observe the lords care renewed in confirming his covenant now , as he did of old by significant seals called sacraments , because sacred rights , confirming the engagement of christs souldiers to him . what the manna and rock , the cloud and sea , circumcision and passe-over did of old ratifie ; the same is now consigned by baptism and eucharist . the popish recess from christs institution therein sufficiently disproves all their innovations thereabout . in vain do they worship him , teaching for doctrines the commands of men . they agree not among themselves , nor with scripture of reason , in the account given of those five sacraments they have superadded . it s pitty that any friend of christ should join with them in slighting the purity and simplicity of christs sealing ordinances . there are extreams and abuses about both of them . the lord gave them for pledges and helps of christian communion ; satan hath abused them to foment unchristian division . the great reformation in germany , denmark and sweden , hath been sadly opposed and abused by errors in these two seals . rigid lutheranism and fanatick anabaptism have been the great stops there , and the fire-brands . error hath been acting in our parts also . much plausibleness from mistaken and misapplied scriptures hath been made use of to palliate the sore . but the nature of christs covenant sufficiently clears our infants right to the seal thereof , so far as capable . interest in the covenant must needs import interest in the seal . they may have the seed of faith , though the fruit appears not yet . they do virtually profess in their parents though not actually . the statute of heaven that took them first into covenant , was never yet repealed nor expired . our children are as much members of christs family and kingdom as the jewish children . christ owns them and blesses them still as he did before . the precepts and promises concerning them have suffered no substantial change , though administrations be circumstantially altered . the blessing of abraham comes still on the gentile through faith in christ , as it did on the jewes . what infidel jews lost , believing gentiles receive in root and branch . the believing isralites child could be no loser by the change of the seal , his parent still abiding in covenant . look how the unbelieving jewes were broken off branch and twig , so are believing gentiles graffed in branch and twig . there is less said of this in the new testament , because so much was said in the old. this point was so clear then without opposition that a little sufficed . the believing jewes would not have been quiet if their children had been shut out of gods house , that made such stirs at lesser matters . christ , when a child , was head of the church ; children then may be members thereof . he cals them his children , disciples , saints , servants in the same relation given to their parents . when families of old joyned to the lord , children were not excluded ; no more were they in apostolical dayes . they that will deny scripture-consequence , must deny all duties of christianity , none whereof can be performed without such reasoning . reason and religion they must at once gainsay , that gainsay inferences orderly drawn from thence . the condition of this covenant is sufficiently cleared by the knowledge of christ both for entrance and continuance , both internally and externally . christ invites sinners to come by faith to him for all needful grace . none can come to him except the father draw them . he gives to his elect peculiarly , what he requires from all indefinitely . as far as that condition is performed either externally or internally , so far reaches the covenant priviledge before god and men . the profession and outward priviledge may be utterly lost by carnal hypocrites ; but the distinguishing grace and internal priviledge thereof cannot be totally nor finally lost by the regenerate , though they may be ecclipsed for a time . 18. the church of christ suffers much also , first , by all the former . secondly , by rigid separatists of divers sorts . thirdly , by the popish apostacy and usurpations , assuming to themselves alone the title of catholicks , and unchurching all that jump not with them . fourthly , by quakers and notionists , who slight and abuse the communion of saints multipliciously and nefariously . against such disorders , the gracious knowledge of christ affords meet help . improve it to a right union and communion , both with the head , christ ; and with his body . his church is his house , that cherishes concord among brethren of different sizes . there is but one god and mediator there ; there also should be but one mind and heart . there are divers chambers and stories therein , yet it s one house . though different flocks under various shepherds , yet are they all under one great shepherd . they that own christ as head , should be owned of his members . they that agree in the main , may bear with each other in the means . schism is a sinfull separation that breeds a convulsion in the body of christ . shame and sorrow are the genuine fruits thereof , as pride and ignorance the parents of it . they bear most with others that know christ and themselves best . paul would have them both marked and shun'd that make divisions as selfish christians that know little of christ and themselves . he would have us separate from evil , but not from good , as himself doth . christians and churches must purifie themselves as he is pure . they should therefore labor more for verity and unity in the way to purity . they need all mutual help . orderly union affords much beauty , strength and usefulness . it makes gods people like an army with banners ; such an arch-building is choice and sure . all convulsions are painfull and direfull . scripture represents this harmonious composure by that which excels in all frams , natural , civil and artificial . we should all labor then for things that tend to peace for mutual edification . variety of helps he affords to that end . the popish pretence is as injurious as its ridiculous . they make a particular universal , a roman cathotholick . they first disown christ in effect , and then must they disown and be disowned of his friends . the quakers follow them too closely in this , as in other things , casting odiums upon our reformed churches , and rejecting them . it s sad to see any of christ friends , who seem more sober and serious , through mis-interpretations and mis-applications of scripture to imitate them in such dividing ways . to divide and destroy is satans motto , it s his method . we see it , we feel it by woful experience . we must learn of christ prudent moderation in our zeal for truth . both his body and garment should be so tendered , as not to rend the one by favouring the other . peace is to be pursued after as far as possible in consistency with holiness . much labor and care must often be used in over-taking and preserving peace , still endangered by many enemies . 19. the grace of christ nearly concerns his church , and meets with the contradiction of sinners . his electing grace is much slandred by many . first , by most of the forenamed errors . secondly , by pelagians , socinians , and others denying it to be eternal . thirdly , papists and arminians agreeing with the semi-palagians in making it conditional , not absolute ; upon faith foreseen or on good work , not of gods free pleasure . fourthly , by many of our notionists following of those blind guides , in following the false lights which paracelsus , and behmen , swenkfield and wigelius , the rose-crucians and enthusiastical recluses have racked out of old dung-hils , and dressed anew . against such deceits improve the knowledge of christ , that you may consider him in a double capacity . 1. as god the son , jointly with the father and the spirit , chusing his people from eternity ; divina opera ad intra sunt indivisa . secondly , as mediator in gods eternal purpose , in whom in all the vessels of mercy were absolutely elected without any respect to any thing in them , but according to the good pleasure of his will , having predestinated us to the adoption of children by jesus christ to himself before the foundation of the world . there is a double election also mentioned in scripture . 1. eternal , which is to glory . 2. temporal , which is to office . by eternal election the lords chosen flock alone were fore-ordained to glory through grace . by temporal election reprobates as judas may be chosen to office , as he was to the apostleship . gods electing grace is called sometimes his fore-knowledge by an hebraism , verbs of sence with them importing both affect and effect . thus christ is said never to have known the wicked , because he never owned them for his . this foreknowing grace is called his pleasure , his good will , his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , amor bonevolentiae , chiefly looking at the end , gods glorifying himself by glorifying them in christ . predestination or fore-ordaining grace , pre-determining those elect persons so freely pitched upon by god ▪ regards the means leading to that end ; therefore it fore-appointed them to redemption and adoption in christ by grace towards glory . some being thus chosen , others were passed by , and are therefore called reprobates ; and gods purpose or councel about them is called praeterition , non-election , and non-predestination . god was not bound to any , and did chuse and pass by of his own will , independently , eternally , distinctly , individually , certainly . those persons so passed by , considered in massa nuda , he did fore-ordain they should be left to sin , and suffer for their sin ; so considering them * in massa corrupta , this act of his purpose is called praedamnation , being an act of his justice , whereas the former is properly an act of soveraignty . as soveraign he passed by them absolutely , but as a just god , foreseeing their sin , he fore-appointed them to wrath. these various expressions denote one intire , continued , perfect act of the divine essence , set out after our apprehension diversly , and having distinct denominations , but externally from its several objects , being still immanent in god from eternity , non-transient . they all set forth his grace in the freeness and fulness , in the singularity and sureness thereof . thus christs knowledge improved , will vindicate his truth from all aspersions of injustice , unmercifulness and unfaithfulness . in all this he is just , wronging none , being bound to none . he is mercifull in chusing and predestinating some . he is faithfull and true , observing his word exactly . blind eyes cannot , sore eyes will not see this clear truth with delight , but fret at it as cavillers in pauls time , with heavy charges . but the wisdom of christ must be justified of her children now , as she was by himself and by his apostles then . it must needs wrong the grace of christ much to make it depend upon the foresight of faith , or any thing else in the creature , and giving the creature a priority at least so far . god first appoints what shall be , and so foresees that it shall be , else he were not the first and last . as god is eternal and certain , so is his purpose eternal and certain . the figments of mens brains are loathsom idols that would bring god down to mans shallow reach , and fall as dagon before the ark. 20. christs redeeming grace is much wronged . first , by the former mistakes . secondly , by pelagians , papists and arminians ; first , in extending it to all and every man individually alike ; so that judas was as much redeemed as peter in their sense . secondly , in restraining it to a meer salvability or putting mankind into a power of being saved , and acquiring to god a new power of saving men . thirdly , in unsetling it , and making it an uncertain meteor , wandring up and down among men , waiting on their free will to embrace or refuse it at their list . fourthly , in enfeebling it so as that it hath with them no power or efficacy to save those so redeemed , but that a person whom god in christ did so redeem , may perish nevertheless utterly . fifthly , by divers of late who appear much more sober and godly , yet incline too much to those dangerous errors . sixthly , by the socinians , familists , behmenists , quakers , who either wholly deny it , or pass it in silence as needless and useless . against this poison , christs antidote improved will give singular help ; it will shew the al-sufficiency and efficacy of christs oblation to all the elect ; for whom he did fore-know , those he did predestinate , he called , justified and glorified . the necessity and operation thereof it clears also . none but god man could save lost man. nothing but the full obedience of him could satisfie infinite justice , and procure infinite mercy . christ had not died , had it not been of absolute necessity . without the blood of god there was no remission . that blood must needs be efficacious and saving to all redeemed by him . for if whilst we were enemies , we were reconciled to god by his death , much more being reconciled , shall we be saved from wrath by his life . there is indeed , first , an external and professed redemption which is mentioned in scripture that proves ineffectual to eternal salvation . thus apostates deny the lord that bought them generally & professedly . thus he is said to redeem the whole creation . it mentions in that sense a temporal salvation generally , for thus he saves both man and beast , all apostates professed to be redeemed by him , and they were outwardly redeemed from much gross evil . secondly , there is an eternal redemption of grace to glory , peculiar to gods elect . this differs from that as far as heaven from earth . christ the redeemer is indeed lord of all , and makes use of all for the good of his redeemed ones . the devils themselves and brutes are thus generally under his dominion , as all reprobates . yet it follows not that he died for them . gods elect are the proper objects of redeeming grace ; all things else below come in accidentally , secundarily , subserviently and comprehensively under consideration in christs redemption , which makes them all to advance gods honor and his peoples good . there is a dubious homonymy in this word ( grace ) which occasions much mistake . many take it generally for any favour shew'd by god to man. but scripture limits the sense thereof in most , if not in all places to his peculiar favour shew'd to his elect in christ , reaching their redemption and salvation efficaciously and infallibly . other creatures enjoy many gifts , as abrahams secundary offspring , but his elect as isaac alone his inheritance . this advances the glory of christs grace in every consideration . to make his blood impotent and uncertain , cannot but much eclipse it . his freeness and fulness , his sureness and choiceness appear orientally in this redeeming grace . neither may any creature complain of any wrong herein . is not he free to do with his own what he pleases ? was he ever bound to any creature ? doth any suffer but for their sins ? doth not god make good every word of his ? christ was never a half-saviour . he came not barely to make men salvable , but to save effectually , and to the utmost . his redemption is as absolute as the fathers election , though the offers of grace be conditional , indefinitly tendred to all sorts . christ came not to purchase any new power to god , but to fulfill his purpose in his effectual procuring of salvation for all his . he came for his lost sheep whom the father gave him , to fetch them home efficaciously . the sons redemption must needs keep parallel with the fathers election . had salvation been intended to each man , what could have hindred the effecting thereof ? if christ died for judas as for peter , then is peter little more then judas beholding to christs redemption . it s not christ it seems that makes the difference , but some thing else . if he died for them both , but not alike , then was his death therein peculiar to peter , which makes the difference . then was it impossible that judas could be saved without that special thing , and it was as impossible that he should have it , seeing it was not intended to him . to what purpose then did christ die for him ? he was not salvable it seems by the grant supposed . what else he had was common to him with other creatures , good in it self , but abused by man. that christ came not to restore whole mankind , appears in that every one is never effectually restored to primitive state . where the scripture speaks of christs dying for all , for the world , for sinners , &c. the context still clears the restriction of those phrases to all the elect , both jews and gentiles , that are of all sorts , and in all places and ages . it s a common phrase in every language thus to speak of all for many of all sorts indefinitely , to be explained by the matter in hand . thus all judea came to be baptised . the apostles preached to every creature under heaven , yet still with limitation . the word [ world ] in divers places cannot signifie whole man-kind , but must be limited to the vessels of mercy alone . thus christ takes away the sin of the world ; now blessed is he whose sin is taken away ; every man is not so . many are in hell beyond possibility thereof ; he gives life to the world , not to them in hell. god was in christ , reconciling the world , not imputing their sin unto them : is this every mans priviledge to have reconciliation and pardon ? in other places , the world can signifie none but reprobates , that shall never be saved , that lie in wickedness , that christ prayed not for , that die in their sins that cannot receive the spirit of grace , &c. usually its signification is indefinite to be explained by the context . but what must men blieve if christ died not for every man ? they must believe that christ alone is the full saviour and redeemer of his people ; that he that believes not shall be damned , that believers are saved through his grace , &c. as the scripture teaches . object . bnt why is christ offered to all then ? answ . because that he speaks to men by men , after the manner of men . his elect are to be gathered from among all sorts . the gardiner waters the weeds secundarily , but the good plants primarily . the sun shines on the blind that cannot make use thereof . object . but is not vnbelief the great damning sin ? answ . it is so , though not the only damning sin . positive unbelief is worse then negative and admits of degrees too . all sin is damnable , a deadly disease : but unbelief is the refusing , the rejecting of the only remedy that shuts the soul under its deserved death . object . but is not this doctrine uncomfortable ? answ . it s indeed to all unbelieving imp●nitent sinners wilfully rejecting christ ; but it s most comfortable to all humble self-denying souls , those poor in spirit , that hunger and thirst after christs righteousness . there is no comfort to the wicked from the lord. but much encouragement to every soul that is made willing to turn from al sin to god through christ . such shall duly know that christ died for them when they find him killing sin in them , that they may live to him . a general notion that christ died for all and every one , can give no more comfort to peter then to judas , till his heart do feel the power of christs death . is it not more comfort that christ died to save his elect certainly , then that he died so indefinitely , that its uncertain for all his death whether any shall be saved ? if you grant he died absolutely but for some ; then it s certain that only they shall be saved ; and his dying for the rest conditionally , will not make them salvable nor afford any comfort to them . if any inconvenience attend our doctrine it must needs attend that also . yea , if christ should have died for all alike , yet seeing all are not in the event saved , he must needs fore-know it , or not be omniscient ; and fore-ordain it , or not be omnipotent ; and that certainly , or not be soveraign . the same difficulties will follow that way with many more . either god or the creature must be independent . it disparages not christs death that its limited to the fathers purpose , by his intention and execution . all divine attributes are wonderfully magnified this way ; his wisdom and power , mercy and truth , justice and holiness , &c. the parallel drawn by the apostle between the first and second adam proves a parity and proportion of christs redemption , extended to all his spiritual seed ; as the corruption and condemnation of adam extends to all his natural seed . but all men individually considered , are not christs spiritual seed . the elect are such intentionally before conversion , and actually become such in their conversion . all adams children died by him , and all christs children were redeemed by him . it s more to redeem one soul , then to destroy all . christ excels incomparably . 21. christs renewing grace is no less a sufferer by , first , the former oppositions . secondly , by pelagians old and new , asserting mans nature to be so restored in every man , that they are all born in gods favour , continuing so till they grosly abuse the light given them , either natural or evangelical : making grace as common as nature , because its a gift , though diversifyed . denying original sin and habitual corruption before years of discretion . thirdly , the socinians who following them , deny that special renewing grace , and pretend the new birth mentioned so often to be but a moral change upon men , which their nature by a common help from god doth attain unto in imitation of christ , whom they suppose to be a meer patterne of holiness , not the internal efficient thereof . fourthly , by the papists and arminians who have learned of them to advance mans self-sufficiency , free will and power by a common assistance of gods light indifferently afforded to all sorts according to their improvements of the common gifts received to accept or reject christ at their pleasure ; and to cast away the best of his gifts received when they list . in effect , placing a mans strength and standing , yea his chief all in his own mutable will : making faith but a common assent given to truth . fifthly , by the quakers , familists and notionists , who carry too much compliance with their ghostly fathers in these as in other things . against these lethal maladies , the knowledge of christ improved graciously will afford effectual remedies . thereby we learn to see by scripture light the total corruption of mans sinful nature ; the universality thereof reaching all places and persons : its closeness and adherence , its contagion and fruitfulness , its temptations and rebellions , its policies and power , its fierce and inconsiderate madness ; its indefatigable unsatisfiableness , and its multiplicious propagation , not admitting of remission or intermission : this fully manifests the insufficiency and emptiness of man , his unskilfulness and aptness to any spiritual good . thence the necessity of a special renewing grace from above to work an effectual change in all gods elect by an almighty irresistible power , such as quickned lazarus and raised up christ jesus from the grave . this sanctifying grace is considered in scripture in the gradual renovation of man from his first conversion from nature to grace , unto his change from grace into glory . the product of this renewing grace is called a new creature , and a translation from death to life ; a turning of men from darkness to light , and from the power of satan to god , by opening of their eyes and renewing their will. it s expressed by taking away the heart of stone , and giving a heart of flesh ; in putting his spirit within us , and giving a new heart and a new spirit , in our special effectual calling . it s said to be our regeneration and being born again , absolutely needful to open an entrance into gods kingdom . though there be some reliques of natural and moral endowments left in men since the fall in their powers and parts , as appears by the heathens improvements : yet these only testifie the wofulness of mans desperate fall in ruining so glorious a fabrick . thence the blindness and perversness of his mind and will are so aggravated , the crooked distortions of his affections , the searedness and corruption of his conscience with the disorder of every part , are set forth so emphatically to convince every man. thence men are said before conversion to be godless and hopeless , because christless . thence is the wonderful operation of renewing grace so extolled still in this new creation , bringing forth light out of darkness , in making man partaker of the divine nature . this supernatural work is carried on rationally by the spirit of christ * in a way suitable to mans rational being . he works strongly , yet sweetly ; he opens their heart-springs with a special key of his own framing . this renewing grace runs parallel with the fathers electing and the sons redeeming grace ; whom god did foreknow and predestinate , those he calls effectually , seasonably , savingly . their corrupt nature doth much resist it till grace prevails and conquers all its forts . the outworks of the mind and judgement , christs spirit conquers first ; thence breaking through the iron gate of mans will into the possession of all the powers and parts of the soul . many sins remain still in every part like so many cananites and tories to be gradually subdued . these rebels being broken in their head and reign , grace doth orderly dispatch by mortifying exercise . the spirit of christ carries on his work in supporting and supplying still those gracious beginnings , which are weak at first . by the gospel light he communicates his gracious life . thus he perswades & enables his people to embrace jesus christ upon gospel terms by a covenant of marriage and adoption . thus is mans dunghil heart by renewing grace broken up and dressed into a spiritual garden sown and set with the fruits of his holy spirit . it differs exceedingly from common convictions and external reformations , as earth differs from heaven . that difference is still morally-specifical , though it seems to be physically , but numerical and gradual . it s the same spirit that works conviction on the reprobate and on the elect , but not in the same manner . he knocks at both , and is resisted . he leaves the reprobate justly ; he opens the elects heart mercifully and prevailingly . the reprobate may be externally and professedly sanctified in a partial superficial way . gods elect are specially sanctified , universally in every part ; and gradually through every part . mans free will by sin subjected to satan , is through this renewing grace set at liberty , so far as grace prevails . the unregenerate is free only to spiritual evil , being an enemy to spiritual good . the regenerate soul is so far free to spiritual good , as it s renewed . when grace is compleated in glory , the soul like good angels shall be free only to good . the nature of mans will is thus bettered by grace ; which was made a slave by sin . the devils and damned do freely will sin , so do unregenerate souls on earth , yet necessarily . thus necessity man stand with freedom both to good and evil . by this renewing grace the regenerate soul is made conformable to gods image , and is so far called the new man , and gradually learns to be holy as god is holy. that seed and root of grace cast into it at first , grows up by degrees as the grain of mustard seed , as the corn , as the light , as the living child . thereby the soul is enabled to believe and repent , and further to actuate every sort of grace , being excited , corroborated and directed still by the same spirit . thence is the conflict so continuall between the spirit and flesh , the law in the members , and the law in the mind ? grace and sin , which ends not till the death of sin in bodily death . thus acti agimus : implanted grace then co-works still with the lords gracious spirit , who works in us both to will and to do of his good pleasure . this grace appears also most free and full , most choice & sure , to the glorifying of all divine attributes . man could not be conceived to have any skil , power or will to procure the same . by grace the lord cals unto grace , and so to glory . by grace are we saved through faith , and that not of our selves , it s the gift of god ; not of works , least any man should boast : for we are his workmanship created in christ jesus unto good works : so that it s not in him that wills , nor in him that runs , but in god who shews mercy : of his own will begat he us by the word of truth , that we might be to the praise of his glory . object . but why then is man commanded to believe and repent , to change his heart , & c ? answ . because as we hinted before , god deals with men by men , rationally , orderly , to convince all of their duty , and insufficiency , to humble and awaken them , to put them upon all due means , to render the most inexcusable , and moralize many : to convey his grace into his elect through those very means peculiarly sanctified to the spiritualizing of their heart . object . but is not god partial in so doing ? answ . no. for he is not bound to any further then he pleases , neither is he led by any sinful respects which render men partial . object . but why doth he yet complain of the reprobates , if he give them not sufficient grace , as to others ? how can they help it ? ans . god justly complains of the wicked for insolvency and squandring away his goods wilfully and rebelliously , both in their first father and by themselves . they smart not but for their fault : their being bankrupts is no payment , nor discharge of their debts to him . he gives them more then they could expect or make right use of . though they cannot change their own heart yet they might use the means better then they do ; they are still wilfully negligent and selfish in all they do and suffer justly for their demerits . can the wicked say they sin not wilfully ? will not their own conscience condemn them ? are they not all corruptly estranged from the womb , and speaking lyes by time ? who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean ? can the bramble bear figs , or a sinful man beget a sinless child ? is not the spawn and brood of venemous creatures venemous also ? can a dead corpse raise it self to life , or a soul dead in sin contribute ought to its own quickning ? yet is this no excuse for any sin , because man is condemned for the abuse and neglect of that which is given him . the best of them goes not so far as he might . though he be spiritually dead , yet is he naturally alive , and the abuse of natural parts is a sufficient condemnation to every sinner , though variously appearing . thus is god stil just , merciful and true , though man prove unjust , unworthy and false . he is stil beforehand with every man , though unfaithful servants who improve not the talent lent them , charge him to be a hard master . as he is free in disposing of his gifts , so will every abuse and neglect of each of them be duly reckoned for . 22. christs saving grace is also abused , 1. by the former errors . 2. by the pelagians and socinians , ascribing mans salvation to his own merits , the fruits of his own power and will. 3. by the papists and arminians sacrificing also to their nets ; some owning merits de congruo before conversion ; others only merits de condigno , after conversion ; either ex propria natura , with some , or ex pacto with others ; very few of them are found more modest . 4. by the quakers , behmenists and notionists variously treading in their steps , and disguising those old errors with the colours of new light of a christ within , pretended raptures , chymical dreams and magical deceits . their monstrously abstruse expressions and fictitious raptures were much magnified in that german tragedy acted in various scenes for many years , especially from 1522. til 1540. and are now revived out of paracelsus , behmen , wigelius , and the like by their followers very perniciously now . against such a poyson the gracious knowledge of christ will fortifie you by scripture discovery of the nature and cause , the method and means , the subject and effects , of that saving grace . 1. the nature thereof is gods application of his special favour unto his elect , redeemed by christ , saving them from all sin on earth inchoatively , in heaven consummatively . 2. the fountain cause thereof is his own pleasure : the final his honour , exalted in his son , by his own spirit applying the same . 3. the method observed is gradually to shew this favour , 1. primitively in his election and redeeming love. 2. communicatively , in his adopting and justifying , his supporting and supplying love , from the beginning of grace , through perseverance unto glory in eternity . 4. the means appointed and employed therein are , 1. christ the principal : the spirits operation as efficient : and every ordinance and providence , his word especially , as instrumentally blessed of him thereto . 5. the subjects thereof are gods elect , redeemed by the son , renewed by his spirit , whom he adopts for children , justifying their persons , and keeping them through faith by his power unto salvation ; supporting and supplying them stil by the earnest and first fruits of his spirit , til the full possession of all . 6. the effects thereof are , the gaining of their hearts by divine love to mutual returns , to chuse him in christ by his spirit for their chief good and soveraign lord , delighting in him , depending on him , closing with him , following of him , drawing all from him , reducing all to him , loving what he loves , hating what he hates , with an harmony of mind , heart and hand . and all for his sake and to his glory , by his strength according to his will. this light will easily dispel all cavils darkning the truth . there are no merits but in gods mercy . he rewards indeed , but it s of grace . he pardons sin and doth it freely . yet he requires faith and repentance , not to merit , but to receive it , emptying the soul of self , to fill it with himself , letting out sin to let in christ : casting out satan to bring in his spirit , purging out corruption by giving his grace , preparing for glory . he therefore bids them take heed lest they fall , to keep them standing in the right use of means . he appointed the end and blesses the means . he promises and assures their standing , not by their own , but by his might . thus all that the father gave christ , shall come to him , and him that comes to him , he will in no wise cast out , because this is the will of the father that sent him , that of all he hath given him he should lose nothing . the father that gave them to him , is greater then all ; none shall pluck them out of his hand , ergo. object . but may they not slip away ? answ . yea , if left to themselves as adam was in the covenant of works . but he hath made a better covenant with them in christ , engaging his grace to preserve and save to the utmost all whom he chose in him , redeemed by him , and sanctifyingly renews by his spirit . this is all their hope and all their salvation , though in a winter of temptation it seems not to flourish . he therefore writes his law in their heart , and puts his spirit within them , to cause them to walk in his statutes , that they shall keep his judgements and do them . he will uphold them by his right hand till he bring them to glory . he will crown his own grace in them , and magnifie his strength in their weakness . object . but doth not this doctrine lead to presumption and libetinism ? answ . not at all , though it may be abused as the best things are . it leads genuinely to all christian diligence and grace , as the sure only way to glory . this assurance he gives not to all alike , nor to any alike at all times . though his weak children be sure in his hand , yet he lets them often stumble , that they may know him and themselves better . the riches of his grace appear still herein freely and fully , surely and choicely . what 's freer then pardon to an unworthy rebel ? that christ satisfied , and that faith is given to receive pardon , is not that free also ? what 's fuller then such a pardon , that justifies from all guilt inchoatively , progressively , consummatively ? whether you say the pardon is renewed , or continued , or confirmed to the regenerate , is it not stil full ? doth he not blot out all scores and remit all faults by application of his justifying grace ? his correcting of them is the fruit of that adopting love which pardons them . because they are children , they must have physick and the rod also . what 's surer then this grace , which engages the trinunity in the clearest bond , with the surest ties , with word and writing , with his hand and seal , with promise and oath , yea with his own blood to final performance on his side and theirs ? they may break indeed , but he cannot break . though they act faithlesly , yet he acts faithfully . he cannot deny himself nor them , because his in christ . and what 's choiser then this special grace , that saves his children when he punishes others ? what 's more precious then this miracle of grace that gives them god in christ and all things with him ? what more singular then this marvellous love , who gives them his spirit to seal and strengthen them , that they may close with him and keep close to him still ? this is grace indeed not to be abused , nor to be opposed by any pretence . it s as compleat as his salvation , which must needs be answerable to such a compleat saviour . an imperfect christ is but an idol of mans fancy , so is that imperfect salvation and ineffectual grace which many dream of . 23. christ suffers also in his instruments , his civil deputies , in the magistracy : 1. by the former evils . 2. by the papists , who advance their antichristian head into the magistrates seat , putting the civil key into the popes hand , and loosening the subjects from their allegiance to such superiours who do not please him , encroaching much upon civil affairs in their cannon law , as about marriage , incest , adultery , &c. obliging their clergy to forraign supremacy ; forbidding the magistrate his duty about externals of the first table , &c. 3. by quakers and notionists , who labour to bring in confusion , as the german anabaptists did . 4. yea by many who seem more sober , yet deny the best part of his office : that special care of the first table in its externals , wherein he is to do most for god. 5. by divers infirm christians that by mistaken apprehensions of a fifth monarchy do actually resist christ in denying due homage to such powers whom hi providence hath set in power . against these oppositions , the knowledge of christ graciously improved will sufficiently arm us , declaring from scripture the magistrates duty and dignity in being most like god , and doing most for god. his power is authoritative about the external man , in all matters religious and civil , politically to regulate , reward and correct according to gods word for the lords honour and the publique good . the genus is an authoritative power ; the object is the external man , expressed by word , sign , or deed ; the subject is all matters of the first or second table , religious and civil . the acts of power are to regulate , reward , countenance good , and disown and correct evil . the manner of acting is political , not spiritual ; by civil censures , not ecclesiastical ? the rule is gods revealed will in his written word , not his own will or mans fancy . the end is gods honour as supreme ; publique good , as subordinate . herein shines the magistrates dignity in being thus employed as gods substitute , to look to his law in cherishing good , and suppressing evil . herein gods vicegerent shall meet with comfort in these politicks of gods own giving . the lord in all ages hath honoured such who have thus laboured still to honour him . he requires it still , and rewards it in a special manner . he gives many instructions about it to avoid error , neglect and abuse . he still branded those that neglected it , and set up themselves in slighting of him . they were threatned and punished sorely that would not and did not tender christs interest . no book of scripture or humane record but gives us signal demonstrations hereof . the many cavils obscuring this truth easily vanish by the brightness thereof . the pontifician crue by their encroachments have taught our libertines very sad lessons . corah with his partners acted once this part , as the german rout did long afterwards from 1522 till 1534. pretence of conscience is much talked of , but it covers often the abuse of conscience . the magistrate meddles not with conscience , but with external evil , though pretending conscience . he is a terrour to all evil works whatever they be , where-ever they appear , and a countenance to good . that 's his office by gods commission for thy good ; christ is king of kings by whom they all raign , who calls all to account . if sin and satan possess a mans conscience that should be gods seat , it cannot excuse their treasonable acts , but aggravate them . much care indeed is to be still used least this power be slighted or abused . such christians who appear truly consciencious are to be dealt with in much tenderness . yet cannot conscience plead for any sin . christ never intended it to be errors sanctuary . he dallies with no sin , and would have his servants like him . they that make no conscience of his truth and grace , nor of the publique peace , shew their conscience to be very unsound . the standing rule of man , whether high or low , is not his conscience , but the lords word . an evil conscience is the worst of evils , and the nurse of all evil . error is an infections disease that spreads dangerously under the pretence of conscience still . conscience must rule us so far as it s ruled by gods word , and no further . it cannot bind to , nor discharge any sin . paul judges himself for those very sins very hainously , which his conscience through mistake suggested to be his duty . if a christian suffer as an evil doer , though he pretend conscience , he shall have little honour or comfort therein . the sin is aggravated that is committed by an evil of conscience , the presence chamber and the royal throne of our soveraign christ . the magistrate therefore should be most careful to see that all sorts enjoy the best means of informing conscience about the will of god , as noble jehosaphat did , that all good laws may be duly observed . then execution must be look'd unto , the life of the law. it s the great mercy promised to christs kingdom , that kings shall be nursing fathers to his church , and contribute their utmost to the help thereof ; whereas before they gave up their power to the antichristian beast . christ himself is wronged , when his lieutenant the magistrate is taken off from his work or disturbed therein . all arguments used against the magistrates power in religion are still under-charged or over-charged ; either they prove only that conscience is not to be forced , and that christians should begentle and meek , bearing with each other in things indifferent , which is not denied ; or if there were any force in them to disprove the magistrates dealing with the first table , the same force would reach further against the second table also . so that they would make his office needless , striking at christ through his vicegerents loins to bring in confusion and anarchy , by exempting from his cognisance whatever things may pretend conscience . what evil so horrid that may not be covered under such a mask ? hath not experience seen it fulfilled in the predigious ranters are quakers of our days ? christs interest in the good of mens souls is still the best part of the magistrates care ; they must needs be sadly injurious to both , that would deprive them of that choice garland , and that signal work . 24. christ is opposed likewise in his servants of the ministry , as , first , by the former errors ; so , secondly , by the socinians , seekers , behmenists , revelationists , quakers and libertines who deny , corrupt and oppose it . thirdly , by the papists , who set up an antichristian head , and hierarchy , mangling and perverting it wofully . fourthly , by innovators , who exalt a power therein above others unknown to christ , and others slighting what christ hath set up . against these various evils , the knowledge of christ improved graciously will fence our judgements , and make us to see the excellency and perpetuity , the necessity and utility of his gospel-ministry . it was his care of old to set it up in his church for their common good , that the priests lips might preserve knowledge , and they should seek the law at his mouth , because he is the messenger of the lord. the first insurrections against it , ( which assaulted also the magistracy by a strong levelling party under holy pretences , ) were dreadfully rebuked and plagued by an extraordinary hand from heaven . the lord made also aarons rod to blossom and fructifie miraculously , that he might ratifie this great ordinance of his to all ages . he appointed the levites to be therefore settled in all the parts of israel , that every one might be provided with ministerial help . himself promised in a peculiar way to be their best portion , and took a special care , that among their brethren they might never want a plentifull portion . from time to time did he renew that charge , and sharply visited for the neglect thereof . he honor'd and prosper'd those princes and people that did carefully observe his will therein . his magistracy and his ministry went still hand in hand , both in doing good and suffering evil . moses and aaron in all their successors were still duly observed by god and good men . the jewish church and state declined together by their sinfull neglects of christs institutions . christ therefore came at last himself personally , that he might repair those wofull ruins . the vile abusing of his ministry brought on them first a babylonian yoak , and afterwards a roman slavery , after many persian and grecian oppressions . the revolts of jason and of onias , with their anti-temples in aegypt and samaria , brought in many more confusions then both on church and state. their corrupt opposings of christs ministry cost them very dear . when christ came in the flesh , the many disorders of the ministerial office and persons had disordered all . his great care was then to rectifie things in the best method . an end of all shadows he made in himself by his own ministry , and settled himself a substantial ministry that should continue unto the worlds end . his great business still was to purge his temple , and to commission his ministerial servants for the successive building of his house . his twelve apostles and seventy disciples were to that end succesfully employed by him . when he ascended and triumph'd over all , he bestowed then coronation gifts of a choice nature . then gave he apostles , prophets and evangelists in extraordinary , pastors and teachers in ordinary for ambassados , for the perfecting of the saints , for the work of the ministry , for the building up of his body , untill we all come to the full stature of the son of god. thus christ settled this ministerial function with spiritual authority , by setting apart in a regular call , persons by him duly qualified to the full employment of the ministry . the circumstantials of the ceremonial law he pared off thereby , and settled the substance of his will therein in this solemn office for his special honor and his peoples good . the father and spirit joined with god the son in the commission given from above to settle this office , and assure thereon a signal blessing till the end of all . as the son gave these residents of his to his church below , so did the father set them in the church , and the holy ghost still makes them overseers thereof . in the renewing of their commission he enlarged it unto all nations , gave them the keys of his kingdom to act under him as deputy-stewards ; titles of honor he gives them many , fit emblems also of their weighty work . they are his agents and the peoples guides , shepherds and rulers , angels and leaders . elders they are and overseers , as ambassadors acting in his name . as he taught his apostles the things of his kingdom , so were they carefull to instruct the rest . pauls epistles to timothy and titus are a directory for all church affairs . the apostles needed extraordinary gifts , as did the prophets and evangelists in the first planting of churches everywhere . that work being done , then ended with them their immediate infallible call. extraordinaries are but for a time to make sure way to ordinaries . snccessors they had in the substantials of the ministry , though not in all their circumstantials . paul in his progress having shew'd the way of ordaining such , gave timothy and others further rules still to prosecute that work . pastors and teachers must abide in charge , whilst there is one soul to be brought to christ and built up in christ . these stars are kept in the lords own hand , being the lights of his own setting up . many ministers and churches may perish for their apostacy , as they of asia , but the ministry in the church of christ shall be sure to stand . these witnesses of his may be much abused to the very death , but they shall rise again very speedily to the confusion of all enemies . lest they should grow proud and usurp lorship , christ charged them timely to act as servants in his name and work . his word holds forth all elders equal in ordinary , since extraordinaries removed from men . some priority of order and age the primitive churches thought fit to admit . pride and ambition corrupted the same , adding jurisdiction and power thereto . at first they did chuse a moderator , who might be speaker in their regular meetings . that was first elective , and then became fixed , and gradually did degenerate . under fair colors many did encroach , and subjected elders to bishops power . thence did arch-bishops and patriarchs rise with other limbs of that hierarchy . by princes bounty too sadly abused , this evil did rise , and brought forth a pope . that antichristian beast with his double horn , speaking like the lamb , acted dragon-like . he gradually subdued christs magistracy and ministry by usurpations of the double sword . that pestilential wen grew so fast on the church that it did over-spread and consume it in its noblest parts . many excrescences did rise under it as their cardinals , archdeacons , chancellors . thence a further rabble of commissaries , porters , acolyths , subdeacons , exorcists . thence also their monks , friers , eremits , nuns and jesuits swarming everywhere . thus gradually did abaddon prevail to waste christs portion for a thousand two hundred sixty years . the witnesses whilst prophecy in sackcloth , the woman is fed in the wilderness . yet did not christ forget his interest , but in the worst time maintained his ministry . brittain , ireland , germany and france shew large catalogues of undoubted truth to verifie it . waldus and wicklef , john hus and jerom with many thousands testified the same . the reformation by luther and calvin was but a more solemn carrying on of the work. we have antiquities of approved credit , shewing successions of faithful ministers from the apostles time all along to this day , as in other parts , so in these nations . the scriptures are not the worse , nor the ministry , for passing through the hand of romish antichrist . gold loses not its worth for touching a leprous hand , nor gods temple by the sitting of the man of sin , when their pollutions are but once removed . if any defilment be proved to attend our ministry , we are ready to yield and remove the same . when the wen is cut off , and the body cured , health being restored , is to be improved . if any will stil lord it over brethren we shall disclame such usurpations . christs ministry is to feed and teach , to rule and to cure ministerially . our weapons and work are spiritual , not political , nor monarchical . as nurses appointed for the childrens good , it s our desire to attend christs house . an orderly call unto this office as he doth appoint , so will he still bless . how shall men believe , if not preached to ? how shall men preach right , if they be not sent ? internal gifts are very needfull , yet not sufficient to make out this call. no man self-called is owned by god , no more then corah and jeroboams priests . a souldier , though able , without commission shall never be owned for an officer . a person of parts without authority cannot act the part of justice or judge . every christian is to improve gifts , but within his place and fit relation . gods word doth appoint an orderly way of calling persons into the ministry . they must be well proved and approved of , then chosen and ordained to a proper charge . he that hears and receives persons so called in the name of christ , hears and receives jesus christ himself by his own witness . he that abuses and rejects such , abuses and rejects the lord christ thereby . if any be bad , let them be questioned , and reap their deserts . we pretend to no infallibility , but would be tried still in doctrine and life by the word of truth . christs work its we are sent about ; the devil would marr it by slandering tongues . false christs , false prophets are now very rife . sick brains are heaping teachers to themselves to please itching ears . they that thus run before they are sent , shall not profit , but deceive the people . the chief rage of foxes and wolves disguised , will stil be bent against the shepherds . jeroboams priests with his golden calves brought in division , deceit and ruin . if the lords mercy do not prevent it , our sin and sorrow will be too like theirs . the cavils pleaded against this clear truth , have been fully dissolved again and again . it was julians attempt to starve the ministry and schools , as the sure way to ruin christianity . the like design is revived of late to the same end . the laws of nature and of nations , as well as gods positive laws , are brought in by paul to prove the just rights of ministers maintenance . the corinthiane are blamed for putting him to shift and work with his hands . he commends them highly , that had been free towards his relief . 25. christ suffers also in his providence , as by the former errors ; so first , by atheists , stoicks , epicures that ascribe events to fortune , fate or chance . secondly , by divers jesuits and arminians , charging his purpose and execution with contingency and dependency . thirdly , by star-gazers and astrologers who pretend to divine of humane events by their judicial prognostications . against this malady the gracious knowledge of christ improved will give us still a soveraing remedy . it shews by scripture light , that the hand of christ , who first made the world , doth uphold it still with rule and order by the word of his power . his eternal purpose he still executes in doing of good , and over-ruling evil . what evil of sorrow , that the lord sends not ? what evil of sin , that he limits not ? what good temporal or spiritual , that comes not still from his providence ? his rule is so sweet and so soveraign , that all fulfill his will in fulfilling theirs ; what ever opposes his revealed will , is still over-ruled by his secret will. the will of his purpose men do then fulfill , when they disobey the will of his precept . the instance of joseph and jesus suffice to demonstrate christs soveraign rule . things most contingent as to men and means , do yet come to pass by a necessary and sure providence . the very sparrows fall not to the earth , nor the hairs of man without gods special hand . astrologers sin is so much condemned by scripture , reason and experience , that they should not proceed any further , seeing their folly is made so manifest . some use we grant of astronomy , if modestly handled ; natural astrology may hint at some things , though very uncertainly . but that judicial astrology which pretends to foretel the success of affairs acted among men , is an errand cheat and dreadfull imposture : such an art descends from old magicians , that learned of satan among the nations . caldeans and diviners with all south-sayers are noted in scripture with aegypts magicians . indian gymnosophists , brachmans and pawawes , the druids of gaul , the bards of brittain , the dervis's of turkie are of the like school . the rules of this art are certainly known to be most absurd , vain and uncertain . mirandula and perkins , who searched into their depths , discovered fully their juggling impostures , as their writings testifie . some profound scholars , who had curiously pryed into their secrets , came off with remorse and abhorrings thereof . this profession hath been in all ages justly detested by the wise and good . such affinity it hath had still with satanical oracles , that its unsufferable in a christian state. there is vertue indeed in heavenly bodies ; but who can find out the same distinctly ? an apollonius , faustus , or hildebrand may pretend somewhat from satans teaching in this black study : but shall christians go to the devils school to learn christs mind ? starry constellations have their influence on sublunary bodies , but they cannot reach the souls and acts of men . how far they may affect this earth , none can know ; but that our reason and humane events are beyond their reach , is easily known . the constellations of christs providence compared with his word , are the proper rules of our prognosticks , personal and publique . thence should christians cast a divine figure to find out a true scheme of their state and acts. learn we to calculate our spiritual birth , and observe the positure of souls under chris ▪ thence all conjunctions and oppositions , total or partial , will rightly mark out what our case will prove . the sun of righteousness passing through our houses will carry light and life into every part . his aspects direct , oblique or opposite , signifie influence benign or malign , according to the station of things about it . when the lord ascendent doth rule all the rest , it prognosticates all propitiousness . if quaking saturn , and the ranting mars , if notional mercury , and ambitious jupiter , if unstable luna , and voluptuous venus come to cross this sun , what can men expect but a combustion ? wandring planets , and floating meteors are still over-ruled by his fixed motions . he is regular in his light and heat , the only fountain of benign influx . he is no retrograde , but still in progress to dispell darkness and death from his friends . would men study him in his word and works , they would soon banish sinful astrology . his law and gospel suffer so much by it , that no wise christian should plead for the same . was there ever a great astrologer that hath not bewrayed some satanical cheat ? may not london speak loud in this case , if late experience be but testified ? we may challenge all records divine & humane to shew any good prince or state owning it . who ever were found hearkning thereto , history brands them by tragical ends . oh that great brittain would consider this , that satan may not fix his throne among us ! christ will not endure so ill a neighbour , nor suffer this trade to go unpunished . compacts with the devil , though but indirect , do challenge both frowns and judgements from above . superiors must act under christ for him to punish this great evil with sutable wages . if men be so bold and presumptuous , powers are ordained for terror to such . they are errand cheats , or conjuring knaves that fortell events of humane matters by their star-gazing . if men slight gods law and testimony , to follow such peeping , muttering wizards , it s because there is no light in them . christ will right himself for all such affronts cast upon his word and his providence . the lord awaken all concerned herein , that we repent not when it s too late . ii. improve this antidote against apostacy the wofull issue of dreadful errors . lot him that doth stand , take heed lest he fall . let none therefore stand on his own strength . be we of pauls mind in studying christ , to account all loss and dung for him . be we found in him , not in carnal self ; stripp'd off our righteousness , and cloathed with his . let 's know him still more fiducially , more improvingly in the power of his resurrection , and in the fellowship of his sufferings , conforming to his death . this will hasten our pace to the resurrection that will make an end of sin and sorrow . we are not yet perfect but must press forwards with christian bearing and forbearing still . beware we brethren , lest in any of us be found an evil heart of unbelief , to make us depart from the living god. see to it with all care possible , that none of you come short of that grace of god , lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you , and thereby many be defiled . but exhort one another daily whilst it s called to day , lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin . and follow peace with all men in the pursuit of holiness , without which none shall see the lord. blessed are such peace-makers , especially in this dividing age , for they shall be called the children of god. about this blessed work of christian peace-making we design another piece , ( if the lord give strength and time ) to stir up all gods people thereto in this selfish generation , that we may all be effectually helped thereto , and preserved from the wofull delusions and divisions now so prevailing . be we all so much the more pressed to grow in grace and in the knowledge of our lord and saviour jesus christ , to whom be glory for ever , amen . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . finis . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a85988-e10 adag . arabic e●eg . erronibus sibi solis sapient bu● adaptatum . notes for div a85988-e360 deut. 8. 2 , 3 , &c. ezek. 14. 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 , 21. micah 6. 9. habac. 2. 2. esay 27. 6 , 7 , 8. psalm 30. 11. john ● . 9. psalm 126. 5. heb. 12. 11. esad 5. 3 , 4. &c. heb. 6. 7 , 8. esay 5. 5. matth. 13. 24 , 25. 2 cor. 2. 16 , 17. act. 4. 36. mark. 3. 17. phil. 2. 12 , 13 , rom 9. 16. * an eminent physitian , the son of the sun among poets . mal. 4. 2. 2 pet. 1. 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 12. esay 64. 5. psalm . 37. 4 , 5 , &c. prov. 3 6. heb. 12. 10. eph. 6. 13 , 19. col. 4. 3 , 4. psalm 46. 1. 2 cor. 12. 9. notes for div a85988-e960 see mr. boltons arraignment of error ; danaeus , epiphan . august . hieronym . de heretic . &c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , hence 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . iohn 8. 44. iude 6. levit. 14. 44 , 45. deut. 28. 27. dato uno absurdo , mille sequuntur . cadmei proles , adag . veritas radicis , indicis & entis , apud scholasticos . errores quidom citra , alii circa , alii contra fundumentum . primi divertunt , secundi pervertunt , tertii subvertunt fidem orthodoxam . rom. 5. 12. 2 tim. 3. 8. rom , 6. 23. levit. 13. 29 , 30 , &c. see sleidan , cloppenburg , hornebeck , bulinger , luther , calvin , &c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . galen . providence affords in every country remedies suited to their maladies , and counter-poisons against their poisons ; witness the rattle-snake , and snakeweed of virginia and of new england ; the italian tora and antitora , &c. so hath the lord provided a sutable proportion of divine truths and helps to be duly applyed for effectual relief . notes for div a85988-e4710 gal. 2. 7 , 8 , 9. 1 pet. 1. 1 , 2. 2 pet. 1. 1. * c●nsult epiphan . august . athan. concil . laodicen . carthag●n . damascen . bed. centur-magdeb , &c. about it . verse 10. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . verse 11 , 12. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . verse 12. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . ver . 13. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . see about them , euseb . socrat. epiphan . austin . ammian , marcel . v. 14. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . v. 15. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . ver . 17. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . ver . 18. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . chap. 3. ver . 9. 10 , 11. verse 13. verse 14. verse 15. verse 16. verse 17 , 18. athenaeus l. 12. 2 pet. 2. 7. rom. 8. 7. rom. 7. 11 , 22. gal. 2. 19. 2c . 1 cor . 9. 2r ▪ 2 tim. 3. 15. 16 , 17 1 tim. 4. 1 , 2 , &c. iud. 1. to 19. mat. 24. 5. 11 , 23 , 24. luke 21. mar. 13. 1 ioh. 4. 1 , 2 , 3 , &c. psal . 58. 3. psal . 14. psal . 53. rom. 3. 11 , &c. ier. 17. 9. 2 tim. 3. 13. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , impostors and prostigators , bewitching cheats . 2 thess . 2. 8 , 9 , 10. eph. 4. 11 , 19 , &c. mat. 24. 12. psal . 18. 2 thess . 2. 10 , 11 , 12. prov. 29. 1. psal . 2. 1 tim. 1. 8 1 cor. 9. 21. ier. 31. 33. ezek. 36. 27. rom. 8. 2. iob. 22. 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 , &c. 2 cor. 5. 19 , 20. esa . 55. tit. 2. 11. 12. 13. psal . 91. 11 , 12 , 2 chro. 15. 2. prov. 3. 6. ioh. 10 27. eph. 5. 15 , 16. esa . 8. 20. act. 20. col. 2. 6 , 7. eph. 1. 22 , 23. 1 pet 2. 5 , 6. eph. 2. 20 , 21. ioh. 15. 5 , 5. mat. 24. mark 13. luke 21. 1 tim. 4. 2 tim. 3. iude 1 ioh. 4. col. 2. 19. heb. 6. 19 ▪ 20. eph. 6. 11 , 12. gen. 3. 1 , 4 , 5. mat. 24. eph. 4. 18 , 19. joh. 1. 11 rom. 16. 17. rom. 13. 3 , 4. &c. 2 thess . 2. 8 , 9 , 10 , 11. heb. 4. 2. 1 ioh. 2. 20. 28. psal . 42. 1 , 2. mat. 5. 2 , 3 , 4. 1 pet. 2. 1 , 2 , 3 , 4. phil. 2. 13. eph. 6. 10. 1 thess . 5. 21. rev. 25. rev. 2. 5. mar. 4. 24. luk. 8. 18. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , 2. pet. 1. 12 , 13 , 15. la coz de la yégua no haze mal al pótto , proverb castigl . quae relinquntur in morbis , recidivas faci unt . hippocrat . ier. 17. 9. 1 pet. 1. 4. mat. 22. 14. 2 pet. 1. 5 , 6 , &c. 10. phil. 2. 13. esa . 64. 5. exod. 20. 24. ezek. 36. 37. 2 cor. 3. 5. acti agimus . 1 cor. 15. 10. rom. 11. 20. rev. 3. 19 2 thess . 2. 13 , 14. 2 tim. 2. 19. rom. 9. 11 , 16 , 23. rom. 11. 7. natura naturans nihil facitant loquitur frustra . 2 cor. 2. 15 , 16. 1 cor. 4. 7. eph. 4. 2 cor. 12. acts 20. 28. 1 pet. 5. 1 , 2. eph. 4. 11 , 12 , 13 , 14. heb. 13. 17. 1 thess . 5. 12 , 13. 2 tim. 2. 2. deut. 33. 10. read plato arist . seneca . plutarch , cicer . macro . histories of the western and eastern indies for proof hereof . mat. 24. 42. revel . 12. 15. prov. 29. 1. see euseb . socrat . sosomen . zonar . chal. carion . chron. center . magdib . baron . annal. history of turks . sarac . tartars . esay 34. 14. ierem. 7. 14 , 21. ierem. 26. 6. 9. ierem. 31. 18. 19 , 20. deut. 4. 9. &c. revel . 2. 5 , 14 , 15. rev. 3. 1 , 2 , 3. luke 19. 42. prov. 29. 1. 2 chron. 36. 15 , 16. 1 thes . 2. 16. a full relation of iames nayler and his comrades , is lately printed by mr. farmer of bristol . eph. 4. 18 , 19 , 20. jer. 6. 16. iohn 14. 6. heb. 10. 20. iob 32. 1 , 2. eph , 1. 18 , 19. ier. 4. 14. tit. 3. 5. acts 24 ▪ 16. prov. 4. 23. mat. 24. 42. mark. 13. 33 , 35 , 37. mark. 9. 20 , 26. psalm . 91. 10 , 11 , 12. 2 chron. 15. 2. act. 20. 28. eph. 6. 4 , 5. rom. 13. 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 1 pet. 2. 13 , 14. tit. 9. 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 tit. 2. 15. esa . 3. 7. a ruler is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , a healer or repairer , to signifie his office from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , to bind , restrain , dress , fit and order . 1 sam. 2. 30. ezek. 22. 30 , 31. josh . 22. num. 25. 11. psal . 100. 30. exod. 32. 26 , 27. neh. 9. 27. neh. 13. 13 , 17 , 25 , 26. error , like the giant anteus , looses strength and life , by losing the ground , whence it was cherished . truth cannot lose heaven , and therefore prevails against earth . 2 cor. 2. 14. 2 cor. 8. 4. 2 cor. 1. 15. psal . 1. 7. eph. 2. 8. rom. 11. 6. eph. 1. 5 , 6 , 11. ioh. 1. 14 , 16. gal. 5. 22 , 23 , 1 ioh. 3. 9. ioh. 4. 14. ioh. 7. 37 , 38. 2 cor. 5. 17. eph. 4. 24. col. 3. 10. 2 pet. 1. 4. gal. 4. 19. 1 cor. 8. 1. 1 cor. 13. 1 , 2 , 3. phil. 3. 8 , 10. ioh. 172. esa . 53. 11. hos . 2. 19 , 20. affection and operation . rom. 1. 5. many choise tracts have been written formerly and lately about this excellent point : see among the modern , mr. perkins , dr. stoughton , mr. reynolds , and very lately that by mr. iohn ●all of london , upon 1 cor. 2. 2. and mr. shesfield , upon mala. 4. 2. iohn 8. 5. iob 22. 21 , 22 , &c. phil. 3. 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 ▪ 1 cor. 2. 2. phil. 2. 6. heb. 1. 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . ioh. 10. 30. prov. 8. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 joh. 5. 11. 19 , 21 , 23 , 26. ioh. 1. 14. 1 ioh. 1. 1 , 2. heb. 2. 16. mat. 1. 20 , 23. luke 1. 35. heb. 4. 15. 1 tim. 3. 6. 1 tim. 2. 5. esa . 53. 7. act. 8. 33. esa . 7. 14. esa . 8. 8 , 9. pro. 3. 1. in christo reperitur unio personales , non personarum , & unio naturarii , non naturalis . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , aliud & aliud , non alius & alius . in trinitate divinâ datur alius & alius , non aliud & aliud . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 verè & perfectè . 1 tim. 2. 5. this dialect of gods word is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , by the fathers , communicatio id●omatum . act. 20. 28. 1 cor. 2. 8. the humane nature being 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 first , was then made 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . mat. 1. 21. psal . 45. 7 psal . 110. gal. 4. 4. heb. 5. 4 , 5. act. 5. 31. act. 3. 21 , 22 , 23. psal . 110. esa . 32. 1. esa 33. 22. phil. 2 5 , 6 , 7 , 8. esa . 53. 1 , 2 , 3. &c. rom. 1. 4. 1 tim. 2. 5. rom. 8. 33 , 34 , &c. psal . 110. heb. 1. 3 , 4. col. 3. 1. eph. 2. 5 , 6. rev. 3. 21. rom. 8. 33 , &c. heb. 7. 25. heb. 10. 14. esa . 53. rev. 13. 8. rom. 5. 8 , 9. luke 19. 10. heb. 7. 25. ioh. 14. 16 , 26. ioh , 16. 7 , 8 , &c. esay 53. 10 , 11. &c. iohn 10. 18. iohn 6 ▪ 28 , 29 , &c. 1 cor. 3. 20 , 21 , &c. isa . 53. 2. revel . 5. 5. revel . 22. 16. eph. 1. 22. psalm 36. 9. psalm 87. 7. mal. 4. 2. esay . 8. 18. heb. 2. 13. rom. 8. 28. iohn 13 13. eph. 2. 20 , 21 , &c. rom. 13. 14 , iohn 6. 1 co. 10. psalm . 73. 26. this sun of righteousness is to the life set forth , mal. 4. 2. by allusion to the soveraign influence of the natural sun , quickning all the world . 2 pet. 1. 4. phil. 3. 9 , 10. eph. 1. 19 , 20. eph. 2. 5 , 6. iohn 3. 8. deus non alligat suas manus . gen. 28. 11 , 12. acts 17. 28. 1 pet. 2. 9 , 10. amos 3. 1 , 2. psal . 144. 15. psalm 76. 1. matth. 13. 45 , 46. gal. 4. 9. 1 pet. 2. 5 , 6. psalm 138. 6. psalm 1. 6. rom. 1. matth. 25. ioh. 10. 14 , 15. eph. 3. 18 , 19. those countries which are nearest the sun , having most of him , abound most with precious minerals , gold , jewels , and pearls . 1 pet. 1. 12. 1 tim. 5. 21. eph. 3. 10. 2 tim. 2. 10. rom. 12. 9. rom. 11. 7. mal. 3. 16. 1 pet. 2. 7 , 9. the original is very emphatical 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . both these articles are very pregnant , and the abstract , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 imports honour , esteem , choiceness , &c. opera ad extra sunt indivisa . ioh. 5. 19 , 23. eph. 1. 4 , 5 , 11. col. 1. 12. 1 pet. 1. 2. 3. ioh. 13. 14 , 15. matth. 22. 1 , 2 , 3 , &c. luke 14. forma dat esse & operari . hos . 2. 19 , 20 , &c. iohn . 17. 2 , 3. mal. 4. 2. iohn 8. 12. iohn 9. 5. ioh. 12. 36. 46. psalm . 19. the apostle in rom. 10. 18. alluding to the natural sun , wherein god hath pitched his glorious tabernacle , sets out the p●ogress of his gospel most elegantly , by the very words of the septuagint . thence some call the sun the natural apostle of the deity , shewing the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , rom. 1 19 , 20. to conviction , though not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 unto salvation . that is of common nature , this of peculiar grace , mat. 11. 25 , 26. mat. 13. 11 , 12 , &c. pro. 16. 4. psal . 102. 16. eph. 3. 11. iohn 5. 17 , 19 , 21 , 26. eph. 3. 18 , 19. ioh. 16. 14 , 15. 2 pet. 1. 2 , 3. iohn 20. 17. eph. 1. 3 , 4 , 5 , 6. iohn 1. 17. eph. 4. 11 , 12 , 13 , &c. col. 2. 18 , 19. 1 cor. 12. 4 , 5 , 6 , 14 , 15 , 21 , 22 , &c. eph. 4. 16. rom. 14. 19. iam. 3. 14 , 15 , 16. eph. 4. 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , &c. eph. 6. 15. rom. 14. 1. mat. 22. 39. iam. 2. 8. esa . 45. 22. 2 cor. 5. 18. can. 5. 10 , 11 , &c. rom. 7. 23 , 24 &c. ioh. 1. 14. 3 ioh. 5. 9 , 10 , 11 , 12. ioh. 3. 33. the hebrew is very emphatical in hos . 2. 24. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 et loquar ad animum ipsius . god speaks to the heart then as to the purpose . ioh. 1. 16. ex cognoscente & cogn●●o fit unum . axioma . philosoph . can. 2. 16. can. 6. 3. gal. 5. 22. 23. esa . 45. 22. zecha . 12. 10. ioh. 1. 12. ioh. 10. 27. esa . 26. 3. ioh. 6. ioh. 1. 16. rom. 11. 36. 1 ioh. 3. eph. 4. 14 , 15. eph. 5. 2. 3. † amor meus crucifixus est , was his motto still . christ my love was crucified to crucifie all to me , and me to all but himself . zach. 12. 10 , 11 , 12. 1 pet. 2. 3. psal . 34. 8. psal . 119. 128. 1 thess . 5. 22. 1 ioh. 3. 7 , 8 , 9 , 24. 1 ioh. 2. 29. rom. 12. 1 , 2. 2 cor. 3. 18. iob. 42. gen. 18. 27. rom. 6. 21. in plutarch . diogen . laert. &c. 1 ioh. 5. 3. i am . 2. 8. rom. 7. 12 , 14 , 22. 2 pet. 1. 2 , 3. ioh. 6. 52 , 55 , 56. psal . 119. 92. eph. 6. 12 , 13 , &c. ioh. 20. col. 3. 10. rev. 2. 7. rev. 22. 1. 2. see plin. ioseph . solin . some such are in the west indies , fair and full of poison . see hackluit , purchas , acosta . pro. 6. 8. col. 2. 3. 1 cor. 1. 24. col. 2. 19. heb. 12. si christum discis , satis est si caetera nescis . si christum nescis , nihil est ; si caetera discis , was the choice saying of a choice christian . 2 tim. 3. 5. 1 cor. 13. 1 , 2 , 3. hos . 4. 1. 2 , 6. hos . 6. 6. esay 27. 11. iohn 3. 19. esay 5. 21. iohn 9. 41. prov. 26. 12. ierem. 4. 22. see history of the netherlands . luk. 12. 47 , 48. luke 13. 24. qui timidè rogat , docet negare . matth. 25. 24 , 27. 28. prov. 2. prov. 3. prov. 4. prov. 8. prov. 13. 4. prov. 20. 4. matth. 13 , luke 8. revel . 2. 5. 2 tim. 3. 5. prov. 26. 23. matth. 23. 27. las quentas en la mano y el diablo en el capillo . hisp . adag . 2 king. 17. 31 , 32 , 41 , &c. matth. 15. 9. iohn 4. 24. phil. 3. 5 , 6 , 7 , &c. 2 cor. 5. 16. see tit. livius flor. tacit. mal. 1. 8. gal. 6. 3. isa . 1. 12 , 13 , 14 , &c. isa . 66. 3 , 4 , &c. luke 17. 10. acts 4. 12. rom. 2. 32. rom. 3. 27 , 28 , &c. rom. 11. 6. secundum , non propter opera . psalm 62. revel . 2. 23. matth. 25 , rom. 9. 16. 2. cor. 3. 5. ephes . 2. 8. jude 4. 2 cor. 3. 1 , 2 , 3 , &c. ephes . 2. 2 , 3. matth. 7. 21 , 22 , &c. ephes . 2. 2 , 3. 2 tim. 2. 26. 2 tim. 3. 13. 2 pet. 2. 13. 2 cor. 11. 14. 2 pet. 3. 16. 2 cor. 2. 17. 2 thes . 2. 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 psal . 81. 11 , 12. isa . 50. 11. eccles . 7. 6. psal . 58. 7 , 8 , 9. psal . 55. 12 , 13. as caesar to brutus , tu etiam mi fili ? matth. 24. 24. ephes . 2. 12. iohn 3. 3 , 4 , 5 , 6. psalm 14. psalm 53. rom. 2. rom. 3. matth. 18. 3. iohn 16. 8 , 9 , 10. rom. 7. 9 , 14. ierem. 23. 29. 1 pet. 2. 2. matth , 5. 6. heb. 2. 1 , 2. psalm 119. 11. luke 8. 15. ierem. 15. 16. micah 2. 7. iohn 6. 55. 56. iam. 1. 21. 1 pet. 2. 1. 2 cor. 7. 1. psal . 92. 12 , 13 phil. 1. 9. 2 thess . 1. 3 , &c. col. 1. 10. gal. 6. 10. gal. 5. 22 , 23. psal . 119. 18. can. 5. 10 , 16. can. 5. 2 , 4 , 5. mic. 6. 9. exod. 21. 6. ioh. 10. 26. psal . 45. 8. psal . 133. 3 , 4. can. 1. 2 , 3 , &c. psalm . 34. 8. 1 pet. 2. 3. can. 2. 5. psal . 73. 25. 1 cor. 2. 15. heb. 5. 14. 1 cor. 2. 15. heb. 5. 14 psal . 94. 19. psal . 139 ▪ 17. psal . 10. 4. psal . 45. 1 7. psal . 119. 52 , 55. psal . 78. 35. 39. psal . 106. 7. psal . 25. 1. col. 3 , 1 , 2. 1 cor. 11. 31. rev. 12. 1 , 2. gal. 5 , 24. gal. 6. 14. phil. 2. 1 , 2 , 3 , 4. eph. 4. 2. rom. 12. 10. mat. 5. 44 , 45. 1 thess . 5. 14. 1 ioh. 3. 17. jud. 22. heb. 5. 2. heb. 12. 1 , 2. phil. 3. 12 , 13 , &c. psal . 119. 59. ier. 8. 6. eph. 4. 4. rev. 1. 4. 1 cor. 12 ▪ 4 , 5 , 6. rev. 3. 4. rev. 5. 6. zach. 4. 6. ioh. 3. 8. 2 cor. 5. 1 , 2. psal . 42. 1 , 2. psal . 84. 1 , 2. phil. 1. 23. rom. 7 23 , 24. psal . 139. 23 , 24. psal . 19. 12 , 13. psal . 116. 1. can. 1. 7. can. 3. 1 , 2 , 3 , 4. psal . 73. 24 , 25. 1 ioh. 3. 14. 1 ioh. 4. 19 , 20 , 21 psal . 139. 22. psal . 119. 104 , 128. psal . 97. 10. iud. 23. 1 thess . 5. 22. 1 thess . 5. 16. phil. 4. 4. rom. 14. 17. 1 pet. 1. 6. 8. neh. 8. 10. 2 cor. 7. 10 , 11. rom. 12. 15. rev. 11. 3. mat. 5. ezek. 9. phil. 3. 12. isa . 26. 9. 1 tim. 6. 11. 2 tim 2. 2. 1 cor. 6. 18. 1 cor. 10. 14. heb. 6. 18. col. 1. 5 , 23 , 27. ●●●●eff . 5. 8. eph. 6. 1 pet. 1. 3. ie 1. 18. 12. esa . 57. 10. phil. 2. 12. heb. 11. 7. heb. 12. 28. prov. 28. 1. heb. 2. 10. heb. 12. 12. psal . 119. 139. psal . 69. 9. esa . 59. 17. ioh. 2. 17. tit. 2. 14. rev. 3. 19. 2 cor. 7. 11. gal. 4. 18. whether these faculties differ really , is not our business now to question . 1 cor. 2. 16. eph. 4. 23. phil. 2 5. 2 cor. 5. 14. phil. 1. 9. ioh. 16. 10. 1 cor. 11. 31. act. 23. 1. act. 24. 16. 2 cor. 1. 12. heb. 9. 14. heb. 10. 22. 1 pet. 3. 21. tit. 1. 15 , 16. rom. 6. 17. see an elegant emphasis , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , the mold int● which ye wer● cast . psal . 24. ezek. 36. 26. lam. 3. 19 , 20 , 21. 1 pet. 4. 10. mat. 13 52. rom. 7. 21 , 22 ▪ 1 cor. 9. 24 , 25 ▪ 26 , 27 ▪ 2 cor. 10 3 , 4 , 5. 1 ioh. 5. 12. mat. 9. 13 , 14. primus gradus poenitentiae , cognitio peccati . mat. 5. 3 , 4 , 5. 2 cor. 7. 11. rom. 7. throughout . 1 iohn 2 12 , 13 , 14. esay 42. 3. matth. 12. 20. matth. 13. 44 , 45 , 46 ▪ iohn 5. 40. 2 cor. 5. 19. esay 55. mark 8. 34. matth. 16. 24. luke 9. 23. matth. 11. 28. iohn 6. 35 , 37 , 44. 2 cor. 5. 18 , 19. 1 cor. 1. 30. matth. 11. 24. luke 11. 12. luk. 15. 7 , 10 deut 29. 29. 2 king. 7. 3 , 4 , 5 , &c. 1 king. 20. 30 , 31 , 32 , 33. ioel 2. 12. 1 cor 15. 45. iohn 5. 21. iohn 10. 10. iohn 6. 33. iohn 10. 26. iohn . 5. 25. iohn 11. 25. iohn 8. 32 , 33 , 34 35. iohn . 6. 44. hos . 11. 4. esay . 55. 5 , 6. rom. 6. 17. 2 cor. 1. 22. gen. 6. 3. cant. 1. 2. esay 26. 3 , 4. mat. 5. 30 , 31. psalm 12. 2. luke 14. 26 , 28 , 30 , 33. rom. 8. 18. the greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , signifies a most rational supputation , cast up by divine arithmetick exactly iohn 6. 35. 1 pet. 2. 2. isa . 66. 11 , 12. isa . 11. 3. psal . 51. 6 , 10. deut. 30. 6. ezech. 36. 26. ezech. 18. 31. gen. 32. 9. 10 , 12. zech. 12. 10 , 11. 1. sam. 29. luke 15. 2 cor. 7. 10 , 11 ▪ psal . 45. 10 , 11. 1 cor. 6. 19 , 20. gal. 5. 13. iam. 28. 1 pet. 2. 16. 6 matth. 22. luke 1● . nehem. 8. 8. esay 59. 17. psalm 45. col. 1. 12. 2 cor. 2. 14. 2 cor. 9. 15. 1 thes . 5. 18. revel . 4. 10. eph. 1. 3. psal . 104. 45. esay 55. 6. prov. 3. 6. exod. 20. 24. esay 64. 5. heb. 12. 25. mat. 10. 40. luke 10. 16. act. 3. 23 , 24. ioh. 6. 45. ier. 31. heb. 8. 1 ▪ iohn 20. 28. heb. 6. 1 , 2. ioh. 5. 39. 2 cor. 3. 18. 1 thess . 5. 17. 18. ezek. 36. 37. iam. 3. 16. ioh. 14. 14. 1 ioh. 5. 14 , 15. psal . 65 1 , 2. ier. 29. 11 , 12. prov. 18. 1. gen. 24 ▪ 63. mat. 18 19 , 20. mal. 3. 16. 1 cor. 12. pro 27. 17. eccle. 4 9. 11 , 12 1 cor. 10. 1 , 2 , &c. mat. 26. mar. 14. luke 22. mat. 28. 19 , 20. rev. 1 10. col. 3. 11. gal. 3. eph. 1. 23. eph. 4. 6. pro. 3. 6. rom. 8. 27. gal. 6. 10. mat. 5. 44. 45 , 48. psal . 82. 1 , 2 , 5. prov. 8. 15. 16. esa . 11. 9. 1 cor. 2. 2. 1 chro. 28. 9. 1 corh . 28. 2 , &c. 1 chro. 19. 1 , 2. &c. mat. 13. luke 1. 80. the iewish rabbeis tell great wonders of the mustard-seeds increase . hos . 14. ioh. 15. can. 2. 1 , 2. psal . 92. 12 , 13 , 14 , 15. psal . 1. 3 , 4. rev. 22. 1 , 2 , 14. rev 2 7. ier. 17. 7 , 8. psal . 23 1 , 2. esa . 5 5. 1. ezek. 47. 1 , 9 , 12. ioh. 15. dr. thomas goodwin in his christs growth . rev. 2. rev. 3. psal . 36. 9. 1 ioh. 5. 12. gal. 2. 20. col. 3. 4. eph. 2. 1 , 2 , 3 , 12. ioh. 15. 6. 1 ioh. 2. 17. psal . 129. 6. psalm . 90. 5. esa . 37. 27. col. 2. 6. prov. 16. 4. rom. 11. 36. esa . 60. 21. esa . 61. 3. ioh. 15. 8. rom. 8. 28. mat. 25. 2 cor. 5. 14. rom. 1. 9. rom. 12. 11. 1 cor. 12. 1 , 2 , 3. &c. eph. 4. 2 , 3. &c. eph. 4. 11 , 12. &c. esa . 84. esa . 56. 5 , 6. exod. 20. 24. esa . 6● . 5. luke 6. 46. 1 sam. 2. 12. ierem. 17. 9. see rom. 7. psal 119. and other pieces of saints experiences lively anatomized . naturalists mention a strange creature , whose skin is as big at its birth as ever after , the internal substance filling it up by degrees , like a pouch ; a gracious soul is no such monster . iob 17. 9. eph. 4. 14 , 15. phil. 1. 9. prov. 4. 18. iob 17. 9. phil. 3. 12 ▪ 13 , 14. heb. 12. 1 , 2. 2 tim. 3. 13. matth. 13. luke 8. heb. 6. 12. heb. 10. 36. 1 tim. 1. 20. 2 tim. 2. 17. 2 tim. 4. 10. 1 tim. 4. 15. mat. 13. 45 , 46. prov. 2. prov. 3. 2 king. 4. 5 , 6. matth. 20. mark. ●0 . 46. mark. 8. john 7. matth. 15. 22 , 23 , 24. phil 3. 5 , 6 , 7 , &c. 1 cor. 3. 18. 1 cor. 1. 30. 2 tim. 1. 6. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to stir up and blow the coals ; to quicken the dying sparks , by an elegant metaphor . iob 23. 12. psalm 119. iohn 6. ierem 15. 16. heb. 5. 12 , 13 , 14. 1 pet. 2. 2. mat. 5. 6. acts 24. 16. 1 tim. 4. 7 , 8. heb. 5. 14. 1 cor. 9 25 , 26 , 27. eph. 6. 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 , &c. exod. 14. 26. mal. 4. 2. hos . 6. 1 , 2. deut. 32. 39. ierem. 51. 9. some diseases are called opprobria medicorum . 1 thes . 5. 22. 2 cor. 12. 14. 1 thes . 5. 21. phil 4. 5. 1 thes . 5 6 , 8. 1 pet. 1. 13. naturae pauca sufficiunt . senec. phil. 4. 11 , 12. 1 tim. 6 6 , 8 , 10. prov. 10. 22. matth. 24. matth. 25. mark 14. luke 21. 1 thes . 5. eph. 5. 15 , 16. col. 4. 2. matth. 25. revel . 16. 15. rom. 5. 12 , 13 , &c. gen. 6. 5. ier. 17. 9. psal . 14. rom. 3. 10 , 11. &c. mat. 1. 21. luk. 1. 72 , 73 , 74. gal. 3. 14. sublata causa , tollitur effectus heb. 5. 14. 1 cor. 2. 13 , 15. pro. 22. 3. pro. 27 , 12. 1 ioh. 4. 1 , 2. 1 ioh. 3. 3. rom. 8. 13. 1 ioh. 3. 7 , 8 , 9. sperma morbosum . eph. 4. 21 , 22 , 23 , 24. rom. 6. 4 , 5. col. 3. 3 , 4 , 5 , 6. phil. 4. 13. 2 cor. 3. 5. 1 cor. 15. 10. 2 cor. 12. 7 , 8. psal . 103. 3. mar. 1. 4. ier. 8. 22. plin. solin . esa . 53. 5. jer. 17. 24. 1 pet. 2. 24. mat. 4. 23. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , greater and lesser . psal . 105. 20. esa . 3. 7. a magistrate is a state-physician . esa . 20. 26. hos . 7. 1. hos . 7. 1. ier. 6. 14. ier. 8. 11. ier. 15. 18. ier. 51. 8. ezek. 34. 4. hos . 11. 3. the evangelists vary the phrase ; he would not saith one , he could saith the other ; he would not , he could not . mat. 13. 58. mar. 6. 6. mat. 17. 20. heb. 3. 18 , 19. psalm 95. 2 chron. 36. 16. till there was no healing . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , sanatio . ier. 8. 22. esa . 57. 18 , 19. ier. 30. 17. 1 cor. 1. 19 , 21 , 24. ier. 8. 9. ier. 23. 22. exo. 15. 26. esa . 44. 20 object . answ . 2 pet. 2. 22. mat. 7. 23. luke 13. 27. ier. 2. 13. psalm 106. 8. ezek. 21. 27. hag. 2. 6 , 7. heb. 12. 26 , 27. iohn 1. 12. 2 cor 1. 22. ephes . 1. 13. ephes . 4. 30. rom. 4. 11. hipocrat . paulus . see galen . avicen . averroes . mesue . avenzoar , serap . reub . de gemm . and all modern physitians of all nations . 2 sam. 15. 11. phil. 3. 15 , 16. gal. 6. 16. rom. 14. 1 , 2 , &c. gal. 6. 1 , 2 , &c. 2 pet. 2. 1 , 2. iud. 3. 22 , 23. 2 tim. 3. 5. 1 tim. 4. 1 , 2. &c. tit. 3. 10. 2 ioh. 7. 8 , 9. 10. gal. 1. 8. about these see at large epiphan . augustin . euseb . socrat. concilior . tom. danaeum ; chamier . iunium . paraeum . simpsons history of the church . history of socin . anatom . of socin . cheynels trinunity . centuriat . magdeb. a testimony born to christ by the london ministers , with lyfords explanation thereof , &c. phil. 3. 10. mal. 4. 2 , col. 2. 9. iohn 1. 3. heb. 1. 2 , 3. heb 3. 4. mark 2. 7 , 8 , 9 , 10. luke 6. 8. revel . 2. 23. ioh. 15. 24 , 26. rom. 1. 4. heb. 4. 6. iohn 20. 28. matth. 4. 10. iohn 10. 30. about this read beckmans exercit . against behmen . the history of familists : the answers to quakers by many godly ministers . hornebeck de anabapt . german . epiphan . de haeret . augustin . danaeum . bishop vsher of christs incar . &c. downames body of divinity , &c. heb. 2. 16. iohn 1. 14. heb. 4. 15. 1 tim. 3. 16. esay 53. 10. luke 22. 44. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quasi grumosus sanguis largiter defluens . matth. 23. 46. so far as scripture teaches to allegorize , as galat. 4. it s very useful , so as still to retain the proper sence of the place . but to strain allegorles to the destroying of truth , is a dreadful wresting and wracking of scripture , all sorts of monstrous errors in every age. see epiphan . euseb . august . socrat. daneus . calvin . centur. magdeb. simpsons hist . of the church . chamier . panstrat . hornebeck de variis heretic . chemnit . exam . ames . bell. ener . anatom . of the mass by mornay ; anatomie dela messe , par mousieur du moulin . willets synops . perkins reform . catholick . iun. antibellarm . not. books against quakers . pagets heresiogr . mat. 26. 38. luk. 24. 39. act. 1. 9. 11. act. 3. 21. the seulicians of old shewe'd their enmity to christ , as modern noonists in faigning a distinctive dissiolution of christs humane nature . 2 cor. 5. 16. ioh. 6. 63. histor . concil . euseb . epiphan . augustine , baron . annal. gentur . magdeburg . chamier . phanstr . anat. of socin . histor of socin . iun. de trin. cheynels triunity , calvin . paraeus . esay 7. 14. heb. 1. 2. 1 tim. 2. 5. 1 iohn 5. 7. iohn 14. 26. iohn 15. 26. mat. 3. 17. phil. 2. 6. ioh. 1. 14. the schoolmen , mornaeus de veritate religionis christi , and many others are large on this subject , shadowing out this mysterie by similes , from mans intellect , from the sun , &c. about this read concilior . tom. euseb . danaeus . calvin magdeb. centur . simpsons history ; zonar . sleidan comment . bulinger . histor . david . george . pagets heresiogr . luther against enthus . hornebeck de haeret . cha●mier . panstr . 1 pet. 1. 21. rom. 8. 9 , 11. 2 chro. 13. 14. revel . 1. 4 , 5. 1 kin. 22. 22. mat. 18. 31 , 32. mar. 9. 29 heb. 6. 4 , 5 , 6. heb. 10. 27 , 28. 29 ioh. 5. 16. about these at large see hornebeck , danaeum , de haeret . paraeum , iunium , &c. anatomy of socinianism . ostorod . catech . cracov . &c. see bellarmin . concil . trident. becan , &c. chemnit . exam . chamier . panstrat . ames . bellar. enervat . willets synops . nouveaute du papism . pard . moulin . mysterie of iniquity by mornay , rainold , whitaker , fox monum . pagets heresiogr . see the quakers books and confutations . heb. 9. 22 , 23. heb. 9. 23. ons of the leapers cleansed , and the living and dying bird mentioned , levit. 14. 5 , 6 , 7. &c. and the two propitiatory goats , the one dying , the other escaping , lev. 16 , 7 , 8 , 9 , &c. ioh. 6. 53 , 63. heb. 7. 25. esa . 63. 3. lev. 16. 17. the grecians had propitiatory oblations by devoting of men , called therefore obominals to expiate for the peoples sins , the devil being still gods ape in counterfeiting and spoiling his worsip by humane inventions and mimical innovations among pagans and papists . luke 17. 10. god would have but one altar and one door , to which sacrifices should be brought , lev. 17. 3 , 5. * ier. 23. 6. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the priests were to put ▪ off their own garments , and put on that sacred vesture which was to serve all the lords servants successively , typifying christs righteousness , comming into his special presence for acceptance and oblation . christs oblation is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , the mercy-seat or propitiation that must cover our best duties and works . ier. 33. 16. the church being the spouse and body of christ , leaves her own name to borrow his . * 1 cor. 1. 30. * 2 cor. 5. 21. gods high priest alone was to enter into the most holy place to explate and intercede . about this read you may bellarmin . concil . tridentin . gratian. lombard . aquinat . becan . chamier . panstr . chemnit exam. ames , bell. enerv. willets synops . armachan . nov. bishop potter , bishop davenant , is hitaker , rainold . bishop iewel . jun. not. antibell . calvin . institut . luther in gal. &c. about this you may see davenant , wootten , bradshaw . burges , baxter , downam . quisquis domus partem super arena fundat , totius ruinam certò periclitatur ; ipsius etiam partis quae rupi videbatur affixa . heb. 10. 14 , 18. heb. 7. 12 , 23 , 24. 1 joh. 4. 2 , 3. totus christus salus nostra , adae ●uatum fidei objectum ; totalis obedientia christi , propitiatio adae quata ad illam complendam solutem . ioh. 10. 17 , 18 good works are well stiled via r●gni , non causa regnandi . you may see for this concilior . tom. bellarmin . baronii , annal. chamier . chemnit . exam. beckmans exerc . history of the church . calvin . contr . fanat . hist . of famil . hornbeck de haeret . authority , impartialty and infallibility , the properties of a supream iudge , belong only to the lord , the spirit , and to his word , heb. 12. 25 , 26. 1 cor. 10. 15. 1 cor. 5. 12. act. 15. 28. act. 16. 4. rev. 22. 18 , 19. 2 cor. 13. 12. gal. 2. 11. phil. 3. 12 , 15. heb. 12. 23. ioh. 15. 15. ioh. 20. 31. 1 pet. 1. 10 , 11 , 12. ioh. 1. 18. 1 ioh. 2. 20 , 27. ier. 31. 33. 1 thess . 5. 19 , 20 , 21. heb. 12. 25 , 26. mat. 10. 40. luke 10. 16. gal. 1. 7. 8. act. 3. 22 , 23. mal. 2. 7. eph. 4. luke 10. 16. 2 cor. 3. 18. for this read hist . of germ. anab. pagets heresiogr . danaeus de haeret . chamier . panstr . and supplem . the books against quakers . subject . to christ by thom. sheph. downam de antichrist , &c. rev. 19. 16. psal . 110. 1 , 2 , &c. luke 19. 27. esa . 33. 22. esa . 32. 1. 2. 1 cor. 15. 25. act. 15. 15 , 16. ezek. 21. 27. hag. 2. 6 , 7. 2 thess . 2. 3 , 4 , 7 , 8. 1 tim. 4. 1 , 2 , 3 , &c. rev. 13. rev. 17. rev. 11. rev. 12. see to this purpose the several places against quakers , familists , by gataker , featly , rutherford , burges , baxter , farmer , the new-castle ministers , paget , baily , &c. beckmans exercit . baxter of the sin against the holy ghost . compare them with the relation given of the old valentinians , basilidians , gnosticks , carpocratians , &c. by epiphan . august . euseb . socrat. sozomen . theodoret. magdeb. centur. history of the church , &c. phil. 3 10. phil. 2. 5 , 6 , 7 , 8. rom. 6. 10. the greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is very emphatical , signifying the most rational way of deliberation and determination upon the due consideration of all things . this is the most divine arithmetick , and a sure computation . 1 cor. 12. 12. rom. 8. eph. 1. 22. eph. 5. 32. eph. 2. 20. 21. deus est circulus , cujus centrum ubique circumferentia nusquam , said the philosopher . act. 3. 21. the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 emphatically signifies to embrace and retain . iohn 15. 2 , 3 , &c. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 inter vos , among you , as the same phrase imports , 1 pet. 5. 1. the elders 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 among you . ephes . 3. 17. rom. 6. 3 , 4 , 5. col. 1. 27. 1 cor. 15. 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 , 21. luke 24. 26 , about these you may see the many books abroad , discovering the mysterious designs of our opinionists ; by mr. baxter , the london ministers and others ; as also the many detections of jesuitick designs touched , by iesuitic . speculum , histor . iesuit . mr. prins books , hornebeck , some german jesuits converted , &c. 1 cor. 15. rom. 6. phil. 3. 9 , 10. 1 cor. 15. iohn 6. see for this chamier . calvin . anatom . of the mass , with the joint forces of our many writers . crede , & manducasti , was the famous axiome of st. augustin in this case . hereticks of old are thus set out by epiphan . augustin . ierom. irenaeus . cyprian . euseb . socrat. tertul . &c. see bellarm. concil . trid. becan . tolet. staplet . maldon . gordon . &c. confuted by chamier . panstrat . rainold . whitak . bishop iewel . downame . potter . morton . davenant . field . willet . ames . paraeus . calvin . luther . and multitudes of protestant writers . witness the many books by them and against them , besides their flying papers and daily speeches . beckmans exercit. erastus against paracelsus . zuinger . gesner . and others have particularly detected the sad affinity of behmens doctrine with paracelsus his chymical delusions ; mr. baxter in his late tract of the sin against the holy ghost , from pag. 146. 147. he gives direful hints of this . 2 tim. 3. 15 , 16 , 17. psalm 19. psalm 119. 2 pet. 1. 19 , 20 , 21. esay 8. 20. iohn 5. 39. 2 tim. 3. 15 , 16 , 17. 2 pet. 1. 19 , 20 , 21. 2 cor. 4. 3 , 4. prov. 6. 23. esay 59. 21. 2 cor. 2. 15 , 16. esay 8. 20. 1 cor. 13. 9 , 10. 1 tim. 4. 13 , 14 , 15 , 16. gal. 6. 3. 1 cor. 3. 18. heb. 1. 1. rev. 22. 18. 19. 1 cor. 4. 6. 1 tim. 4. 4. 1 tim. 4 7. tit. 1. 14. 2 pet. 1. 16. 2 tim. 3. 13. witness sprig . erbury . iohn sedgwick salmon . &c. see of this the writers formerly named , those also hinted by mr. baxter in his book of the sin against the holy ghost , with divers others sufficiently known . rom. 12. 16. 1 cor. 1 , 21. paul for instance in all his epistles . exod 20. 24. psalm 105. 4. esay 64. 5. prov. 3. 6. iob 42. 6. gen. 18 27. mat. 26. 30. mark 14. 26. a● . 16. 25. 1 cor. 14. 15. eph 5. 19 , 20. col. 3. 16. 2 chro. 29. 30. ezechias and the lords servants commanded that they should sing in the words of david & asaph . all men are bid and bound to serve god morally , that they may learn to serve him spiritually . psalm 33. 8. psalm 67. 3 , 4 , 5 , 7. act. 17. 30 , 31. ierem. 10. 25. psalm 14. 4. 1 tim. 4. 4. matth. 15. matth. 26. luke 21. mark 14. ioh. 4. 23 , 24. matth. 15 9. col. 2. 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 , 23. see the full parallel thereof in the isle of man , by mr. bernard in the charge drawn against papistry . see mr. daille right use of the fathers . rivet . critic . censur . patr . perkins problem . and all our divines on that subject . many worthy pens have largely confuted all anti-sabbatarians , witness . dr. twiss , dr. baily , mr. palmer , and caudry , mr. shepheard , mr. lestrange , mr. white , dr. ames , mr. garter , &c. revel . 1. 10. exod. 20. 10 , 11 , 12. the particle ha , is not alwayes emphatical to notifie a particular ; & if it should be so taken here , it may notifie proportion , as well as order . as esay 56 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7. exod. 31. 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 , &c. levit. 19. 3 , 29 , 30. matth. 12. 8. heb. 4. 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 11. gen. 1. gen. 8. gen. 17. exod. 12. exod. 19. c. 20. exod. 30. exod. 40. levit. 9. levit. 9. 24. numb . 16. numb . 17. 1. iohn 2. luk. 24. iohn 20. 19. matth. 27. act. 1. act. 2. 1 cor. 16. 1. act. 20. 7. exod. 20. matth. 24. numb . 15. ezek. 22. ezek. 20. ezek. 23. nehem. 13. 17 , 18. exod. 31. 14 , 35 , 2. ierem. 17. 27. carnal protestants have learned of the paganish papists to profane the sabbath , making it rather diabolicus quam dominicus dies . like their pope sylvester , who commanded the alteration of it , & thursday to be observed in lieu thereof , as hospin relates , de fest . christ . witness afred , ivan &c. in saxon and english history by braiton , britton , fortescue , bacons history of english government . rom. 14. gal. 4. col. 2. the first and great blow given to the german churches was upon the sabbath day which they had so notoriously prophaned . on that day prague was taken by the papists many champions of truth have contributed much to this subject , as the former reformers and ancient fathers ; so of late , mr. burges , mr. rutherford , m. paget , mr. baxter , mr. cotton , mr. cobbet . mr. shepheard , mr. hooker , &c. gen. 1. 26 , 27. eph. 4. 23 , 24. col. 3. 10. ierem. 31. 33. ierem. 32. 39 , 40 , 41. ezek. 36 , 26 , 27 , act. 7. 37. matth. 5. rom. 7. 12 , 14 , 22. 1 cor. 9. 21. iam. 2. 8. ephes . 6. 1 , 2. gal. 2. 16. gal. 3. 10 , 11 rom. 6. 14. rom. 3. 25. rom. 5. 1. act. 15. iam , 2. 8. 12. rom. 7. 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 , 25. worthy pains have been taken by many of late , as by our former reformed divines , by mr. bulkeby , mr. mr. cobbet , m. carter , mr. anth. burges , dr. owen , mr. blake , mr. baxter , mr. marshal , mr. norton , &c. whose lesser differences are composed with facility by the sober friends of truth and peace . gal. 3. 16. gen. 3. 15. act. 3. 37. gal. 4. 4 , 5. exod. 19. 20. deut. 26. 17 , 18. deut. 29. 10 , 11. psalm 89. 3 , 28 , 34. psalm 105 8. esay 59. 21. zech. 9. 11. psalm 106. 45. psalm 111. 5. ezech. 16. 60 , 62. mic. 7. 20 , 21. luk. 1 72 , 73. exod. 12. 48. matth. 5. matth. 26. 1 iohn 2. 7 , 8 , 9. 10. heb. 9 , 17 , 20 , 22. heb. 8 , 6 , 7 , &c. 1 cor. 3. levit. 13. 8. mr. hobbs in his leviathan and other books , hath many gross errors opposing this and other divine truths dangerously . the fathers of old , both greek , latin , and all reformed divines since have cleared this point to the full , being followed by many worthy pens in our age ; english and french , dutch and danes . the novelists follies have have been detected sufficiently also , formerly and lately . infant baptism in its purity , antiquity & right hath been fully made out , as by all former writers , so lately by mr. marshal , mr. blake , mr. baxter , mr. cobbet , dr. winter , dr. featley , dr. goodwin , mr. cotton , mr. sidenham . dr worth , and many others . 1 cor. 10. 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 11. matth. 15. 9. consult . sleiden , alling , hornebeck , bulinger , &c. for the particulas . deut. 26. deut. 29. 10 , 11. gen. 17. 7 , 8 , 10 ezek. 16. 20. matth. 19. 13 , 14 , 15. act. 2. 39. heb. 13. 8. 1 cor. 1. 20. gal. 3. 8 , 9 , 14. rom. 11. 16 , 17 , 20 , 23. exod. 12. 48. act. 16. 31. luke 19. 9. iohn 6. 44. about this subject you may see most of our protestant divines , as the fathers also against schism , as irenaeus , austin , &c. more lately have written dr. field , b. iewel , dr. willet , and within these few years the assembly of divines , mr. hudson , mr. hooker , mr. stone , mr. caudry , mr. cotton , m. baxter , &c. whose circumstantial differences are easily reconciled by moderate christians ; who strive for truth and peace , not for contentious victory . eph. 1. 23. 1 tim. 3. 15. eph. 4. 3 , 4 5 , 6. ezek. 11 , 19. iohn 10. 16. rom. 16. 17 , 18 , 19. 1 iohn 3. 3. 1 cor , 5. 7 , 8 , 9 , &c. cant. 6. 10. rom. 14. 19. psalm . 34. 14. heb. 12. 14. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , follow hard after , as with hue & cry , with utmost diligence . augustin . propert . and many other fathers cleared this point of old . the reformed churches have afforded successively many champions thereto , as wickliff , bradward , calvin , zanch. paraeus , iun. chamier , twiss , pemble , &c. lately dr. owen , mr. baxter , mr. resbury , dr. kendal , dr. prideaux , &c. rom. 9. 11. eph. 1. 3 , 4 , 5 , 6. rom. 8. 28. 1 pet. 1. 2. iohn 6. 70. rom. 8. 28. matth. 25. 12. eph 1. 5 , 11. the arminian distinction of gods antecedent and consequent will , is found insufficient to thei● scope , & cross to all divine attributes . 2 thes . 2. 13 , 14. rom. 8. 28 , 29 , 30. act. 13. 48. 2 tim. 2. 19. * the apostle , rom. 9. brings three signal instances of this great truth for a sure demonstration ; 1. in jacobs posterity , ver . 5. 6. 2. in abrahams seed , ver . 7 , 8 , 9. 3. in isaacs family , ver . 10. 11 , 12 , &c. to take off all mistakes , shewing the first absolute ground of difference between man and man , to flow from gods bosom , for ordaining the future state of all his creatures , according to the purposed pleasure of his wil. as for the execution or justice , or decreeing thereof , he delights not in the sinners death , but in glorifying of justice . 1 thes . 5. 9. rom. 9. 22 , 23. iude. 4. prov. 16. 4. rom. 9. 14 , 15 , &c. rom. 9. 19 , 20 , &c. iam. 1. 2 pet. 2. 1 iohn 3. rom. 11. 6 , 7 , &c. upon this text see mr. r. resburies elaborate lectures . dei voluntas rerum necessitas . august . de genes . ad liter . many choice pleces of this theme you may consult with , left by augustin , propert . bradward . calvin , luther , paraeus , zanch. twiss , chamier , molin , downame and many more ancient and modern . dr. owen , dr. kendal , mr. lyford , mr. resbury , &c. have taken off many sad mistakes herein , in their late writings against arminianism . see the writings about them . rom. 8 28 , 29 , 30 act. 20. 28. heb. 9. 22. rom. 5. 8 , 9 , 10. 2 pet. 2. 1. 1 tim. 4. 10. psalm 36. 6. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 salvabis . septuag . thou shalt save , answering the hebrew . rom. 8. 28. matth. 20. 15. rom. 11. 35. heb. 7. 25. luk. 19. 9 , 10. ioh. 10. 16 , 28 , 29 , 30. matth. 3. 5. col. 1. 23. iohn 1. 29. psal . 32. 32. iohn 6 33. 2 cor. 5. 19. 1 iohn 5. 19. iohn 17. 9. revel . 13. 3. iohn 14. 17. iohn 17. 25. 2 pet. 2. 5. he distinguishes the ●orld of the ungodly from the saved ones . matth. 5. 3 , 6. esay 48. 22. esay 57. 21. iohn 6. 37. act. 15. 18. 2 tim. 2. 19. it s no disgrace to the sufficiency of the sun , that so many blind eyes share not in its light. some are wilfully , all naturally , some judicially , many sluggishly blind in spirituals . all are born blind ; satan blinds further , some fall asleep , others wilfully shut their eyes ; some are offended , others judicially blinded ; there is no fault in the natural or spiritual sun , but in the creature : sin is from self , rom. 5. 1 cor. 15. 22. you may see largely on this subject augustin , epiphan . prosper , chamier , magdeb . centur. calvin , luther , chemnit . paraeus , zanchius , bradwardine , ames . dr. twiss , anatom . and histor . of socinian . trelcatium vtrumque , iun. theses , davenant , bishop jewel , rivet , hornebeck , de socin . willets synops . dr. owens display of arminians , &c. mr. ant. burges lectures . mr. downams system . mr. baxters rest . mr. perkins , hooker , shepheard , cotton , dr. preston , sibs , &c. see the books about them . gen. 6. 5. psalm 14 , psalm 53. ierem. 17. 9. psalm 51. 5. iohn 3. 3 , 5. 6. matth. 18. 3. eph. 1. 17 , 18 , 19. 2 cor. 5. 17. 1 iohn 3. 14. act. 26. 8. ezek. 36. 26 , 27. iohn 3. 3 , 5 , 6 , 7. rom. 2. rom. 3. psalm . 58. 3. eph. 2. 1 2 , 3 , 11 , 12. eph. 4. 17 , 18 , 19. tit. 1. 15 , 16. 2 tim. 2. 25 , 26. * act. ●4 . 27. act. 16. 14. gen. 6. 5. gen. 8. 21. the particle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in that speech of god , appears to be not causal as many take it , but discretive , as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , etsi , although , aggravating mans sinfulness , as the greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 seems to import , 1 tim. 1. 13. where he doth not extenuate , but aggravate his sin . 1 cor. 16. 9. col. 4. 3. rom. 8. 28 , 29 , 30. iohn . 6. 37 , 44 , 45. ezek. 36. 2 , 26 , 27. ierem. 31. 33. ier. 32. 39 , 40. psalm 89. rom. 7. col. 3. hos . 2. 14 , 19 , 20. gen. 9. 27. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the hebrew reads emphatically , god will efficaciously perswade japhet , enlarging the heart of gentiles towards christ ; il a hirera en douceur , as the french reads it . he will sweetly and surely draw them . thence 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 persuadeo . revel . 3. 21. rom. 8. 7 , 8. rom. 8. 2 , 9. rom. 7. 25. necessity and liberty meet together in heaven , on earth , yea in hell itself . eph. 4. 24. 1 pet. 1. 14 , 15. matth. 13. prov. 4. 18. luke 13. mark 4. rom. 7. phil. 2. 13. eph. 2. 8 , 9 , 10. rom. 9. 16. iam. 1. 18. eph. 1. 6. men sin wilfully , though necessarily . it s a necessity conditional , not absolute ; it was contracted by a mans own fault ; it opposes not his liberty of choice ; whether in point of contradiction towards contrary acts ; willing or nilling : or of contrariety towards contrary objects good or evil . the sinner chuses evil in refusing good , willingly without constraint . gods decree infuses no evil into a man , nor his providence . psalm 58. 3. iob 14. 4. matth. 7. 16. luke 6. 44. iam. 3. 12. eph. 2. 1 , 2 , 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and partial acceptation of persons , forbidden of god , is to be found only in debitis and matters of duty , not in gratulties and things of free gift . about this truth , besides the fathers greek and latin , and our former reformed divines , you may consult with late writers , as dr. preston , dr. ames . dr. sibs , mr. bolton , dr. thom. goodwin , dr. ward , dr. twiss , bishop davenant , bl. morton , mr. hooker , mr. shepherd , dr. owen , mr. rutherford , mr. cotton , mr. burges lectures , mr. baxter , mr. gataker , mr. lyford , &c. sleidan , cloppenburg . becman , hornebeck , altingius , bulinger , &c. eph. 1. 3 , 4 , 5. tit. 3. 4 , 5. 2 thes . 2. 13. rom. 8. 28 , 29 , 30. iohn 6. 37 , 39 , 44 , 45. iohn 10. 27 , 28 , 29. iohn 17. 2. 1 pet. 1. 25. 2 thes . 2. 13. 1 pet. 1. 2 , 3 , 4. phil. 1. 19. phil. 4. 19. iohn . 1. 12. act. 13 48. iohn 10. 3 , 14 , 15. tit. 2 , 11 , 12. 1 iohn throughout . iohn 6. 37 , 38 , 39. iohn 10. 27 , 28 , 29. heb. 8. 2 sam. 23. 5. ierem. 31. 33. ezek. 36. 26 , 27. psalm 73. 23. 2 cor. 12. 9. 2 pet. 1. 5 , 6 , &c. tit. 2. 10 , 11 , 12. mirae gradationes in divina catena , & inseparabiles ! 1 a. decretorum rom. 8. 28 , 29 , 30. 2 a. virtutum , 2 pet. 1. 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10. 3a . officiorum , 1 thes . 5. 17 , 18. 19 , &c. 4 a. privilegior . 1 cor. 1. 30. 1 cor. 3. 21 , 22. 5 a. beatitudinum . matth. 5. 3 , 4 , 5. &c. omnes isti coelestes nexus sunt firmiter contexti , & nulla vi aut fraude dissolvendi . pendent enim omnes ab optimi maximi throne , & ipsius omnipotenti manu connectuntur & conservantur . 2 tim. 2. 13. rom. 8. 32. ephes . 1. 13. 2 cor. 1. 22. about this subject you may read much in all antiquity ; and among divines and civilians of late , especially in english you 'l find it handled exactly by mr. cobbet of new england in 1653. and much in scattered places among mr. baxters , and others works , and in the volumes of sermons preached before the parliaments since 1640. to this day . you may see about it our libertine school'd , lately published . rom. 13. 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6. 1 sam. 2. 30. rom. 13. 2 sam. 23. 2 , 3. exod 18. 21. nehem. 3. 5. 2 chron. 19. 5 , 6 , 7. esay . 49. 23. ierem , 30. 21. their queries and objections you find answered in our libertin school'd briefly , more largely in other authors . rom. 13. 2 , 3 , 4 , 5. prov. 8. 15 , 16. esay 8. 20. 2 pet. 1. 19 , 20 , 21. 2 tim. 3. 15 , 16 , 17. 1 tim. 1. 13 , 14. tit. 3. 3. act. 26. 9. 1 pet. 2. 20. 2 ki●g . 17. compared with 2 king. 19. esay 49. 23. revel . 13. revel . 17. this theme hath been frequently and fully handled in all ages , and in ours by the assembly of divines , the ministers of london , by mr. shepheard , mr. hooker , mr. rutherford , mr. gilespy , mr. norton , mr. cotton , &c. who harmoniously agree in the substantials , though they sometimes vary in circumstantials of order ecclesiastical . mal. 2. 7. num. 16. num. 17. num. 31. 30 , 47. num. 35. 2 , 8. gen. 49 7. deut. 33. 9 , 10. their scattering was for the publike good . deut , 12. 19. ezek. 44. 28 , 29 , 30. 2 chron. 36. 15 , 16. 2 chro. 30. 22. ezek. 48. 10 , 11 , 12 , 13. this prophesie from the 40 th . chapter of ezek. is evangelical , though set out by mosaical expressions , as the whole scope demonstrates , & expositors harmoniously agree . 2 chron. 36. 15 , 16. see josephus his antiquity , and of the iewish wars . iohn 2. 14 , 15 16. matth. 21. 12. luk. 19. 45 , 46. luke 9. 1 , 2 , &c. luke 10. 1 , 2 , &c. eph. 4. 10 , 11. eph. 4. 11 , 12. 1 cor. 12. 28 , 29. act. 20. 28. matth. 28. 18 , 19 , 20. ioh 20. 22 , 23. heb. 13. 7 , 17 , 24. 1 pet. 5. 1 , 2 , 3. revel . 2. and chap. 3. 2 cor. 5. 19. 1 cor. 4. 1. 1 thes 5 12. act 14. 22. 1 tim. 5. 17 , 22. 2 tim. 2. 2. tit. 1. eph. 4. 13 , 14. revel . 1. 20. revel 11. about this you may see much in smectymnuus , in wa●o messalinus , in salma sii libro de primatu papae ; in the london ministers , jus minist . & presbyt . in gilespie a-aarons rod blossoming ; where the fathers , as iren. iustin . tertul. austin , ierom , &c. are quoted to your hand . see also centur. magdeb. calvins institut . all our divines about church-order . myster . inquit . morn . &c. revel . 13. revel . 17. 2 thes . 2. 4 , 5 , 6 , 7. 1 tim. 4. 1 , 2 , 3 , &c. revel . 11. revel . 12. revel . 13. revel . 17. bishopvsher de antiq . & success . ecclesiar . centur . magdeburg . catalog . test . veritat . myster . inquit . morn . histor . of the church . chemnit . exam . field of the church . iewels apolog . whitaker , rainold , ius divinū . minist . evangel . fox . monuments . spelman de christ . relig. in britan. isaak's chronology , speed , &c. voet. desperata causa papat . pag. 405. the romish usurpations were vigorously opposed in england from time to time , witness eademer , hist . nov. selden , speed , &c. 1 pet. 5. 2 , 3. 1 thes . 2. 7 , 8. heb. 5. 4. rom. 10. 13 , 14 , 17. ierem. 23. 21 , 22 , 32 , 38. ierem. 29. 31. numb . 16. 1 king. 12. 30 , 31. 1 king. 13. 34. 1 tim. 3. act. 14. 22. 1 tim. 5. 22. matth. 10. 40. luke 10. 16. matth. 24. 2 tim. 4. 3 , 4. ierem. 23. 32. 1 king. 17. 18 1 cor. 9. 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 , &c many choice pleces are extant of this subject by the ancient and modern in all nations ; about these see picus mirandula , perkins , mr. gauls magastromanier . & spanhemius , &c. cornelius agrippa himself , once a great friend hereto , saw at last the great danger thereof , and discovered it to others . heb. 1. 2 , 3. amos 3. 6. god● not the author of sin , though active about sin in his decree and execution . therein he acts 1. as the supreme mover , man as the proper subject : 2. god as the author of nature , man as a moral agent . 3. god by a pure rule , man against rule . gen. 50. 20. act. 4. 20. matth 10. 21. esay 47. 12 , 13. deut. 18. 9 , 10 , 11 , 12. 2 king. 17. 17. ierem. 14. 14. ezek. 12. 24. ezek. 13. 6 , 7 , 22. act. 16. 16. the chief hereticks who troubled the church most in all ages , have been great promoters of this black art , as manes the priscillianist , the simonians , menandrians , marcionists , mark confuted by irenaeus . &c. the laws imperial , ecclesiastick and municipal have been zealous in all ages against it , both among the sober pagans and all christians . the notorious lyes and impostures of the prime astrologers stand on record in history . tully shews how horribly they cheated pompey , crassus and caesar . alapide upon act. 19. declares their horrid deceits in rome . see their lives in print by several authors , and many histories to that purpose in the records of all nations and ages . iob 9. 9. iob. 38. 31. amos 5. 8. if the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 coeli may have a little influence upon 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 corporis , it hath less upon 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ingenij , if any , least of all upon 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 rationis in such a multiplicious variety of millions of men in all places and ages . how great then must needs the uncertainty be , and how fallacious the conjectures , that poor sinful worms below are put upon by judicial prognosticks from thence ? woful was the catastrophe of ahab and iezabel , balak and ahaziah , haman and belshazzar harkning thereto . in malach. 4. 2. christ is elegantly compared to the sun to set forth his divine perfections , represented to the life by that abstract of natures wonder in its essence and attributes , properties and effects , accidents and adjuncts . thus a spiritual use may be made of the caelestial bodies , besides the natural and moral . but that horrid abuse of their lying vanities , and jugling impieties , who pretend to divine future events of contingent affairs and humane transactions , hath been still branded as the servant of satan . the commendation given to the ancient magi or wise men by caelius albertus , and other learned men , hath no colour of plea for our divining astrologers what was commendable in the chaldaean 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , as in the grecian and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , for natural and moral philosophy , should not patronize any juglers tricks , or satanical divinations . the chaldaeans and phenicians had opportunity to learn much from ioseph , moses , daniel , david , solomon , and the other wise men of judea ; which the most of them corrupted , and so transmitted to the greeks and romans , rom. 13. 3 , 4 , 5 , 6. esay 8. 19 , 20. what is objected by some from the star observed by the wise men , matth. 2. is impertinent to this purpose . that case was transcendently extraordinary , and miraculous in every part thereof , as all learned commentators observe . the star it self was of a nature , motion , appearance , seat and rest quite different from all the caelestial stars . the persons being wise chaldaeans surnamed magi in those eastern countries , had been instructed by many prophesies of the messias coming at that season and of his star. besides balaams prophesie , numb . 24. 17. of great repute with them ; they had the sybils oracles , particularly that of sybilla erythraea which writ very plainly of christs birth and life . they had especially the iewish instructions received from daniel and others successively , and most especially the greek translations of scripture very frequent in all those parts , which foretold plainly the time , place and all circumstances of his coming , which was then generally expected , not by the jewes only , but by all nations also who minded oracles and prophesies . cicer. 2. lib. de divinatione , calcidius platonicus in timaeum platon . and divers others both of the gentiles and iews give pregnant testimony thereof . hence the inquisitive greeks had received so much of scripture-truth , which they disguised under multiplicious fables ; 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , was apollos oracle . 1 cor. 10. 12. phil 3. 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , &c , heb. 3. 12. heb. 12. 15. heb. 3. 13. heb. 12. 14. matth. 5. 9. rom. 16. 27.